Peterson, Oscar - The Canadian Encyclopedia

Oscar (Emmanuel) Peterson. Pianist, singer, composer, b Montreal, of West Indian parents, 15 Aug 1925, d Mississauga, Ont, 23 Dec 2007; Oscar Peterson was awarded numerous honorary degrees, among them: honorary LLD (Carleton) 1973, honorary LLD (Queen's) 1976, honorary LLD (Concordia) 1979, honorary D MUS (Sackville) 1980, honorary LLD (McMaster) 1981, honorary LLD (Victoria) 1981, honorary D LITT (York) 1982, honorary DFA (Northwestern) 1983, honorary LLD (Toronto) 1985, honorary D MUS (Laval) 1985, honorary LLD (British Columbia) 1994, honorary LWCM 1994, honorary DFA (Niagara, New York) 1996, honorary LLD (Western) 1999. His father, Daniel, a CPR porter, led the family band in concerts in Montreal church and community halls. Peterson, the fourth of five children, played trumpet at age five but switched to piano at eight after a year-long battle with tuberculosis. He was guided first by his older sister Daisy Peterson (m Sweeney, b Montreal 7 May 1920), who also taught Oliver Jones, Joe Sealy, Reg Wilson and others in the city's black community. (His brother Chuck was a professional trumpeter; another sister, May, also taught piano.) At 12 he took piano lessons briefly from Lou Hooper; later he attended the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal, and at 15 he studied with Paul de Marky.


	Keywords

	Pianists

At about that time, Oscar Peterson won an amateur contest sponsored by the radio personality Ken Soble in Montreal and Toronto and began his own radio show, 'Fifteen Minutes Piano Rambling,' on the Montreal station CKAC. In 1941 he was featured on CBM's 'Rhythm Time,' and by 1945 he had been heard nationally on the CBC's 'Light Up and Listen' and 'The Happy Gang.' Peterson was a member 1944-7 of Johnny Holmes's orchestra before playing 1948-9 at the Alberta Lounge with his own trio (Austin 'Ozzie' Roberts, bass, and Clarence Jones, drums, or, briefly, Ben Johnson, guitar). The trio was heard on Montreal radio station CFCF in broadcasts from the lounge.

The first of the 16 78s Peterson made 1945-9 for RCA Victor reveal the predilection for boogie-woogie that had earned him the nickname 'The Brown Bomber of Boogie-Woogie.' The last of those same recordings suggest the influence of bebop. The other recorded document of Peterson's Montreal years is the soundtrack for Norman McLaren's NFB film Begone Dull Care (1949).

Though Oscar Peterson had declined requests from Jimmie Lunceford and Count Basie to move to the USA and join their bands, he accepted an invitation from the US impresario Norman Granz to be 'planted' in the audience at Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) presentation at Carnegie Hall, 18 Sep 1949, and to be brought onstage as a surprise guest. His performance caused a sensation that signalled the start of a major career. Few jazz musicians would be recorded more extensively; few if any Canadian musicians would enjoy as comparably high an international profile.

Peterson, Oscar
Peterson's approach to jazz is full-blown and joyous (courtesy Regal Recording Ltd).

Peterson, Oscar, Video
Jazz great Oscar Peterson plays (Back Home Again in Indiana) on the CBC-TV special Oscar Peterson. Very Special, broadcast on 14 November 1976 (courtesy CBC-TV).

Performances and Other Activities after 1950

Under the guidance of Norman Granz, who was to be his manager until 1988, Oscar Peterson formed a trio (piano, guitar, and bass) in the USA in 1951 and rose during the 1950s to the forefront of jazz musicians through his appearances with JATP shows and his recordings. His version of 'Tenderly' was especially popular. He toured Europe in 1952, 1953 and 1954 with JATP and annually for many years thereafter with his trio, often in the company of the singer Ella Fitzgerald. In 1953 he made the first of many appearances in Japan. The growth of Peterson's popularity is reflected in his first-place standing in the piano category of the Down Beat readers' poll as early as 1950 (repeated 1951-5, 1959-63, 1965-7, 1972; he won the magazine's critics' poll in 1953). He won many other such polls.

