Oscar Peterson's dazzling keyboard technique, commanding sense of swing and mastery of different piano styles could leave even his most accomplished peers awe-struck. His death brought forth tributes from jazz pianists spanning the generations.
Peterson died Sunday of kidney failure at his home in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga.
87-year-old Dave Brubeck recalled the first time he ever heard a Peterson recording shortly after jazz impresario Norman Granz introduced the Canadian pianist to American audiences at a 1949 Carnegie Hall concert. “I was in awe," Brubeck wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “Every jazz pianist would soon know that Oscar was a master."
Decades later, Brubeck found himself asked to help fill in at a 1993 Carnegie Hall concert after Peterson had to cancel his appearance because he had suffered a serious stroke.
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