Ray Brown (left), Jeff Hamilton and Oscar Peterson are shown at the 1993 Glenn Gould Prize evening in Toronto. (Photo courtesy of the Glenn Gould Foundation)
by George VargaContact Reporter
Just how important were pianist Oscar Peterson and bassist Ray Brown — two of the most iconic artists in jazz history — to the world of music?
Drum dynamo Jeff Hamilton and bass stalwart John Clayton, who each played with Peterson and Brown, are quick to offer an answer.
“I said this in the ‘Music in the Key of Oscar’ documentary: Oscar will go down as one of the greatest pianists, ever, in any genre,” Hamilton said. “And, to me, Ray is the greatest jazz bassist who ever played.”
Clayton concurs.
On Saturday, Feb. 24, he and Hamilton will headline the orchestra-free San Diego Symphony “Jazz at the Jacobs” concert, “Affinity: A Ray Brown and Oscar Peterson Tribute” at Jacobs Music Center’s Copley Symphony Hall. (Ticket information appears below.) The other musicians in the lineup include pianist Larry Fuller, who was the pianist in Brown’s final band, and — at least for one song — trumpeter and “Jazz at the Jacobs” curator Gilbert Castellanos.
“Oscar and Ray were both phenomenal,” Clayton said of Peterson, who died in 2007, and Brown, who died in 2002.
“When Oscar played the piano, he was the whole orchestra. He could play something as rhythmic and aggressive as Bartok, and yet be as tender and expressive as Debussy or Mozart. In any area of art — whether film, painting, music — there are always people who stand out as pivotal. Ray represents that, because he’s the link between the swing era and the bebop era.
read more at: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/sd-et-music-jazz-jacobs-20180218-story.html
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