I just read that Oscar Peterson died of kidney failure at his home today. He was 82 years old.
A true jazz great whose influence is far reaching.
From the Oscar Peterson bio:
"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."
...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...
"
This is him playing 'So What' with Miles Davis:
On Wednesday 28th, 2007 Peterson posted on his website with the post title of 'Welcome To My New Beginning'. It looked like he was ready to rise to new challenges and explore an ever changing world.
So, to Oscar Peterson and his family I say RIP sir. Thank you for all that you brought to us.
To all regular readers- thanks for supporting me with comments, emails, etc. it is all very much appreciated.
To the artists and labels that I have gotten to know, especailly during this past year, thank you for supporting CubikMusik and for giving us such good music.
To the blogs and sites out there that link to CubikMusik-thank you for doing so, without so many of you I'd be hard pressed to have many people dropping by.
To new readers-welcome to CubikMusik. I hope you enjoy what you find here. Please feel free to comment, email any feedback.
To my parents back home in Ireland I wanna tell them to turn this up loud and to hold each other close as they have a little Christmas waltz around the living room as their kids and grandkids sit and watch them.
To everyone reading this-have a great Christmas and may 2008 be filled with great times with family, friends, laughter, success (however you may measure it) and of course great music.
I sincerely look forward to contributing to all the above in some way shape or form as we move into the new year.
With that, here is the amazingly beautiful 'Christmas Waltz' by Oscar Peterson.
Cheers.
C
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