In 1958 Oscar Peterson changed his trio to piano, bass and drums; in the early 1970s he performed exclusively as a solo pianist, returning later to a variety of small-group formats. Peterson played at many European jazz festivals, including that at Montreux, where several of the concerts in which he appeared in 1975 and 1977 (as leader or sideman) were recorded. Recordings also were issued of concerts or club performances in Tokyo, Amsterdam, Paris, London, Tallinn, USSR, The Hague and New York. During the years 1967-71 he recorded for the most part in Villingen, West Germany, for Saba (later MPS).

Throughout his career Oscar Peterson made Canada his home base, living in Montreal until 1958 and thereafter in Toronto and Mississauga. In 1960 in Toronto, with Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen (his bassist and drummer of the day) and Phil Nimmons, he opened the Advanced School of Contemporary Music which, in its three-year existence, drew students of jazz from cities throughout North America. The faculty grew to include Erich Traugott (trumpet), Jiro 'Butch' Watanabe (trombone) and Ed Bickert (guitar). Peterson's own pupils included Skip Beckwith, Carol Britto, Brian Browne, Wray Downes and Bill King. Four volumes of his Jazz Exercises and Pieces for the Young Jazz Pianist were published in the mid-1960s. Peterson returned to an academic setting in 1985 as adjunct professor of music at York University, serving 1991-4 as chancellor of the university; he became an honorary governor in 1995.

Oscar Peterson performed at the Montreal, Stratford, Shaw and Vancouver International festivals - he made a celebrated LP at Stratford in 1956 - and appeared frequently in Canadian nightclubs including the Town Tavern, Toronto, where he recorded On the Town in 1958. During the 1980s he made several appearances at the Festival international de jazz de Montréal (including a concert with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at the Forum in 1984) and performed at Ontario Place and Roy Thomson Hall as part of jazz festivals in Toronto. By decade's end, however, he had reduced his performance schedule to a matter of weeks each year in Europe, Japan and the USA. He made a rare club appearance in Toronto at the Bermuda Onion in 1991.

Oscar Peterson began to experience difficulty from arthritis, and in 1993 while performing in New York, he had a stroke. His left side especially affected, he withdrew from commitments, resuming performances gradually after a two-year recuperation. A restricted ability in the left hand became noticeable in his playing. Peterson continued to tour, compose and record. He appeared at Carnegie Hall in 1995 and at a tribute to him at Town Hall in 1996, played Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall and occasionally played at jazz festivals, such as Toronto's 2001 JVC festival and various European festivals, and on cruises. Also in 2001 Peterson toured Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Broadcasts
After his early career on CBC Radio, Oscar Peterson was not heard with any regularity on the network save via recordings until the 1970s when 'Jazz Radio-Canada' broadcast concert performances and 'That Midnight Jazz' and 'The Entertainers' offered profiles. Peterson himself was host for the short series 'Oscar Peterson's Jazz Soloists' in 1984 and 'Jazz at the Philharmonic' in 1990. On CBC-TV he was seen in several specials (eg, 'Oscar Peterson Inside' in 1967 and 'A Very Special Oscar Peterson' in 1976), as well as in a performance with a 37-piece orchestra of an orchestration of his Canadiana Suite with corresponding scenic footage in 1979 and in a 13-week series, 'Oscar Peterson and Friends,' in 1980. He was also host in the mid-1970s for CTV's 'Oscar Peterson Presents' and BBC TV's 'Piano Party.' CBC Radio presented a seven-part documentary on Peterson in 1994.

Peterson's Sidemen
Although most of Oscar Peterson's groups were US-based, he periodically employed Canadians as his sidemen, among them the bassists Michel Donato, Steve Wallace and David Young, the drummers Terry Clarke, Jerry Fuller, Stan Perry and Ron Rully, and the guitarist Lorne Lofsky. In later years he performed with Ulf Wakenius, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, and Martin Drew, from Sweden, Denmark, and Britain respectively.

