R2OK!

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

The death of Oscar Peterson was announced over Christmas - http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article3284870.ece

Like everyone who is at the top of their game, he made playing the piano look and sound easy, even when he was improvising. It also looked very light of touch - Jamie Cullum and Harry Connick Jr always cite Peterson as inspiration but he never treated his instrument with such heavy-handed (or footed) disrespect.

I came late to jazz, and still cannot get into the more modern, intricate improvisational or ambient side of it. Oscar Peterson's deft and swinging style led me into it, and, even though he did the improvisational thing, he never seemed to wander so far off the melody as to lose it, and most of the audience, completely.

The description of virtuoso pianist seems totally inadequate - the musical world (let alone the jazz one) has lost one of its truly great artists.
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Ron

John W · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 3367 Location: Warwickshire, UK

Me too RockitRon. Peterson was one of my early jazz interests, on the BBC2 TV programmes of the 1960s when they had weekly jazz and classical in their schedule.

I bought one Peterson album, still got it.

John W