Missed in the Holiday Hubbub: Oscar Peterson, R.I.P.
Oscar Peterson, the legendary jazz musician, died on Sunday. He is special to me because it was hearing one of his pieces performed with his trio that made me understand, finally, what the big deal about Jazz was.
It was summer band camp, and I was taking, for the heck of it, a jazz piano class. Never had played jazz piano, and never really done jazz before, but my teacher taught me the circle of fifths, and then the blues, and then added in seventh chords and scales…all of which was ok, but not real exciting. It was all just on the paper - I couldn’t actually hear the phrases.
Until I heard Oscar’s piano, and the sheer virtuosity and lushness of his music cut right through the ignorance. I’d never even considered that a piano could sound like that; it was overwhelming. I played in the camp’s final concert (and that’s why my first piano performance was in a concert hall on a 12 foot grand…it’s been all downhill since) and I’ve never really gotten as good at jazz piano as I’d've liked…but still, I have to thank him.
A more thorough (and more informed) article about his work is available at the About Last Night blog.
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POSTED IN: Life in the Performing Arts, Music, Performing Artist Profiles
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