Oscar Peterson
Montreal born Oscar Peterson is Canada's best-known jazz
pianist. I have been listening to Oscar Peterson all of my life.
My parents were fans of Oscar and today I continue to listen to
his music and play some of his compositions.
For biographical information, see Oscar Peterson's autobiography
A Jazz Odyssey -- My Life in Jazz
or try one of these sites:
The Oscar Peterson information is organized into these
categories:
Oscar Peterson has made hundreds of recordings. See the
All-Music Guide entry on
Oscar for a lot of specific recording information.
Unfortunately, finding a specific Oscar Peterson recording can be
difficult. For example, the "In Tune" recording that I describe below
appears to not be available any more.
I have so many Oscar Peterson recordings that I'm not certain
where to start. A few that come to mind are:
- Canadiana Suite
- A tribute to Canada written in the early
sixties. Later recordings of some of these pieces by Oscar are,
in my opinion, often better but it's interesting to hear the
entire suite together.
- Night Train
- A classic recording from 1963
with Oscar on piano, Ray Brown on bass,
and Ed Thigpen on drums. This trio is one of my all-time
favorites.
- In Tune
- This album features the Oscar Peterson Trio combined with
the great vocal harmonies of the Singers Unlimited.
- Last Call At the Blue Note
- In 1990, Oscar, Ray Brown, and Herb Ellis reunited at the
Blue Note
in New York. This recording includes two
compositions from the Canadiana Suite, Wheatland
and March Past.
Continuum released Oscar Peterson's autobiography A Jazz Odyssey -- My Life in Jazz
in 2002. About half the book is devoted to Oscar Peterson's journey through life. The
reminder of the book has a wide variety of Mr. Peterson's comments on other people in
jazz, the people that he worked with, albumns, pianos, and stories. Well worth the read.
In 1988,
Gene Lees
wrote Oscar Peterson The Will To
Swing. This book was published by Lester and Orpen Dennys
and covers all of Oscar's life. From the jacket cover,
"In
this wide-ranging biography, critic and lyricist Gene Lees
examines the life and motivation of one of the world's greatest
jazz pianists -- a brooding genius who has
sought constantly to explore all the possibilities of his
chosen instrument and is still engaged in that process of
discovery today."
There is also a thin book written by Richard Palmer called
Oscar Peterson which was published in England by
Spellmount Ltd. in 1984.
Music Books
Two music books with Oscar Peterson titles and arrangements are:
The Oscar Peterson Trio
Canadiana Suite
Copyright 1964 by Tomi Music Company
Oscar Peterson Jazz Piano Solos
Various copyrights
Both books are published by Charles Hansen Educational Music & Books,
Miami, Florida. Unfortunately, these books are out of print and there
are no current plans to reprint them. If you are looking for these
books, you will have to find second-hand copies. Some Oscar Peterson
songs are published in Fake books.
Over the years, many films of Oscar Peterson have been made.
You can order the video
In the Key of Oscar from the
National Film Board of Canada.
The
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and
the BBC have both made videos of
Oscar.