Classical and Jazz Influences

Through his studies with Paul de Marky, Oscar Peterson followed in the pianistic tradition of Franz Liszt. Impressionist and late-Romantic influences also were detected in his playing; after a concert in Toronto, Hugh Thompson observed: 'His version of "Tenderly" leans heavily on Debussy and Ravel in its harmonies, and his "Little White Lies" had definite echoes of Rachmaninoff' (Toronto Daily Star, 11 Oct 1950). In jazz Peterson acknowledged the influence of Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, Hank Jones and Nat King Cole (whom Peterson resembled especially on the rare occasions he sang). His style can be heard as the product of a transitionary period in jazz, the 1940s, to the extent that he moved freely - even in his latter years - between the idioms of that time, from stride at the earliest to bebop at the latest.

Gene Lees, writing in Maclean's (July 1975), quoted the Argentinian composer-pianist Lalo Schifrin as saying, 'Oscar is a true romantic in the 19th-century sense, with the addition of the 20th-century Afro-American jazz tradition. He is a top-class virtuoso.' Lees added, 'This response is common. Peterson has astounding speed. Only Phineas Newborn and the late Art Tatum, one of his idols and mentors, have equalled him. And he has a power of direct swing that Tatum never equalled. His ideas are not always original; on a poor night, he falls back on his own highly identifiable phrases of musical vocabulary and some he got from others, such as a curious spinning chromatic figure of Dizzy Gillespie's. But these alone can be electrifying - the brilliantly clear and perfectly balanced runs, like streams of sparks, the great chords whacked into perfect place in the swing with the left hand that plays tenths effortlessly and could, I suppose, if he wanted, encompass twelfths, the dizzying passages in octaves that utilize a left hand as proficient as the right.'

Compositions

Oscar Peterson's best-known compositions were his Canadiana Suite (1963, Tomi Music 1964), comprising jazz themes inspired by cities and regions of Canada (eg, Hogtown Blues and Land of the Misty Giants ), and his Hymn to Freedom. The suite was nominated for a Grammy Award (US) as jazz composition of 1965 and was recorded by Peterson's trio and by Peterson with Nimmons 'N' Nine Plus Six (in an orchestration by Nimmons). Versions of Hymn to Freedom were recorded in the 1980s by Oliver Jones and Doug Riley.

Oscar Peterson completed an African Suite in 1979, A Royal Wedding Suite in 1981 and an Easter Suite in 1984. He also wrote City Lights for the Ballets Jazz de Montréal and composed and performed works for jazz trio and orchestra on commission from Bach 300 (premiered with the National Arts Centre Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall in 1984) and for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Peterson's Trail of Dreams Suite was commissioned by Music 2000 and premiered at Roy Thomson Hall in 2000. Rick Wilkins served in several instances as Peterson's orchestrator. Among his other works for jazz group over the years were Hallelujah Time, Blues for Big Scotia, The Smudge, Bossa Beguine, A Little Jazz Exercise, Tippin', Mississauga Rattler, Samba Sensitive and a variety of informally conceived blues. Parts of Peterson's suites (eg, "Nigerian Marketplace" from African Suite) have been played and recorded as independent pieces. For film, Peterson wrote and recorded Blues for Allan Felix, heard in the Woody Allen comedy Play It Again Sam (1972). He composed scores for the feature The Silent Partner and the documentaries Big North and Fields of Endless Day, the latter a National Film Board/Ontario Educational Communications Authority-produced history of blacks in Canada. His score for The Silent Partner received a Canadian Film Awards' Genie in 1978; his score for the film biography In the Key of Oscar received a Gemini in 1993. Peterson was an affiliate of BMI.

