Oscar Peterson
Piano Solo on
Just You, Just Me

About

Oscar Peterson's piano solo is the second of three solos on "Just You, Just Me" from the 1952 session with Lester Young. Peterson takes four choruses over the 32-bar AABA form in E-flat at 240 BPM, the longest solo on the track. Following Young's three-chorus statement, Peterson's technically commanding approach shifts the performance's center of gravity, bringing a denser harmonic vocabulary and more overtly virtuosic execution to Greer's straightforward pop harmony. The four-chorus length gives Peterson room to build from melodic ideas to the dazzling runs that were his trademark.

Oscar Peterson was 26 to 27 years old at the time.