Oliver Jones and Oscar Peterson - Just Friends

Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown, two giants of jazz

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

Louis Armstrong and Oscar Peterson ー You Go To My Head

Zoot Sims Knew How to Swing

Published on Apr 1, 2017
Zoot Sims - Knew How to Swing featuring Zoot Sims, tenor saxophone, Oscar Peterson, piano, Ray Brown, bass and Bobby Durham, drums.

Melt Away the Winter Blues ....

Melt Away the Winter Blues and Celebrate the legend, Oscar Peterson with @Bravo_Niagara DETAILS: https://t.co/jVehi2idop

— JAZZFM91 (@JAZZFM91) 17 de janeiro de 2017

Happy Birthday #OscarPeterson

Considered one of the world's greatest pianists, your 60 year career thrilled us.
Happy Birthday Oscar Peterson pic.twitter.com/gsGHT71wRU

— Trevor Ware (@TrevorWare) August 15, 2016

Stormy Weather - #OscarPeterson & #ItzhakPerlman

#OscarPeterson #SamJones & #BobbyDurham

Oscar Peterson, Sam Jones, & Bobby Durham with my favorite version of "Summertime" (1968) https://t.co/gTxlYj1Z6N

— AddictedToJazz (@AddictedToJazz) August 31, 2016

Remembering #OscarPeterson

Remembering Oscar Peterson on his birthday with this archival episode of Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland. https://t.co/XQdSIKIfRr

— JazzTimes Magazine (@JazzTimes) August 15, 2016

Oscar Peterson - C Jam Blues

Uploaded on Dec 13, 2010
Live in Denmark,1964.
Oscar Peterson on Piano
Ray Brown on Bass
Ed Thigpen on Drums

Oscar Peterson - C Jam Blues

Live in Denmark,1964.
Oscar Peterson on Piano
Ray Brown on Bass
Ed Thigpen on Drums

JazzDoc: Oscar Peterson

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com
Music in the Key of Oscar from 2004 is a wonderful documentary on pianist Oscar Peterson. Here it is...
- See more at: http://www.jazzwax.com/2013/07/jazzdoc-oscar-peterson.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Jazzwax+%28JazzWax%29#sthash.DBPd94wy.dpuf

Used with permission by Marc Myers

Oscar Peterson em There Will Never Be Another You

Oscar Peterson Trio - Sweet Georgia Brown

Live at the "Bussoladomani", Lido di Camaiore, Italy 1985
Oscar Peterson - Piano
Joe Pass - Guitar
Niels-Henning Örsted Pedersen - Bass

Oscar Peterson - Keeping The Groove Alive

A Documentary on Oscar Peterson with some rare archival footage and interviews with Diana Krall and more.
"Perfectionist, practical joker, and one of the all-time greatest exponents of jazz, Oscar Peterson is unlike any music legend that ever was or ever will be."

Oscar Peterson & Count Basie - Slow Blues

Oscar Peterson - there will never be another you

Oscar Peterson: Duo Sessions....

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com
Used with permission by Marc Myers
The farther back in time you go, the more glorious pianist Oscar Peterson sounds. Like sliding a bar to and fro on the computer screen to find just where the hues are richest in a digital image, the Oscar Peterson Story is perhaps sweetest between 1949 and 1951. During this period, Clef Records' producer Norman Granz paired the mighty Peterson with just a bass—Ray Brown or Major Holley. The resulting recordings remain unrivaled for their ferocious sensitivity and grace.

This observation takes nothing away from the impeccable Peterson quartet and trio sessions that followed for Granz between 1951 and 1953. Nor does it diminish Peterson's accompanist period for Verve or his expansive centipede trio era in the early 1960s and beyond. It's just that over the course of a long jazz career, there's bound to be a "just right" zone. For me, those eye-widening moments exist in the hungry duo years. [Photo: by Herman Leonard / CTSImages.com]

For the longest time, these duo sessions were out of print in the U.S. Periodically they were bootlegged by European jazz labels. In response, jazz listeners have complained about American labels not releasing the bounty in their vaults. Well, Verve/Hip-O Select just re-issued these Peterson recordings on Debut: The Clef / Mercury Duo Recordings (1949-1951). It's a handsome set that warmly showcases all 49 recordings of the piano-bass pairing. To my ear, they have improved with age, if that's possible, revealing yet more secrets and delights.

As David Ritz brilliantly states in the set's superb liner notes, Oscar's true north inspiration wasn't Art Tatum but Nat King Cole, whose cool improvisational lines, glamorous taste and swinging syncopation were admired greatly by Peterson. Ritz interviewed Peterson before his death in 2007. During that interview, Peterson spoke of his admiration for Cole:
"Nat brought something else to the table. In a certain way, Nat set the table. He had an aesthetic that reflected extraordinary taste and refinement without sacrificing an iota of rhythm pulse. Nat swung much harder than Tatum. You can feel the blues more viscerally in Nat than Art. I never wanted to venture far from the blues base. You do that at the risk of losing your soul. The same is true of swing, that quixotic spontaneity that both locks in time while extending time."

