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Oscar Peterson

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Oscar Peterson · Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer, born on 15 August 1925 in the St. Henri district of Montreal, the son of migrants from the West Indies. He died on 23 December 2007. As a child he played trumpet and piano, but a bout of tuberculosis at the age of seven put an end to the trumpet. His first training was largely classical, with Paul de Marky, a pupil of a pupil of Franz Liszt. Even so, jazz gripped him, especially traditional jazz and boogie-woogie. In 1949 Norman Granz introduced him at a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert in Carnegie Hall, and he remained his manager for almost his whole career.

Music and breakthrough

Peterson recorded more than two hundred records, won eight Grammys and played thousands of concerts over more than sixty years. His trio with bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis, from 1953 to 1958, he himself called the most stimulating. Later came trios with Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen, who recorded Night Train in 1963 and Canadiana Suite in 1965, and in the 1970s with guitarist Joe Pass and bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. He also played with Ben Webster, Milt Jackson and Herbie Hancock. In 1969 he recorded, on Motions and Emotions, arrangements with orchestra of the Beatles' Yesterday and Eleanor Rigby. His albums about composers, such as Oscar Peterson Plays Cole Porter and Oscar Peterson Plays Duke Ellington, drew attention to the Great American Songbook.

Influence

Duke Ellington called him the Maharaja of the keyboard. Peterson is regarded as one of the best jazz pianists and improvisers of the twentieth century, with a virtuosity and a swing that many later pianists took as their yardstick.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a track from Night Train and notice how piano, bass and drums swing together. Hear how fast Peterson's right hand plays, and how the bass and percussion keep the rhythm tight.

Discography

Studio albums

Other work

In School of Rock

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See also

Categories: ArtistsSwing and big bandBebop