In my second year of college, I worked Wednesday nights, from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., as the engineer for a radio show called “Jazz with Janis.” Janis was Janis Wisbaum, another journalism student, who served as deejay for the three-hour weekly program over the campus radio station, KCSN, which happened to be an NPR affiliate.

It was a lot of fun. We did pretty much what we wanted, aided in the knowledge that nobody was listening. After all, we never got a call despite routinely announcing our call-in number.

I was listening to Los Angeles’ main jazz station—back then it was KPFK—on my way to school one day. The live track on the air was so good I pulled over to write down the name of the album: The Exciting Battle. The LP (this was, after, all, 1973) offered four tracks by the performers from Jazz at the Philharmonic. This was a regular group of jazz musicians who convened at the Philharmonic for improvisational sessions. In 1955, they took their show on the road. The Exciting Battle offers four tracks from a performance in Stockholm.

The musicians included Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, Flip Phillips, Louie Bellson (who was married to Pearl Bailey; their son, Tony, was in my Boy Scout troop), Roy Eldridge, Herb Ellis, Bill Harris and—on piano—Oscar Peterson.

As soon as class let out, I headed over to a record store and bought the album. I brought it with me on Wednesday night and Janis played the first track, “Little David.”

About two-thirds of the way through the track, the phone lit up. “Tell me again,” the caller asked. “What is it you’re playing. It’s great.” We got about a dozen more calls like that one. We were dumbfounded. People were listening.

I played The Exciting Battle to death, and have repurchased it several times, most recently from iTunes. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better example of be-bop jazz by a collection of masters. And yes, I have plenty of Miles Daves and John Coltrane.

I never had the pleasure of seeing Oscar Peterson play live; I’ve spent far more time at rock concerts than jazz performances. I did get to see Milt Jackson and Ray Brown play at The Lighthouse in Redondo Beach, a genuine thrill. But since learning of Peterson’s passing just before Christmas, I’ve been playing The Exciting Battle in the background and thinking about everything we’ve lost with the passing of Peterson, Gillespie, and other musicians who innovated the music we take for granted today.

Here’s a brief clip of Peterson opening “Little David.” It’s longer than fair use allows me to offer legally, but I’ll run the risk; it’s just a fragment of the entire track. I hope you enjoy it.