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Transcription: [picture] Illustration by Laurie McGaw Oscar Peterson Born - 1925 All That Jazz . . . and MoreOscar Peterson remains "a very proud Canadian" - and that’s almost as remarkable as his music. He spent more time abroad than at home since his triumphant Carnegie Hall debut in 1949. From London to Moscow, from Chicago to Tokyo, fans have been screaming for encores for four decades while Peterson topped more polls and won more awards than any other jazz pianist. But he always looks forward to returning to his Mississauga home. And he is still a concerned and involved Canadian. Peterson has consistantly opposed bigotry in Canada and has advanced the careers of many local musicians, including Lorne Lofsky, Dave Young and Steve Wallace. Since July, 1991, he has been chancellor of York University. Born in Montreal, the son of a railway porter who demanded excellence, Oscar began studying classical piano at age 6 and won a talent contest at 14. He became well-known locally through a weekly radio show, then gained national celebrity on the CBC before Norman Granz "discovered" him and made him an International star of Jazz at the Philharmonic tours. He has technique to burn. He’s safe at any speed. Within 32 bars he can swing stylistically from ragtime to boogie-woogie to bop to funk. He is a sensitive, unobtrusive accompanist as well as a flamboyant one-man band. His sense of dynamics is impeccable and, as Coleman Hawkins remarked, "he can always swing you into bad health." Peterson has played with almost all the giants of jazz and can be heard on more than 250 records - he lost count long ago. He is also an experimentor in electronic music and a respected composer. His best known works are probably "Hymn to Freedom" and the "Canadiana Suite", a musical train-ride across the country. He won his sixth Grammy Award last year to go with his 14 wins in Down Beat magazine polls, 12 in Playboy polls and 5 in Contemporary Keyboard polls. |
