1975 · Album
The Trumpet Kings at Montreux
Recorded Live at the 1975 Montreux Jazz Festival · Pablo Records · Produced by Norman Granz
Three Trumpet Giants at the Festival Peak
Three heavyweight trumpeters trading solos over Peterson's steady trio, live and unedited from the 1975 festival.
From the first notes, you're in a festival tent with three trumpet masters trading phrases over Oscar Peterson's bright, driving piano. Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, and Clark Terry each bring different colors to the same tunes — Eldridge all fire and attack, Gillespie playful and harmonic, Terry smooth and conversational. Louie Bellson keeps the tempo moving with crisp brushwork, while Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen locks in on bass, giving the whole thing a European festival feel: informal, relaxed, but serious.
This isn't a carefully plotted studio date. It's a live set where three competing egos had to navigate the same tunes without rehearsal, and that tension is part of the appeal. The rhythm section doesn't get much space to stretch — this is a trumpet showcase, plain and simple — but Peterson and Bellson are pros who know how to support without disappearing. The sound is clean and well-recorded for 1975, which helps.
It's a decent document of a moment in time, three legend-level players proving they could still deliver in front of a crowd. Not essential, and there are sharper trio recordings by Peterson elsewhere, but if you want to hear these three trumpeters live and in the same room, this is the place to look.
Who's playing
Niels‐Henning Ørsted Pedersenbass
Oscar Petersonpiano
Roy Eldridgetrumpet
Dizzy Gillespietrumpet
Clark Terrytrumpet
Louie Bellsondrums
Where next?
More by Roy Eldridge
Roy & Diz 1955
Roy and Diz 1954
The Art Tatum - Roy Eldridge - Alvin Stoller - John Simmons Quartet 1955
"Little Jazz" Jazz 1954
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
