Jazz Articles about Oscar Peterson

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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, ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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

by Nic Jones
October 9, 2006

It's probably safe to say that Oscar Peterson has never shown much understanding of restraint in the course of his lengthy career, and indeed it might be argued that his whole approach to the piano has always run the the risk of coming across as the triumph of technique.

Things are a little different on Birth of a Legend. The music was recorded between 1949 and 1953, and during this period, Peterson's characteristically ebullient swing was like the most benevolent ...

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Oscar Peterson: Will To Perfection

by Andrew Velez
August 13, 2006

Born in 1925 in Montréal, Canada, to immigrant parents of West Indian origin, it was clear from early on that pianist Oscar Peterson was a musical prodigy. A star attraction in his teens with Johnny Holmes' big band, by age 20 he'd made his first RCA recordings.

During the '50s he joined Norman Granz' Jazz at the Philharmonic. Whether accompanying Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Fred Astaire, Carmen McRae or Anita O'Day, or as a musical partner for the likes of ...

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Oscar Peterson: A Jazz Portrait of Frank Sinatra

by Ollie Bivens
December 26, 2004

Recorded in '59 and just reissued on CD, this homage is described by pianist Oscar Peterson as “not only a tribute to Frank Sinatra but also my emotional interpretation of the feeling I get when I hear him." The album was part of a popular five album songbook set of the music of various songwriters and singers, all recorded in the same year.Smartly and very concisely arranged by Peterson, all the tunes on A Jazz Portrait of Frank ...

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Oscar Peterson: Music in the Key of Oscar

by John Kelman
September 24, 2004

Oscar Peterson Music in the Key of Oscar View Video 2004

With a career now in its seventh decade, Canadian pianist Oscar Peterson has seen some turbulent times, and no more evident is that fact than on Music in the Key of Oscar , which collects a two part television series, originally broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in the mid-'90s. Examining Peterson's somewhat meteoric rise as the ebullient torch carrier for Art Tatum, ...