Sometimes someone cool gets to produce a television show. And they want to do something special for the audience. During the ’70s and ’80s, London Weekend Television had a series called The Southbank Show that hosted jazz musicians. During the 1984 season, producer and director Alan Benson wanted to do something unique for the Easter episode. He contacted pianist Oscar Peterson to see if he’d want to compose and perform a new piece of music to celebrate the Holy day. The Canadian jazz icon agreed. Oscar Peterson’s Easter Suite contains the performance that greeted the folks of the United Kingdom with fresh music on the holiday.
The first half of the show is the presenter Melvyn Bragg talking to Peterson about the composition. Peterson was rather hesitant at first to accept the offer because jazz might not be the proper music for a religious holiday. But he came to find elements within the Gospels to give him musical cues for the 9 events of Holy Week featured in his suite. Petersen is joined by Niels Pedersen on bass and Martin Drew on drums to perform the suite in the studio for the second half of the show. The show has graphics to introduce each song in the suite so you can follow along.
Sound Supervisor Mike Fairman and his audio crew need to be singled out for capturing the rich sound of the trio properly. There’s a fullness to their notes and beats from a time when you pretty much heard TV on that tiny speaker below the channel knobs. The performance sounds great when heard through the numerous speakers of your modern home entertainment center that handles Dolby Atmos.
The most amazing part is that Oscar Peterson didn’t release Easter Suite on vinyl or compact disc for the Holy Week in 1985. For the longest time, the only way you could hear the performance was to watch the special when London Weekend Television reran the episode. Supposedly Peterson never performed it live or went into the studio to record it. The music only existed here for this one time. This makes Oscar Peterson’s Easter Suite extremely special for Holy Week.
The Video 1.33:1 full frame. The TV show was recorded on standard definition video, but they’ve done a fine job upscaling for the Blu-ray. The Audio is LPCM 2.0 Stereo and Dolby Atmos. The sound is why you want the Blu-ray. The special is subtitled in Spanish, Italian, German and French.
Monarda Music presents Oscar Peterson’s Easter Suite. Directed by Alan Benson. Presented by Melvyn Bragg. Starring Melvyn Bragg, Oscar Peterson, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen and Martin Drew. Running Time: 49 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: May 2, 2025.