Awards and Honours

Oscar Peterson won Grammy Awards in the best jazz performance, solo or group categories, for The Trio in 1975 (which the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada has since named to its list of masterworks), for The Giants in 1978, for Oscar Peterson Jam at Montreux '77 in 1979 and for Jousts in 1980. The CD Live at the Blue Note brought Peterson Grammies in both categories in 1990, and in 1997 he was awarded a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement as well as the International Jazz Hall of Fame Award. He was inducted into the Juno Awards' hall of fame in 1978 and received a Juno for best jazz album (If You Could See Me Now ) in 1987, as well as Juno nominations in 1991, 1993 and 1997. He was also a member of the Canadian Jazz and Blues Hall of Fame. Appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1972, he was elevated to Companion in 1984. He received the Canadian Conference of the Arts Diplôme d'honneur in 1975, was made an honorary member of the Canadian Music Council in 1978 and was named an Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters in France in 1989. Peterson was named to the Order of Ontario and the Ordre national du Québec. He received the Roy Thomson Hall Award in 1987 and a lifetime achievement award from the Toronto Arts Award in 1991. Many prestigious honours were later bestowed on him, including the Governor General's Performing Arts Award (1992), the Glenn Gould Prize (1993), the award of the International Society for Performing Artists (1995), Concordia University's Loyola Medal (1997), Japan's Praemium Imperiale World Art Award (1999), the UNESCO Music Prize (2000), the Toronto Musicians Association Musician of the Year award (2001) and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame Founders' Award (2008).

Oscar Peterson began to deposit his papers at the National Library of Canada in 1991; that institution curated a major exhibition about him 2000-01. He assisted in establishing the Oscar Peterson Jazz Research Centre at Winters College, York University. In 2002 Peterson published his memoirs, A Jazz Odyssey: The Life of Oscar Peterson.

Writings

- and Palmer, Richard, ed. A Jazz Odyssey: The Life of Oscar Peterson (New York 2002)

Discography

Peterson, Piano; other musicians as indicated
I Got Rhythm. Composite personnel. Armand Samson and Ben Johnson guitar, Bert Brown, Albert King, and Austin Roberts double-bass, Frank Gariépy, Roland Verdun, Russ Dufort, Mark 'Wilkie' Wilkinson, and Clarence Jones drums. 1945-9. (1976). 2-RCA FXMI-7233

Tenderly. Major Holley or Ray Brown double-bass. 1950. Verve MGV-2046

Keyboard. Holley or Brown double-bass. 1950. Verve MGV-2047

Nostalgic Memories. Ellis guitar, Holley or Brown double-bass, Bellson drums. 1950, 1954. Verve MGV-2045

Four LP transcription discs for RCI: solos and duets. Roberts double-bass. 1951. RCI 37, 38, 39, 40 (12 selections - of 20 - were reissued on LP in 1990 on RCI 639)

Peterson, Piano; Ray Brown, Bass

Evening with Oscar Peterson. 1950, 1951. Verve MGV-2048

Pastel Moods. Ashby or Ellis guitar. 1952, 1953, 1954. Verve MGV-2004

Recital. Kessel or Ellis guitar, Stoller or Bellson drums. 1952, 1953, 1954. Verve MGV-2044

Romance. Peterson voice, Kessel guitar, Stoller drums. 1952. Verve MGV-2012

Jazz at the Philharmonic. Kessel guitar, Stoller drums. 1952. Verve MG, vol 8

Oscar Peterson Sings. Peterson voice, Kessel guitar. 1953. Clef MGC-145

Jazz at the Philharmonic. Ellis guitar. 1953. Verve MG, vol 9

Jazz at the Philharmonic. Ellis guitar. 1954. Verve MG, vol 10

Jazz at the Philharmonic. Ellis guitar. 1955. Verve MG, vol 11

In a Romantic Mood. Orch, Russ Garcia conductor. 1955, 1956. Verve MGV-2002

Oscar Peterson Plays Count Basie. Ellis guitar, Rich drums. 1956. Verve MGV-8092

Oscar Peterson at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival. Ellis guitar. 1956. Verve MGV-8024

Soft Sands. Orch, Peterson voice, Ellis guitar, Levey drums. 1957. Verve MGV-2079

