Jazz Articles about Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson: Date with Oscar

by Tom Greenland
March 20, 2008

Oscar PetersonDate with OscarMembran Records2008 Alongside of the sad news of jazz piano legend Oscar Peterson's passing comes Date With Oscar, a ten-disc retrospective of his activities from 1950-56, a period of artistic flowering and prodigious productivity. Date is an uneven set, chock-full of gems, both lesser- and well-known, yet also containing expendable tracks, inexplicable duplications, and a goodly number of cuts in which Peterson is little more than a supportive ...

Oscar Peterson Tribute: Simply The Best

by Mark Sabbatini
January 17, 2008

Hearing Oscar Peterson late in life, his left hand rendered useless by a stroke and arthritis, could be a terribly sad thing, sometimes no more than a whisper of the giant that had me scouring CD bins after first listening to him.But his magnetism was never just about music, as his fellow Canadians and several jazz legends made clear during a tribute in Toronto shortly after his death.The two-hour “Oscar Peterson Tribute - Simply The Best" ...

Oscar Peterson - Ray Brown - Milt Jackson: What's Up?

by AAJ Italy Staff
June 8, 2007

Oscar Peterson, Milt Jackson e Ray Brown Jr.: tre grandi protagonisti del jazz moderno, riuniti in una superba esibizione concertistica del ’98 al Blue Note di New York. Li supportava, con un drumming discreto e misurato, il batterista Karriem Riggins, completando così una formazione stellare che vola sulle ali dello swing. Sono sette gli standard interpretati con souplesse ed invidiabile carica di blues feeling. Un percorso condotto in maniera ineccepibile sul piano esecutivo, che dal vivo acquista un impatto coinvolgente, ...

Jazz At The Philharmonic: Switzerland, 1953

by C. Michael Bailey
April 26, 2007

Before the star-studded jam sessions of the 1970s Montreux Jazz Festivals there were the pioneering Jazz At The Philharmonic (JATP) road shows, which toured from 1946 into the 1960s and put onstage together many of the greatest mainstream and modern stars of their times. Both Montreux and JATP were the brainchildren of Norman Granz, the jazz enthusiast and music business impresario also responsible for founding the prolific Clef, Norgram, Down Home, Verve and Pablo labels. The two discs considered here ...

The Very Tall Band: Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson: What's Up

by C. Michael Bailey
March 23, 2007

What's Up is the addendum to Telarc's 1999 release of Live at the Blue Note, cataloging a holiday performance of elder statesmen pianist Oscar Peterson, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, and bassist Ray Brown with the support of relative youngster drummer Karriem Riggins. Recorded on Thanksgiving weekend, 1998 at New York City's Blue Note Club, these performances are fortuitous as the three principles have performed together from time to time for the past five decades, building impressive discographies together and separately. Additionally, ...

Oscar Peterson: Perfect Peterson: The Best of the Pablo and Telarc Recordings

by Dan McClenaghan
February 9, 2007

The back cover photo on this two-disc set is a shot of the inimitable Oscar Peterson in a light-toned suit with a wide necktie that sports a swirling, quasi-paisley pattern. The photo's in black and white, but we can guess at a riot of colors; and that phrase could serve as a decription of Peterson's piano style: a light-hearted riot of swinging colors.The two discs span Peterson's career from 1953 until 2000, covering a surprising array of styles ...

Oscar Peterson: Birth of A Legend: Oscar Peterson Historic Carnegie Hall Concerts

by David Rickert
December 12, 2006

Legend has it that Norman Granz wanted to introduce Oscar Peterson to America through his Carnegie Hall concerts, but the Canadian citizen couldn't obtain a work visa to allow him to appear. So Granz planted him in the audience and asked him to appear on stage with bassist Ray Brown for a set. The pianist wowed the crowd and became the talk of the town immediately afterward.

Those performances from 1949 are captured at the beginning of Birth ...