The Oscar Peterson Duo was formed by accident at the tail end of a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert at Carnegie Hall on September 18, 1949. Granz, the concert's promoter, decided to beat out customs officials by having the Canadian Peterson attend as an audience member. Then, shortly after midnight, Granz stepped to the mike and introduced Peterson, inviting him to the stage to play. Granz's move was designed to seem like a bonus or an afterthought, though Peterson certainly knew about his plans. Buddy Rich was supposed to be the drummer behind Peterson but there was a problem, depending on whose story you believe. Rich either was AWOL between acts or too whipped to go on following his previous performance and solo. Or both reasons might make the most sense—tired and off on an extended break.

Once Peterson began and Granz heard the audience's roaring approval, he realized that Peterson could record without a drummer. Which, of course, would leave more money in Granz's pocket. Fortunately, money was an issue, since the results Granz eventually produced are startling on so many levels. Peterson not only re-invents the jazz piano on these studio recordings but also overtakes George Shearing and Erroll Garner as the instrument's most dynamic swinger.
One could pick any of the tracks on the new Verve set to illustrate Peterson's courage and genius. There's a Small Hotel is probably as good as any. The track opens with Peterson playing a relaxed fanfare of chords. Next comes a happy-go-lucky reading of the melody line, with a trill here and there. Peterson then begins to bend the melody line out of proportion, as though heating up metal just enough to twist it around.

Through the track, Peterson weaves a quilt of major and minor passages, adding blues tones here and there, and furtively referencing other pop tunes along the way. Then he winds down by launching a flock of lock chords, finishing with scrambling melody runs. Like all of the other tracks in this set, it's a perfect execution.

  But so are Little White Lies, In the Middle of a Kiss (with its reference to Tadd Dameron's Good Bait) and Nameless. But wait, the disc jockey tributes Jumpin' With Symphony Sid and Robbins' Nest (with its wave to Clair de Lune) also are significant. Heck, all of the tracks defy gravity.

Norman Granz: in picture >

 
In the duos, you hear Peterson's tugging eagerness to show his stuff without going overboard. It's Peterson's restraint that's most fascinating. In his desire to make his mark, Peterson was wise enough to know that mass seduction requires tenderness and charm as well as technique.
 
Bellow, clip suggested by JazzWax:
Here's a clip of Oscar Peterson backing Nat King Cole on Tenderly in 1957 during an appearance by Jazz at the Philharmonic musicians on Nat King Cole's TV show. Notice Cole's hand move instinctively to the top of the stool to play as the camera pans to Peterson at the start of his solo. And dig the brief flash of mutual admiration at the end as pianist Cole bows slightly to a gleaming Peterson...


http://www.jazzwax.com/2010/02/oscar-peterson-duo-sessions.html

Oscar Peterson about his friend Niels

My heart is heavy and yet grateful and happy. Heavy with the realization that Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen has left this earth; happy with the thought that this gifted brother and fellow musician did not suffer with a delayed departure filled with pain and remorse.
From the first night that my dear friend Audrey Genovese of Chicago played a Dexter Gordon record that featured Niels Pedersen on bass, I realized that this musical giant and I might someday have the pleasure and occasion of not just meeting, but also playing together. After hearing this phenomenal talent on bass, I realized that somehow, someday we should meet, thereby giving me the opportunity to also play with him. This vision and thought took place in the early 1970s, when I was fortunate enough to be able to invite him to join my then trio. This came about due to the fact that the bassist I was using at that time could not return to his home country in Europe because he was worried that he would be interred by the Soviet Union, due to his behavior at some embassy function. Norman Granz entered the picture, and with his usual directional thinking, simply said, "Why don't you use Niels Pedersen?" for an upcoming concert that my group had in one of the then Iron Curtain countries. Norman contacted Niels and reached an agreement for him to do that one particular concert behind the Curtain, thereby alleviating any chance of political upheaval. I vividly remember Niels stepping in without any fanfare (or rehearsal) for that particular concert. This turned out to be a totally impromptu performance. I selected tunes that I had obtained an OK from Niels about, and believe it or not, we managed to have a wonderful performance that evening, filled with exciting spontaneity and musical searching into each other's jazz thinkings.