Newport Jazz Festival 1957. Eldridge trumpet, Stitt alto and tenor saxophone, Ellis guitar, J. Jones drums. 1957. Verve MGV-8239

At the Concertgebouw. Ellis guitar. 1958. Verve MGV-8268

On the Town. Ellis guitar. 1958. Verve MGV-8287

My Fair Lady. Gammage drums. 1958. Verve MGV-62119

Peterson Piano, Ray Brown Bass; Ed Thigpen Drums

Jazz Portrait of Sinatra. 1959. Verve MGV-68334

Jazz Soul. 1959. Verve MGV-68351

Fiorello! 1959. Verve MGV-68366

Porgy and Bess. 1959. Verve MGV-68340

Swinging Brass. Orch, Garcia conductor. 1959. Verve MGV-68364

Trio. 1961. Verve MGV-68420

Sound of the Trio. 1961. Verve MGV-68480

Very Tall. Jackson vibraphone. 1961. Verve MGV-68429

West Side Story. 1962. Verve MGV-68454

Put on a Happy Face. 1962. Verve MGV-68660

Something Warm. 1962. Verve MGV-68681

Bursting Out. Orch. 1962. Verve MGV-68476

Affinity. 1962. Verve MGV-68516

Night Train. 1962. Verve MGV-68538

Oscar Peterson with Nelson Riddle. Orch, Riddle conductor. 1963. Verve MGV-68562

Action. 1963-4. MPS/BASF 21-20668

We Get Requests. 1964. Verve MGV-68606

Oscar Peterson Plays. 1964. Verve MGV-68591

Canadiana Suite. 1964. Limelight LM-82010

Oscar Peterson Plus One. Terry tp, flhn, voice. 1964. Mer MG-20975

Eloquence. 1965. Limelight LM-86023/Trip-5560

Peterson also recorded two series of LPs devoted to individual songwriters.

For Clef he recorded music by Cole Porter (MGC-603), Irving Berlin (MGC-604), George Gershwin (MGC-605), and Duke Ellington (MGC-606) with Kessel and Brown in 1952; by Jerome Kern (MGC-623), Richard Rodgers (MGC-624), and Vincent Youmans (MGC-625) with Ellis and Brown in 1953; and by Harry Warren (MGC-648), Harold Arlen (MGC-649), and Jimmy McHugh (MGC-650) with Ellis and Brown in 1954.

For Verve he recorded music by Porter (MGV-62052), Berlin (MGV-62053), Gershwin (MGV-62054), Ellington (MGV-62055), Kern (MGV-62056), Rodgers (MGV-62057), Warren and Youmans (MGV-62059), Arlen (MGV-62060), and McHugh (MGV-62061), all with Brown and Thigpen in 1959.

Peterson, Piano; Sam Jones, Bass; Bobby Durham, Drums

Soul Espanol. Hayes drums, Thompson, Jones and Gibson percussion. 1966. Limelight EXPR-1029

The Greatest Jazz Concert in the World. Hawkins tenor saxophone, Duke Ellington Orch. 1967. Pablo 2625-704

Girl Talk. Or Brown double-bass, Hayes drums. 1967. MPS/BASF 21-20669

My Favourite Instrument. Solo piano. 1967. MPS/BASF 21-20671

The Way I Really Play. 1968. MPS/BASF 21-20670

Mellow Mood. 1968. MPS/BASF 21-20962

Travelin' on. 1968. MPS/BASF 21-20963

Motions and Emotions. Orch, Ogerman conductor. 1969. MPS/BASF 21-20713

Hello Herbie. Ellis guitar. 1969. MPS/BASF 21-20723

Tristeza on Piano. 1970. MPS/BASF 21-20734

Peterson, Piano; other musicians as indicated

NOTE: NHØP is Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen.

