Consider the Tatum influence. Oscar plays the Tatum runs as fast as Tatum did. And he plays them with more power, more muscle, and above all with more swing. Oscar's dynamic sense is greater than Tatum's . . . . despite the musical wonder of Tatum's playing, his work, for me, lacked the emotional depth and stylistic range that Oscar displays here." (From the Gene Lees' album liner notes of 1968.)

In its July 2002 death notice for Ray Brown, Time Magazine noted that Oscar Peterson's trio (with Brown) is generally considered the greatest in jazz history. Not surprisingly then Oscar's rare solo recordings are easily overlooked within the huge discography of Oscar's trio recordings most of them still in print (Amazon.com lists 210 of these).

Peterson's only other solo album "Tracks" with its odd assortment of lesser standards and seldom-played tunes can't help but be eclipsed by the offerings here on "My Favorite Instrument." And until something better comes along, this for many of us will remain our favorite, solo, piano recording.

In fact, one could make the case that everything about this CD is the best: The pianist, obviously, is at the very peak of his powers---one minute swinging as only he can and then, alternately, with his sublime pedal work, launching into the most heart-rendingly beautiful, pensively-shaded variations on great standards, most notably Little Girl Blue. Oscar's take on the Dick Rodgers masterpiece must surely be as definitive for pianists as Sinatra's version of the song is for vocalists. As Gene Lees put it: "If I were told that I could have only one track out of the album, and all the rest would be destroyed, this is the one I'd select." You can almost feel Peterson's radiant enthusiasm as he delves into old favorites on his newly-discovered piano-of-choice----the largest Bosendorfer then made in Germany.

The sound engineering by Hans G. Brunner-Schwer (a German who would eventually head his own record companies) is astonishing, even by today's standards. It's also a testament to German recording equipment, including German microphones (various) that gradually took over every major recording studio on the planet in the intervening 30 years. (Sinatra always insisted on using a Neumann; enough said.) Still, it makes you wonder about American recording studio engineering in the 1960s; by comparison, all our favorite Bill Evans albums sound like products of the 50s.

One also wonders---is this as good as solo piano will ever get? Even as incremental improvements keep coming on the technical side: We notice Amazon.com now offers a Japanese, audiophile version of "My Favorite Instrument" enhanced by 25-bit technology. (A question for the experts with access to jillion dollar stereos: Will the rest of us be able to detect the difference on our portable CD players?)

Any superlatives attached to this CD are unlikely to top the following quote-within-a-quote from the conclusion of Gene Lees' original liner notes: "I am tempted to say this is the greatest jazz piano album ever made. And maybe it is. But it's more than that. Said one fascinated musician on hearing it, 'This surpasses jazz.' So it does."

This issue is also dealt with in the (alas) badly bound liner notes by Neil Tesser, the upshot of which is, ignore those foolish critics and buy this record - now! It is gorgeous, often happy, always jazzy music and longs to be played until the CD breaks. The technical details don't need to be examined right now, but if you don't know this immensely talented musician, or if you do and you don't own this album, get right in there and swing around to 'Should I?' and all the other great numbers as soon as you can.