Jazz Colossus Dies

[red indian]

I was very sad to hear of the death of one of the last of the jazz greats of the post war era, Oscar Peterson. I remember my folks bought me one of his best known albums "Tracks" when I was a budding jazz pianist in the early seventies. It made me wonder why I was bothering!

He came up in the wake of the founding fathers of modern jazz, such as Parker, Gillespie, Powell etc. He was never a radical, ground breaking innovator, in the way that many of his less techincally proficient contemporaries were, but he took all that modern jazz had to offer from the 40's through to the mid 60's and used it to constantly refine his own eclectic style.

He always had fantastic technical abilities, and these were harnessed to a reletively restrained style in the fifties and early sixties. You always had the feeling this was a great thoroughbred stallion, winning the race by a short head every time, but you new it had the ability to win the race by miles if it so desired.

From the sixties onwards, he started to loose all inhibition and became a fire eating Mike Tyson of jazz piano! the jazz groups he performed with during this period have become legendary. There are many examples of this deliberately virtuoso, flamboyant style, but one that sticks in the memory is an album called simply "The Trio" a live gig in chicago. Almost the entire album is made up of simple "twelve bar " sequences, but they are so diverse that you are hard pressed to notice.

The first track just blows you away with the sheer terrifying pace, more than once disbelieving listeners have asked me if I have the record on the right speed setting!

The album I always come back to, and have owned in various formats over the years is still "Tracks" and I recommend it to any curious reader. It is a solo piano album of stunning brilliance. It is a condensed, concise history of jazz piano, encompassing all its rich diversity from the beginning of the 20th century. It avoids what some may see as Oscars worst excesses in terms of florid empty gestures and is suprisingly reflective and human. Having said that, it is umistakenly OP at his very best.

I will be having a drink to him tonight, one of the true greats.

 

[Bugman]

I know the name,can't say I'm familiar with his music.Thanks for the suggestion,"Tracks" sounds worth a listen.Sorry to hear you have lost one of your icons my friend.

 

[TklDuo-Drew]

Just saw on the Comcast home page about Oscar's passing. A good friend of mine told me about Oscar and how he saw him in concert. And I remember seeing some of Red's posts about Oscar in the last couple years. So I picked up a collection of Oscar's early recordings and have been mesmerized ever since. So I'll put on O.P.'s "Live at Carnegie Hall", open up another beer and toast this fantastic jazz piano legend!



Drew

 

[dvnc]

And another musical great steps off to gig elsewhere. Man left a wake in his passing, and that's all we can really hope to do. It's a good tide left behind, and there are kids now who ride what that old man brought about.

Rest in Peace.

 

[brianspencer66]

Wow first time Im hearing this 10:30 pm Christmas day. He was a giant of the piano indeed. Unlike lots of black musicians he was from Canada and legend has it that Norman Getz who at one time produced jazz tours for every big name in jazz heard him on the radio in Canada on his way to the airport and ordered the driver to take him to the radio station where Oscar was preforming and well the rest is history. This was a well schooled articulate musician who really loved Art Tatum (The father of Jazz piano). He also led a trio in the 60s which included the great bassist Ray Brown and I think guitarist Herb Ellis. This is a giant loss to the music world.