Another Day. Mraz double-bass, Price drums. 1970. MPS/BASF 21-20869

Walking the Line. Mraz double-bass, Price drums. 1970. MPS/BASF 21-20868

Tracks. Solo piano. 1970. MPS/BASF 21-20879

In Tune. Singers Unlimited, Mraz double-bass, Hayes drums. 1971. MPS/BASF 21-20905

Reunion Blues. Jackson vibraphone, Brown double-bass, Hayes drums. 1971. MPS/BASF 21-20908

Great Connection. NHØP double-bass, Hayes drums. 1971. MPS/BASF 21-21281

[LP title not known] Donato double-bass, Hayes drums. 1972. Nippon Columbia NCP-8501

History of an Artist. Ashby, Kessel, or Ellis guitar, Brown, Jones, or Mraz double-bass, Durham or Hayes drums. 1972, 1973, 1974. 2-Pablo 2625-702

Oscar Peterson Featuring Stephane Grappelli. Grappelli violin, NHØP double-bass, Clarke drums. 1973. America AM-6129 and 6131/2-Prestige 24041

The Trio. Pass guitar, NHØP double-bass. 1973. Pablo 2310-701

Canadiana Suite. Nimmons 'N' Nine Plus Six, NHØP double-bass. 1973. CBC LM-303

Oscar Peterson in Russia. NHØP double-bass, Hanna drums. 1974. 2-Pablo 2625-711

Oscar Peterson and Dizzy Gillespie. Gillespie trumpet. 1974. Pablo 2310-740

'Satch' & 'Josh.' Basie piano and organ, Green guitar, Brown double-bass, Bellson drums. 1974. Pablo 2310-722

Oscar Peterson and Roy Eldridge. Eldridge trumpet. 1974. Pablo 2310-739

Oscar Peterson and Harry Edison. Edison trumpet. 1974. Pablo 2310-741

The Giants. Pass guitar, Brown double-bass. 1974. Pablo 2310-796

À la Salle Pleyel. Pass guitar. 1975. 2-Pablo 2625-705

Oscar Peterson and Clark Terry. Terry trumpet. 1975. Pablo 2310-742

Ella and Oscar. Fitzgerald voice, Brown double-bass. 1976. Pablo 2310-759

Oscar Peterson and Jon Faddis. Faddis trumpet. 1975. Pablo 2310-743

Joust. Gillespie trumpet, Edison trumpet, Eldridge trumpet, Faddis trumpet, Terry trumpet (individually). 1974-5. Pablo 2310-817

The Oscar Peterson Big 6 at Montreux. Thielemans harmonica, Jackson vibraphone, Pass guitar, NHØP double-bass, Bellson drums. 1975. Pablo 2310-747

Porgy and Bess. Peterson clavichord only, Pass guitar. 1976. Pablo 2310-779

Oscar Peterson Jam Montreux '77. Gillespie trumpet, Terry trumpet, Davis tenor saxophone, NHØP double-bass, Durham drums. 1977. Pablo 2308-208

Oscar Peterson and the Bassists. Brown double-bass, NHØP double-bass. 1977. Pablo 2308-213

Satch and Josh Again. Basie piano and organ, Heard double-bass, Bellson drums. 1977. Pablo 2310-802

Night Rider. Basie piano and organ, Heard double-bass, Bellson drums. 1978. Pablo 2310-843

Yessir That's My Baby. Basie piano and organ, Heard double-bass, Bellson drums. 1978 (1986). Pablo 2310-923

The Paris Concert. Pass guitar, NHØP double-bass. 1978. Pablo 2620-112

The London Concert. Heard double-bass, Bellson drums. 1978. Pablo 2620-111

The Silent Partner. Terry trumpet, Carter alto saxophone, Sims tenor saxophone, Jackson vibraphone, Heard double-bass, Tate drums. 1979. Pablo 2312-103

Night Child. Pass guitar, NHØP double-bass, Bellson drums. 1979. Pablo 2312-108

Skol in Scandanavia. Grappelli violin, Pass guitar, NHØP double-bass, Roker drums. 1979. Pablo 2308-232

The Personal Touch. Peterson piano and voice, Terry trumpet, Bickert or Leitch guitar, Young double-bass, Fuller drums. 1980. Pablo 2312-113

