His well documented career would send him around the world with touchstones in the areas of civil rights and higher education, achieving awards and recognitions along the way. Ganz introduced Peterson in 1949 at a Carnegie Hall performance of Jazz at the Philharmonic.īy the late 1950’s, Peterson had attained worldwide recognition as a jazz pianist. Granz produced “Jazz at the Philharmonic”, a series of concerts, tours, and recordings featuring the preeminent Jazz musicians of the day. Oscar Peterson was eventually discovered by producer Norman Granz, with whom he would work for most of his career.
Yet in the same reviews or opinions where they say “Oh, he plays too much, everything is a run,” they turn round and say “But he’s a genius.” So there’s no way of satisfying them.” I’m not classing myself in that calibre of talent, but Art Tatum was accused of the same thing that I’m being accused of today – that he played so much in so few bars. If you speak of pianists, the most complete pianist that we have known and possibly will know, from what I’ve heard to date, is Art Tatum. In a 1962 interview with Les Tomkins, Peterson says of Tatum: Listen to Peterson speak about sneaking in radio time to listen to Jazz greats and his early influences including Art Tatum in this NPR interview from 2012. Peterson lists Art Tatum, Dizzie Gillespie, Lester Young, and Roy Eldridge as early influences. Play along with it, and keep playing along with it until you can play with them normally.” That’s what I did. When I was teaching at York University, whenever the students would ask, “How can I play jazz piano?” I used to tell them: “Go downstairs, go to the library and get a Nat Cole album or a Lester Young album. He also played along with records, a method he later recommended to his students. I’d get up in the morning singing things that I wanted to play that day.”Īs a teenager seeking out Jazz, Peterson would sneak in time with the radio to listen to the legends of the era. “…the piano became part of my everyday life. He speaks about that time in this 2002 interview with Allan Gould. Peterson was known to play 12-14 hours a day during this period.
The classical study soon turned to a passion for learning jazz. His first instrument was the trumpet, but Peterson eventually took on piano and classical training. He was born and raised in Montreal by his parents who emmigrated from the British West Indies and Virgin Islands. Though it’s easy to assume all jazz greats come from America, Oscar Peterson was a native Canadian.
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