Oscar Peterson

A world-class pianist and jazz great who has delighted audiences in Canada and around the world, Oscar Peterson was 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. Along with his brothers and sisters, Fred, Daisy, Charles, and May, Oscar was introduced to music before he could remember. His father, a porter with Canadian Pacific Railways, taught himself to play the piano while in the merchant marine: he then taught his children all he could.

During Oscar’s high school years, he began to study with an accomplished Hungarian classical pianist, Paul de Marky. He taught Oscar "technique and speedy fingers". Oscar also played in a band called the Montreal High School Victory Serenaders with trumpeter Maynard Ferguson and other band members Percy Ferguson, Nick Ayoub and Al Baculis. He received permission to play the school’s baby grand piano during his lunch hours and, in his words, it was "the best way to have a bunch of girls come down. I became the guy."

Oscar's older sister Daisy convinced him to audition for a CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) national amateur contest. He won the competition, and then was featured nationally on the CBC’s “Light Up and Listen” and “The Happy Gang”.

During this time, Oscar began courting Lillie Fraser of Montreal who, little more than a year later, became Mrs. Oscar Peterson in 1944.

In these early years, Oscar won the Ken Soble amateur radio show and began his own studio program, “Fifteen Minutes Piano Rambling”, on CKAC in Montreal. Soon thereafter, he became a member of the Johnny Holmes Orchestra, and in 1947 he formed his first Canadian trio. He was signed by RCA Victor Records and made various tours across Canada.

By late 1947, Oscar was leading a trio at the Alberta Lounge in Montreal. The group included Ozzie Roberts on bass and Clarence Jones on drums. Soon a local radio station began to broadcast live from the Alberta show once a week. Through this broadcast, Oscar met Norman Granz, the producer of Jazz at the Philharmonic.

Norman Granz made good on his plans to bring Oscar to New York to play as a surprise guest at the Carnegie Hall performance of his “Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic”. Oscar came up from the audience that night and played a duo with bassist Ray Brown. He soon commenced recording for Granz under his Verve label.

Shortly after his appearance at Carnegie Hall, Oscar joined the Jazz at the Philharmonic and began touring North America with the troupe and then internationally in Europe, Africa, South America, the Far East, and the Soviet Union. For the first two years he played primarily with Ray Brown on bass but in the third season, Norman wanted Oscar to move from a duo to a trio.

Oscar’s first trio included Charlie Smith on drums. However, Oscar soon moved to a piano, bass, and guitar format, working with Irving Ashby (who also worked with Nat Cole) and Barney Kessel for approximately a year. When Kessel left at the end of the touring year, Oscar had to find his own replacement, and acting on an idea from Ray Brown, he asked Herb Ellis to complete the Oscar Peterson Trio. The Peterson-Ellis-Brown trio then toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic in North America and Europe. They made their debut in Japan in 1953, and became known as one of the greatest jazz combos of the time. By the end of 1958 Herb Ellis reluctantly decided to retire from the combo; Oscar, acting on Ray Brown's suggestion, called upon drummer Ed Thigpen to create the next great trio of Peterson-Brown-Thigpen. Ed Thigpen was "the thinking man's drummer", and a whole new trio was born: in this trio, Oscar could play the way he wanted to play.

In 1960, Oscar, Ray, Ed, Butch Watanabe and composer Phil Nimmons opened the Advanced School of Contemporary Music in Toronto, Ontario. However, financial difficulties forced the doors to close after only three years of operation.

During 1962 Oscar and his trio faced a grueling recording and touring schedule that resulted in the production of seven studio albums and four live albums within the year.

In 1964 Oscar's first major composition, “Canadiana Suite”, was released. During this time, Oscar was invited to play a private engagement for Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer, a German millionaire with a passion for jazz music and audio recording technology. The two men forged a bond despite the language barrier, and Oscar returned to record in Germany with Hans Georg several more times. Some of the best recordings of Oscar's work, both with the trio and as a soloist, resulted from these sessions.

In 1965, Ed Thigpen, tiring of life on the road, decided to leave the trio. Later that year, Ray Brown also decided to leave the hectic road schedule behind him.

Several new versions of the Oscar Peterson Trio emerged, with first Louis Hayes and then Bobby Durham replacing Ed Thigpen on drums; Sam Jones eventually took over bass for Ray Brown . Oscar continued to record with Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer, who had by now formed his own record label. These sessions resulted in fifteen albums, including an orchestral accompaniment, two solo releases and a quartet including Bobby Durham, Sam Jones and Herb Ellis on guitar.

Peterson was finally recognized by Canadians for his outstanding achievements, and became invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada. With the creation of Norman Granz's new recording company, Oscar began touring and recording with his next great guitar trio, composed of Joe Pass on guitar and Niels Pederson on bass.

Norman Granz, along with the Government of Canada, took the Oscar Peterson Trio, including Jake Hannon and Niels Pederson, on tour in Russia. Unfortunately, the tour had to be cut short due to difficulties with travel arrangements and a lack of commitment from the Russian organizers.

Oscar is very accomplished as a composer, and one of his earliest works is the “Canadiana Suite” (1963), which earned him international acclaim. Some of his other major works include “Hallelujah Time”, “African Suite”, “Blues for Smedley”, “The Smudge”, “Bossa Beguine” and “Hymn to Freedom”. “Hymn to Freedom” became one of the crusade hymns of the Civil Rights Movement. Another composition, the soundtrack for Norman McLaren’s NFB film Begone Dull Care (1949) was well received all over the world, and he won a Canadian Film Award in 1978 for his work on the movie thriller The Silent Partner.

Oscar has starred in and hosted several television programs and specials. He was host of CTV’s “Oscar Peterson Presents” and BBC TV’s “Piano Party” in the mid-1970s, and in 1980 he appeared on the CBC series “Oscar Peterson and Friends”. Since then, he has appeared on various programs on French and English television.

Oscar has won many awards throughout his career. In 1950, he was voted best jazz pianist for the year by the readers of Down Beat, an award he would receive for twelve years. He was named Officer of the Order Of Canada in 1972 and promoted to Companion in 1984; he received the Queen’s Medal in 1977; he became a member of the Juno Awards Hall of Fame in 1978; and in 1989 was made an Officer of Arts and Letters in France.

He has received seven Grammy Awards and eleven Grammy nominations, and he won a Juno in 1987. In 1991, he was the recipient of the Toronto Arts Awards for lifetime achievement. He holds ten honorary doctorates from American and Canadian universities, and in 1991, he became Chancellor of York University in Toronto.

Before long Oscar began touring less, instead composing more and playing more solo recitals. However, a joyful reunion with Herb Ellis and Ray Brown in 1991 resulted in four separate album releases.

In 1993, Oscar suffered a serious stroke that weakened his left side and sidelined him for two years. However, he has overcome this setback and is today still touring, recording and composing as ever before. In 1997 he received an International Jazz Hall of Fame Award, proof that Oscar Peterson is still regarded as one of the greatest jazz musicians ever to play.