After the concert, I immediately thanked Niels and told him how much I enjoyed playing with him, even considering the unexpected spontaneity that we had to work through. The audience seemed to have really enjoyed the evening. The following day I called Norman and apparently was overly excited about the immediate cohesion that took place between Niels and myself the evening before. With his usual ad lib and spontaneous reaction, Norman simply said, "If it was that good to play with him, why don't you use him as your regular bassist?" Needless to say, I am happy that this took place, and Niels has remained in my group until his recent unfortunate passing. Allow me to express my reaction to his playing this way: first and foremost, he never got in my way, but in reality virtually had such a great musical perception of what I was trying to do that he served to greatly inspire me from a spontaneous aspect. I came off walking on Cloud 3000 that evening because of Niels' musical contribution. He had the most phenomenal technique, coupled with incredible harmonic perception, along with impeccable time. I shall never forget that evening.

Almost from that evening on, we became very close friends, not just musically but most certainly personally, for I developed a great admiration for the depth of Niels' political, geographical and personal understandings. He was a man that had an almost unbelievable wealth of historic cognizance pertaining to European history. He also had a very kindred spirit as a human being, always able to easily make good friends, should he care to do so. People in general that got to know Niels the man, grew to love him apart from his unbelievable musical talent and dexterity on his instrument. I think I can afford to make this kind of evaluation of him, for I have had the good fortune to have played with some of the other great bassists in jazz over time. I used to marvel at the respect and love (and almost musical fear) that I saw in some of jazz's best bassists whenever they were around Niels. One point that I must make here that perhaps is not known by many people, is that Niels could also play the piano (many times sitting in for me in the pre-concert sound checks). I know he had a great love for the piano, which we saw when on a visit to the Boesendorfer piano showroom, he was lovingly impressed with the Boesendorfer grand that I eventually picked out as my own choice.

Over time, I dubbed (and announced him) as The Viking. He seemed to enjoy this title, and for some reason it stuck to him.

I have had the opportunity of having played with and used some of jazz's best bassists (ie. Sam Jones, Major Holley, and of course Ray Brown). Niels and Ray became fast friends and had a great love and respect for each other. This may seem odd in that they were basically both operating in the same musical medium. I can now say, though I have been asked numerous times before, which of the two I preferred. I can easily answer that query by saying I would have been equally happy for whichever of the two were part of my group at the time. I see no reason to go into some of the musical idiosyncrasies of either of these great players, but I can say that individually they have left an indestructible path and indelible guidelines for all of the future bassists of jazz. Niels-Henning was a player of unbelievable talent and dexterity, but selfishly speaking, personally, he became my closest friend and brother, and I shall never forget him or his talent. God bless you, Niels, and may you brighten up the musical world in Heaven as you have done on this earth.
http://oscarpeterson.com/musicalmoments/

Oscar Peterson....

Internationally renowned, Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson has entertained the world with his mastery and prowess over the piano for over 40 years. Born in a limestone house on Montreal's Delisle Street on August 15, 1925, he was the fourth of five children to his parents, Daniel and Kathleen. All of the Peterson children (Fred, Daisy, Charles, Oscar and May) were introduced to music in a good way before any of them can remember. Their father, a porter with Canadian Pacific Railways who learned to play piano on his own while in the merchant marine, taught his children all he could until they achieved a certain proficiency. It was at this point, during his high school years, that Oscar came to study with an accomplished classical pianist, Hungarian Paul de Marky, who taught Oscar "technique and speedy fingers". He also helped Oscar come to believe that he had something special to give to the music world.

Some of the artists who influenced Oscar during the early years were Teddy Williams, Nat (King) Cole, James P. Johnson and the legendary Art Tatum, who many have tried to compare Oscar to in later years. In fact, one of Oscar's first exposures to the musical talents of Art Tatum came early in his teen years when his father played an Art Tatum record to him and Oscar was so intimidated by what he heard that he didn't touch the piano for over a month.

In his last years of high school, Oscar played in a band called the Montreal High School Victory Serenaders with trumpeter Maynard Ferguson. He got permission to play the baby grand piano during the lunch hours and in his words this was "the best way to have a bunch of girls come down. I became the guy."

At 14 years of age, Oscar's older sister Daisy got him to audition for a CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) national amateur contest which he went on to win. This opened the doors to performances on a weekly broadcast show, on a Montreal radio station, called Fifteen Minutes' Piano Rambling and later performances on a national CBC broadcast called The Happy Gang. Finally, when algebra couldn't banish musical arrangements, Oscar asked to drop out of high school. His father told him that he couldn't "let him leave high school to be a jazz piano player. You have to be the best, there is no second best." And so his music career began...