The Trumpet Summit Meets the Oscar Peterson Big 4. Gillespie, Hubbard, Terry tpts, Pass guitar, Brown double-bass, Durham drums. 1980. Pablo Today 2312-114

The Alternate Blues. Gillespie, Hubbard, Terry tpts, Pass guitar, Brown double-bass, Durham drums. 1980. Pablo Today 2312-136

Live at the Northsea Jazz Festival, The Hague, Holland, 1980. Thielemans harmonica, Pass guitar, NHØP double-bass. 1980. 2-Pablo Live 2620-115

A Royal Wedding Suite. with orch. 1981. Pablo Today 2312-129

Nigerian Marketplace. NHØP double-bass, Clarke drums. 1981. Pablo Live 2308-231

Freedom Song. Pass guitar, NHØP double-bass, Drew drums. 1982 Pablo 2640.101

Face to Face. Hubbard trumpet, Pass guitar, NHØP double-bass, Drew drums. 1982. Pablo 2310-876

Two of the Few. Jackson vibraphone. 1983. Pablo 2310-881

If You Could See Me Now. Pass guitar, NHØP double-bass, Drew drums. 1983. Pablo 2310-918

A Tribute to My Friends. Pass guitar, NHØP double-bass, Drew drums. 1983. Pablo 2310-902

Benny Carter Meets Oscar Peterson. Carter alto saxophone, Pass guitar, Young double-bass, Drew drums. 1986. Pablo 2310-926

Oscar Peterson + Harry Edison + Eddie Cleanhead Vinson. Edison trumpet, Vinson alto saxophone, Pass guitar, Young double-bass, Drew drums. 1986. Pablo 2310-927

Oscar Peterson Live. Pass guitar, Young double-bass, Drew drums. 1986. Pablo 2310-940

Live at the Blue Note. Ellis guitar, Brown double-bass, Durham drums. 1990. 2-Telarc CD-83304

Saturday Night at the Blue Note. Ellis guitar, Brown double-bass, Durham drums. 1990. Telarc CD-83306

Side by Side. Perlman violin, Ellis guitar, Brown bass, Tate drums. 1994. Telarc 83341

A Tribute to Oscar Peterson: Live at the Town Hall. Various. 1997. Telarc Jazz 83401

A Summer Night in Munich. Wakenius guitar, NHØP bass, Drew drums. 1999. Telarc Jazz 83450

Trail of Dreams: a Canadian Suite. Wakenius guitar, NHØP bass, Drew drums, Legrand strings & cond. 2000. Telarc Jazz 83500

Peterson also appears on LPs as a member of JATP or Pablo concert parties or jam sessions and has recorded as an accompanist or guest soloist with Lester Young (Verve 8144), Buddy DeFranco (Verve 8210), Stan Getz (Verve 8251), the Modern Jazz Quartet (Verve 8269), Louis Armstrong (Verve 8322), Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald (2-Verve 8811), Coleman Hawkins (Verve 8346), and Gerry Mulligan (Verve 8559), among many others. Many of the albums in this discography have been reissued on CD; other Peterson CDs comprise material repackaged from various points in his career - eg, Oscar Peterson Plays Jazz Standards (1953-62, Verve 833-283, released in 1987) and The Will to Swing (1949-71, 2-Verve 847-203, released in 1991).

Author Revised: Betty Nygaard King

Bibliography

Zimke, Paul. 'Hot piano,' Maclean's, 15 Oct 1945

Dingman, Harold. 'Oscar Peterson,' Liberty, Jan 1946

Whiston, Henry F. "'Watch Peterson," say Canadians,' Down Beat, 10 Mar 1950

Lees, Gene. 'The trouble with jazz piano; the viewpoint of Oscar Peterson,' Down Beat, 29 Oct 1959

Kritzwiser, Kay. 'Oscar Peterson: muscular giant of the jazz piano,' Toronto Globe Magazine, 4 Feb 1961

