The sad news from Canada on this Christmas Eve is that Oscar Peterson died yesterday at home in Toronto. He was 82. One of the great piano figures of his time, Peterson was an inspiration to virtually every jazz pianist who followed him, his influence equaled only by his slightly younger contemporary Bill Evans.
Oscar Peterson
The Canadian national newspaper The Globe And Mail quotes Peterson’s friend Tracy Biddle on his importance as a symbol to Canadians.
“He broke out of Canada. He’s one of the first people. We talk of Celine Dion and Shania Twain and Alanis Morissette and Bryan Adams. Oscar Peterson did what they did years ago as a black person. So what he’s done is incredible.”
The keyboard titan, who recorded almost 200 albums, played alongside the greats of the jazz world: Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Roy Eldridge, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald.
“It makes you want to sing,” the late Ella Fitzgerald once said of Peterson’s piano work.
To read the entire Globe And Mail obituary, go here.
To remember Oscar at his happiest, watch this 1958 performance by his incomparable trio with bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis.
The New York Times today published a retrospective collection of articles about Peterson from the early 1990s to 2007. The definitive biography of Peterson is Gene Lees’ The Will To Swing.
Dick McGarvin says
December 25, 2007 at 12:17 amOne of my early experiences hearing live jazz was when I was a teen and my family (from Idaho) was visiting relatives in LA. My uncle took me to a place called Zardi’s to hear Shorty Rogers and his Giants. It was my choice. I had Shorty’s records and, being a kid learning how to play the drums, I was eager to see Shelly Manne, who played with Shorty. However, it was Monday night and Shorty was off. The place was practically empty. The hostess said they still had a band that night – the Oscar Peterson Trio – that they were taking a break and would be back in a few minutes. I looked at the bandstand and didn’t see any drums. Now, I’d heard of Oscar Peterson, having read about him in my Down Beat magazines, but I thought, in my naive teen way, “Hmm. No drums. How good could this band be?” We decided to stay and I’d barely started my 7-Up when these three guys got on the bandstand. Before they started to play, Oscar introduced the other two musicians: Ray Brown on bass and Herb Ellis on guitar. As you can imagine, it was unbelievable! The first tune was at a tempo that I didn’t know was possible. My mouth fell open and, probably, stayed that way through every note they played for the rest of the evening. It was one of the greatest, most memorable musical experiences of my life.
God bless Oscar. May he rest in peace.
Richard Carlson says
December 25, 2007 at 12:36 amI always preferred the comp and the swing to the virtuoso but the man made jazz my friend. He and Ray Brown were there, apparently actually having fun and enjoying work. No one worked harder than Oscar Peterson. Even though fans were tough on him (remember when he wanted to sing?) he maintained his dignity, gentle good humor and ferocious discipline. Something to mourn this Christmas~~~
Grange Rutan says
December 25, 2007 at 2:44 amOscar was a present that survived the test of time and was always big as life. He came back after his stroke with an elegance and elan which allowed us to worship the wonder of him. I don’t want the walls to hear but I guess it’s okay as Christmas is almost here and he lingers…Joe Pass, Ray Brown and that great open smile on that handsome black face…I loved his expansive magical fingers and how he brought harmony, juxtaposed with a savy strut that made me laugh outloud. How can we be sad, Oscar is up on the Big Gig with all the Kahoonas.
Robert Rusch says
December 25, 2007 at 9:17 amWell said, Dick.
I think he was generally underestimated and taken for granted by the
average hard core jazz listener.
(Mr. Rusch is the editor of Cadence magazine and executive producer of Cadence Jazz Records.–DR)
Steve Grover says
December 26, 2007 at 9:15 amI really like Oscar’s trio with Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen. I have an album called ‘Live At The London House’ that is a personal favorite. My favorite Oscar is from the ’60s generally, but it is all pretty scary. His comping as a sideman on the Ella/Louis stuff from the ’50s, and the record he made with Ben Webster found him less prone to pyrotechnics. He sounds great on the album he did with Stephane Grappelli, NHOP and Kenny Clarke, from the early’ 70s I think. I like the tasty Oscar as much as the exciting, technical Oscar. And of course, no matter the circumstances, he just would swing so hard that you felt like you couldn’t take it anymore.
Oscar also wrote nice tunes, and his ‘Canadiana Suite’ is full of great melodic and harmonic ideas.
Oscar represents one of the last important links to the Jazz At The Philharmonic era of great swing and bebop collaborations between the masters. He continued to collaborate with them into the ’70s and ’80s, people like Basie and Dizzy, the great singers like Sarah and Ella. He represented the link between swing and bebop through these collaborations.
I remember talking to Lenny Breau about Oscar one time, and he said that he thought that Oscar changed his chord voicings after he heard Bill Evans, and I think he’s right. But no matter what may have evolved, Oscar sounded original and timeless.
Bill Kirchner says
December 28, 2007 at 12:55 pmI’ve spent the last day or so sampling my Peterson mid-’90s Verve reissues, especially the ’59-’62 ones with Brown and Thigpen. More than any other great jazz musician I can think of, Peterson was a curious combination of elements, ranging from stunning to banal.
If you have the Verve 5-CD “London House Sessions,” Michael Ullman’s essay is well-worth (re)reading. Ullman thinks that Peterson was at his best as a ballad player; I agree.
P.S. I don’t understand the importance so many informed listeners attach to “Night Train”–to my ears, a good but largely perfunctory set. My own pick is “The Jazz Soul of Oscar Peterson”–all of his and that trio’s ingredients at their best.
bennie says
December 29, 2007 at 7:09 amMy remembrance of Oscar goes back to the 50s when I first heard him on record and in various venues when he visited New York City. I finally met him in person in the late 80s when he visited Los Angeles to play at Ray Brown’s jazz club, the Loa. A day before opening there, he visited the best piano store in Los Angeles owned by David Abell. There he delighted in playing the various fine pianos that David stocked, including his favorite Bosendorfer brand. For 3 hours he played non-stop, testing and evaluating the many various brands and models that David carried. He was very personable, conversational, and unselfishly shared his tremendous talent with those in the store, including me who he had never met before. In our brief conversation, we discovered that we had similar backgrounds in that our parents both were immigrants from the West Indies. His immigrated directly to Canada, and mine immigrated directly to New York City. Also our fathers were music lovers and amateur musicians, and started each of us on music lessons around age five. The next evening, Oscar opened at the Loa to tumultuous applause from the crowd, and rave reviews in the local newspapers. But I shall never forget those few hours that I spent up-close and personal with the great, one and only, Oscar Peterson at David Abell’s fine piano emporium.