AWARDS
1962 Received the Edison Award, Grand Gala du Disque for "The Trio Live from Chicago"
1972 Appointed Officer in the Order of Canada
1973 Given the Award of Merit by the City of Toronto
1975 Honours from the Alpha Omega Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity
1975 Received the Diplome d'Honneur from the Canadian Conference of the Arts
1976 Given The Olympic Key to Montreal
1977 Received the Queen's Medal
1978 Received the Genie Award for the Best Film Score - "The Silent Partner"
1979 May 26, 1979 declared "Oscar Peterson Day" in Dade County, Florida

1981 Awarded the Grand Prix du Disque for the 'Night Child" album
1982 Given Honourary Lifetime Membership in the Montreal Musicians Association
1982 Oscar Peterson Scholarship founded by Berklee College of Music, Boston, Mass.
1983 Given the Award of Merit by the City of Toronto
1983 August 31, 1983 declared "Oscar Peterson Day" in Baltimore, Maryland
1984 Elected to Board of Directors at the Credit Valley Hospital, Mississauga, Ontario
1984 Given the Award of Merit by the Harry Jerome Awards
1984 Promoted to Companion in the Order of Canada
1985 Received the Blue Note Award for Outstanding Excellence in the Jazz Idiom
1987 Given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Black Theatre Workshop, Montreal
1987 Awarded the George Peabody Medal by The Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore, Maryland.
1987 Given the Arts and Letters Award by the Canadian Club of New York
1987 Given the Roy Thompson Hall Award for Volunteerism, Toronto
1988 Awarded the Certificate of Merit and Appreciation from the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission
1989 Appointed Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters, France

1990 July 18, 1990 declared "Ray Brown and Oscar Peterson Day" in Los Angeles
1991 Appointed Chevalier de l'Ordre du Quebec
1991 Given the Toronto Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement
1992 Received the Great Canadian Medal from the MacLachlan College & Preparatory School
1992 Appointed to Membership in the Order of Ontario
1992 Awarded the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement
1993 Awarded the Glenn Gould Prize
1993 Received the Gemini Award for Best Original Music Score in a Program or Mini-series "In The Key of Oscar"
1995 Received the "Three Key Award" from the Bern International Jazz Festival
1995 Received the ISPA International Award for Outstanding Contribution of Creative Talent and Inspiration to the World of Jazz
1997 Awarded the Loyola Medal by Concordia University
1997 Received the Jazz at Lincoln Center Award for Artistic Excellence
1999 Concordia University Concert Hall renamed Oscar Peterson Concert Hall.
1999 Received the Praemium Imperiale Award, Nobel equivalent for the Arts
2000 Album "The Trio" designated as Masterwork by the Audio/Visual Preservation Trust, Government of Canada.
2000 Received a citation from President Clinton in acknowledgement of achievements in the field of Music
2000 Received the Society for American Music Award for contributions to the study and performance of American Music.
2000 Awarded the UNESCO International Music Prize.
2001 Awarded the Skynet Internet Person of the Year Award.
2001 Given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Atlanta International Jazz Society.
2001 Received a Commendation from the U.S. House of Representatives in recognition of contributions to society.
2001 Week of Aug. 28 - Sept. 2, 2001 declared "Oscar Peterson Week" in San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland, California.
2002 Awarded the first Lifetime Achievement Award by the Boesendorfer Piano Company of Austria.
2002 Awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Urban Music Association of Canada.
2003 Awarded the President's Award from the International Association for Jazz Education.
2003 Inducted into the Order of the Musketeers of Armagnac.
2003 Received the Civic Award of Merit from the City of Mississauga (Sept.10)
2003 Announcement of street named Oscar Peterson Boulevard in Mississauga (Sept.10)
2003 First Inductee into the Mississauga Arts Hall of Fame (Sept.10)
2003 Received the Austrian Cross of Honour for Artistic & Cultural Achievement (Nov.20)
2003 Oscar Peterson stamp issued by the Austrian Government (Nov.19)
2004 Distinguished Canadian Leadership Award, presented by the University of Ottawa in October
2004 Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame Award, presented in November
2005 July 2, 2005: BBC-Radio Lifetime Achievement Award, London, England
2005 August 15, 2005: Commemorative stamp issued by Canada Post; the first time someone still living has been honored with a stamp (other than the reigning monarch!)
2005 September 6, 2005: Official opening day of the Oscar Peterson Public School, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

HONOURARY DEGREES CONFERRED
1973 Carleton University - Doctor of Laws
1976 Queen's University - Doctor of Laws
1979 Concordian University - Doctor of Laws
1980 Mount Alison, Sackville N.B. - Doctor of Music
1981 McMaster University - Doctor of Laws
1981 University of Victoria, B.C. - Doctor of Laws
1982 York University - Doctor of Letters
1983 Northwestern University, Illinois - Doctor of Fine Arts
1985 University of Toronto - Doctor of Laws
1985 University of Laval - Doctor of Music
1991 York University: Installed as Chancellor by the Board of Governors
1994 York University: Chancellor Emeritus
1994 Western Ontario Conservatory of Music - Licentiate in Music Diploma
1994 University of British Columbia - Doctor of Laws
1996 Niagara University, New York - Doctor of Fine Arts
1999 University of Western Ontario - Doctor of Laws
http://www.oscarpeterson.com/bio/