This album is one of our all-time favourites. It was originally released in 1964 and was the last album Oscar Peterson released under the Verve label. We fist came in contact with this album and particular track number six, when we started developing the AMP-150 back in 2009. We had send out a prototype amplifier to our long time good friend and Gato Audio distributor in Belgium, Dominique Dendooven. He listened in on our work and thought that Oscar Petersons piano did not sound just right. He immediately sent us a copy of “We get request”, so we could hear exactly what he meant.
Ever since we got the album in our hands we have been using it for testing, developing and voicing of our speakers and amplifiers. It is of course not the only piece of music we listen to, but all Gato Audio products has been developed with a little help from Mr. Peterson.
The whole Album is great, but especially track number six "You Look Good to Me" is outstanding. From the beginning where Ray Browns bow stroke double bass lays the ambience you feel this is something special. It immediately grabs you and you forget about time the next five minutes. Oscar Petersons piano starts with his pedals down and gradually releases the grip over the length of the track. Along the way you can hear very subtle humming from Ray Brown as he performs magic on the double bass. We think the trio never sounded better and the recording quality is amazing too. Of course, there is a bit of tape noise in the background of the recording, but you quickly ignore it when you discover how much detail, atmosphere and joy of playing that has been capture on those tapes.
We have listened to a couple of different versions of the album. Some of them remastered to audiophile quality, gold plated CD’s etc. etc. - but honestly, we never found a better sounding version than the cheap five to ten euro original recording you can get online or in normal record shop. It is also available on Tidal in lossless quality – although we still prefer the CD version...