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Oscar Emmanuel Peterson is a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was born on August 15, 1925 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, .He began learning trumpet and piano from his father at the age of five, but by the age of seven, after a bout of tuberculosis, he concentrated on the piano. He soon developed a reputation as a technically brilliant and melodically inventive jazz pianist, and became a regular on radio. He first appeared at Carnegie Hall in 1949.
Some of his musical associates have included Ray Brown, Herb EllisMitchell Herbert (Herb) Ellis (born in 1921) is an American jazz guitarist. He became prominent after performing with the Oscar Peterson Trio from 1953 to 1958. Before that he had worked with Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, Jimmy Dorsey, and Soft W, Ed ThigpenEdmund Leonard (Ed) Thigpen (born December 28, 1930) is an American jazz drummer. His father Ben played drums with Andy Kirk. Ed's first job with a major orchestra was with Cootie Williams in 1951 and 1952. After working with Dinah Washington, Lennie Tris, Niels-Henning Ørsted PedersenNiels-Henning Orsted Pedersen (born May 27, 1946) is a Danish jazz bassist known for his impressive technique and an approach that could be considered an extension of the innovative work of Scott LaFaro. Pedersen began his professional jazz career in Denm, Louis ArmstrongLouis Daniel Armstrong ( August 4, 19011 July 6, 1971) (also known by the nickname Satchmo was an African American jazz musician. Probably the most famous jazz musician of the 20th century, Armstrong was a charismatic, innovative performer whose musical s, Ella FitzgeraldCarl Van Vechten, 1940 Ella Fitzgerald ( April 25, 1917 June 15, 1996), also known as Lady Ella was one of the most important jazz singers, and the winner of thirteen Grammy Awards. Gifted with a three-octave vocal range, she is noted for her purity of to, Clark TerryClark Terry (born December 14, 1920) is an American swing and bop trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He began his professional career in St. Louis, Missouri in the early 1940s. After playing in a U. Navy band during World War II he played with Charlie Barne, and Joe PassJoe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Passalaqua January 13, 1929, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA, died May 23, 1994, Los Angeles, California, USA), was a virtuoso jazz guitarist. One of the greatest solo jazz artists of all time, Joe Pass also ranks as one of th. An important moment of his career was when he joined impresario Norman Granz's labels (especially Verve records), with which he was able to play with the major jazz artists of the moment.
Some of the artists who influenced Oscar during the early years were Teddy Wilson, 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 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 a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement and an International Jazz Hall of Fame Award, proof that Oscar Peterson is still regarded as one of the greatest jazz musicians ever to play.
His work has earned him seven Grammy awards over the years and he was elected to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1978. He also belongs to the Juno Awards Hall of Fame and the Canadian Jazz and Blues Hall of Fame .
He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1972, and promoted to Companion, its highest rank, in 1984. He is also a member of the Order of Ontario, a Chevalier of the Ordre du Québec , and an officer of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres .
He has received the Roy Thomson Award (1987), a Toronto Arts Award for lifetime achievement (1991), the Governor General's Performing Arts Award (1992), the Glenn Gould Prize (1993), the award of the International Society for Performing Artists (1995), the Loyola Medal of Concordia University (1997), the Praemium Imperiale World Art Award (1999), the UNESCO Music Prize (2000), and the Toronto Musicians' Association Musician of the Year award (2001).
From 1991 to 1994 he was chancellor of York University in Toronto.
In 2004 the City of Toronto named the courtyard of the Toronto-Dominion Centre Oscar Peterson Square.
His prolific recording output includes
- Exclusively for My Friends
- Oscar Peterson Plays Duke Ellington ( 1953)
- Oscar Peterson Plays the Duke Ellington Song Book ( 1959)
- West Side Story: Oscar Peterson Trio ( 1962)
- Night Train ( 1962)
- Canadiana Suite ( 1963)
- Hymn to Freedom ( 1964)
- We Get Requests ( 1964)
- Easter Suite ( 1984)
- Oscar Peterson Plays the Duke Ellington Song Book ( 1999) -- combined reissue of the 1953 and 1959 Ellington recordings
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