Night Train is an album by the Oscar Peterson Trio, recorded in late 1962 and released in early 1963. On it, Peterson, with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen, reinterprets a dozen jazz standards and, in the words of British saxophonist Benny Green, "deliberately challenges the russet glow of fond reminiscence and challenges it triumphantly." For good measure, Peterson adds his own "Hymn to Freedom," which became a jazz standard itself.
Night Train is one of Peterson's most commercially successful albums, but the critical response was mixed: while The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings included it among the core collection that all jazz fans should own and AllMusic gave it 4 stars (out of 5), The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide gave it only 3 stars. It ranked 45th in Bob Mersereau's The Top 100 Canadian Albums book in 2007 and 5th in CBC Radio's list of the 100 Greatest Canadian Albums.
I had a miniature book, from Verve I suspect, that purported to list the 100 best jazz albums of all-time and, if I remember correctly, Night Train took the top spot. While I personally would have preferred Canadiana Suite getting the nod to be on this list, because of its clear connection to Canada, I can't argue with this choice.
| Hometown: | Montreal |
| Label: | Verve |
| Release Date: | 1963 |
| Producer: | Norman Granz |
| Style: | progressive rock |
| Mar*Star 125: | 96 |
| Mar*Star 150: | 33 |
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