Oscar's sombre senior set

Last night Peterson performed no fewer than three numbers twice, including two - Backyard Blues and Requiem - during the opening set. And this time it wasn't funny.

The great man turns 81 next month and can be genuinely expected to suffer the occasional Senior moment, but when the customers are paying up to £80 a seat, the time has surely come for him to write a set-list for each performance, place it prominently on the piano and follow it to the letter.

Rallying heroically around their troubled leader, Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius took a string of bright, hard-driving solos, while Canadian double-bassist David Young, standing so near the keyboard as to function almost literally as Peterson's left hand, and American drummer Alvin Queen swung with solidity and precision.

The prevailing mood, however, was sombre. Mourning a number of absent friends (promoter Norman Granz, guitarist Joe Pass, bassists Ray Brown and Nils-Henning Orsted Pedersen) Peterson played a lot of churchy ballads, exposing a saccharine side rarely seen during the hurricane years when he was rockin' everybody's socks off.

Drummer Queen (a dead ringer for footballer Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink) finally relieved his frustration on Sweet Georgia Brown, taking an explosive drum solo that momentarily lifted the dark cloud looming over Peterson fans.

Remembering Oscar Peterson