Wallace, Clarke. 'Jazz school with an Oscar,' Weekend Magazine, 26 Jan 1963

Lees, Gene. 'The face behind the performer,' Hi Fidelity and Musical America, Aug 1970

- 'The best damn jazz piano in the whole world,' Maclean's, Jul 1975

Boulton, Marsha. 'The piano man,' Maclean's, 4 Jun 1979

de Sackville-Hunt, Marguerite. 'The elusive Oscar,' Performing Arts in Canada, vol 16, Fall 1979

Lees, Gene. 'All that Oscar,' Toronto Life, Sep 1981

Litchfield, Jack. Canadian Jazz Discography (Toronto 1982)

Palmer, Richard. Oscar Peterson (Tunbridge Wells, England, 1984)

Chodan, Lucinda. 'Behind keyboard greats, there's Daisy Sweeney,' Montreal The Gazette, 21 Mar 1987

Miller, Mark. Boogie, Pete & The Senator (Toronto 1987)

Gilmore, John. Who's Who of Jazz in Montreal: Ragtime to 1970 (Montreal 1989)

Lees, Gene. Oscar Peterson: The Will to Swing (Toronto 1988, 2000)

Miller, Mark. 'Tickling the ivory tower,' Toronto Globe and Mail, 8 Jun 1991

Clements, Matthew. The Oscar Peterson Discography (Thames Ditton, England, 1993)

Barris, Alex. Oscar Peterson: A Musical Biography (Toronto 2002)

Apart from books, this bibliography includes only items published in Canada or written by Canadians. A more extensive bibliography may be found in Lees, 1988.

Filmography

In the Key of Oscar: One Man's Journey Home (NFB 1992)

Oscar Peterson Multimedia CD-ROM (Kelso Music Corp, PG Music 1999)

Links to Other Sites

Oscar Peterson's Official Website
An extensive website devoted to the life and musical career of celebrated jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. Offers a brief tribute, biography, discography, personal journal, and media clips.

Oscar Peterson Tributes
People from around the world pay tribute to Canadian jazz musician Oscar Peterson. From the BBC website.

Canadian jazz great Oscar Peterson dies
A CBC obituary for Canadian jazz legend Oscar Peterson. Click on the links on the right side of the webpage for multimedia clips and more.

Oscar Peterson - A Jazz Sensation
A superb website about one of Canada’s greatest jazz musicians. Features a biography, articles, photos, and music samples. From Library and Archives Canada.

Oscar Peterson Tribute - Simply The Best
Listen to musicians from around the world perform in tribute to the great Oscar Peterson. From a concert at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall in January of 2008. A CBC website.

Oscar Peterson Fonds
Information page about the Oscar Peterson fonds at Library and Archives Canada.

Oscar Peterson: A Jazz Giant
Vintage CBC audio and video clips featuring jazz pianist Oscar Peterson.

Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame
The website for the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, an organization dedicated to promoting Canadian popular music songwriters. Check out the annual list of inductees and click on a name to read an inductee’s biography. Also offers video highlights of previous award ceremonies.

Jazz Profiles from NPR - Oscar Peterson
This site features online interviews and profiles of Oscar Peterson. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for more links. From National Public Radio in the US.

Oscar Peterson: Keeping the Groove Alive
A brief synopsis of the 2003 documentary about the life and music of jazz icon Oscar Peterson. From the website for Filmwest Associates.

Concord Music Group
Search for recordings by Oscar Peterson and other musicians at this extensive website for Concord Music Group. Features album notes and some audio clips.

Land of The Misty Giants
Listen to a clip of "Land of The Misty Giants" written and performed by Oscar Peterson. From ligamusic.com.

Jazz Festival: Oscar Peterson and Friends
A rave review of a 1987 Oscar Peterson performance at Carnegie Hall. From the New York Times.

Knelman: Oscar Peterson’s piano lives on in Ottawa
A news story about a bronze scuplture of Oscar Peterson and his distinctive piano installed in 2010 outside the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

Feature Articles

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