Mel Tormé

Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books. He composed the music for the classic holiday song "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") and co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells.

Melvin Howard Tormé was born in Chicago, Illinois, to immigrant Russian Jewish parents, whose surname had been Torma. However, the name was changed at Ellis Island to "Torme." A child prodigy, he first sang professionally at age 4 with the Coon-Sanders Orchestra, singing "You're Driving Me Crazy" at Chicago's Blackhawk restaurant.
Between 1933 and 1941, he acted in the network radio serials The Romance of Helen Trent and Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy. He wrote his first song at 13, and three years later, his first published song, "Lament to Love," became a hit recording for Harry James. He played drums in Chicago's Shakespeare Elementary School drum and bugle corps in his early teens. While a teenager, he sang, arranged, and played drums in a band led by Chico Marx of the Marx Brothers. His formal education ended in 1944 with his graduation from Chicago's Hyde Park High School.

In 1943, Tormé made his movie debut in Frank Sinatra's first film, the musical Higher and Higher. He went on to sing and act in many films and television episodes throughout his career, even hosting his own television show in 1951–52. His appearance in the 1947 film musical Good News made him a teen idol for a few years.
In 1944 he formed the vocal quintet "Mel Tormé and His Mel-Tones," modeled on Frank Sinatra and The Pied Pipers. The Mel-Tones, which included Les Baxter and Ginny O'Connor, had several hits fronting Artie Shaw's band and on their own, including Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love?" The Mel-Tones were among the first jazz-influenced vocal groups,[citation needed] blazing a path later followed by The Hi-Lo's, The Four Freshmen, and The Manhattan Transfer.

Later in 1947, Tormé went solo. His singing at New York's Copacabana led a local disc jockey, Fred Robbins, to give him the nickname "The Velvet Fog," thinking to honor his high tenor and smooth vocal style, but Tormé detested the nickname. (He self-deprecatingly referred to it as "this Velvet Frog voice".[citation needed]) As a solo singer, he recorded several romantic hits for Decca (1945), and with the Artie Shaw Orchestra on the Musicraft label (1946–48). In 1949, he moved to Capitol Records, where his first record, "Careless Hands," became his only number one hit. His versions of "Again" and "Blue Moon" became signature tunes. His composition "California Suite," prompted by Gordon Jenkins' "Manhattan Tower," became Capitol's first 12-inch LP album. Around this time, he helped pioneer cool jazz.

From 1955 to 1957, Tormé recorded seven jazz vocal albums for Red Clyde's Bethlehem Records, all with groups led by Marty Paich, most notably Mel Tormé with the Marty Paich Dektette. When rock and roll music (which Tormé called "three-chord manure")[citation needed]) came on the scene in the 1950s, commercial success became elusive. During the next two decades, Tormé often recorded mediocre arrangements of the pop tunes of the day, never staying long with any particular label. He was sometimes forced to make his living by singing in obscure clubs. He had two minor hits, his 1956 recording of "Mountain Greenery," which did better in the United Kingdom where it reached #4 in May that year; and his 1962 R&B song "Comin' Home, Baby," arranged by Claus Ogerman. The latter recording led the jazz and gospel singer Ethel Waters to say that "Tormé is the only white man who sings with the soul of a black man." It was later covered instrumentally by Quincy Jones and Kai Winding.

In 1960, he appeared with Don Dubbins in the episode "The Junket" in NBC's short-lived crime drama Dan Raven, starring Skip Homeier and set on the Sunset Strip of West Hollywood. He also had a significant role in a cross-cultural western entitled Walk Like a Dragon staring Jack Lord. Tormé played 'The Deacon', a bible-quoting gunfighter who worked as an enforcer for a lady saloon-owner and teaches a young Chinese, played by James Shigeta, the art of the fast draw. In one scene, he tells a soon-to-be victim: 'Say your prayers, brother Masters. You're a corpse.' And then delivers on the promise. Tormé, like Sammy Davis Jr. and Robert Fuller was a real-life fast-draw expert. He also sang the title song.
In 1963–64, Tormé wrote songs and musical arrangements for The Judy Garland Show, where he made three guest appearances. However, he and Garland had a serious falling out, and he was fired from the series, which was canceled by CBS not long afterward. A few years later, after Garland's death, his time with her show became the subject of his first book, "The Other Side of the Rainbow with Judy Garland on the Dawn Patrol" (1970). Although the book was praised, some felt it painted an unflattering picture of Judy, and that Tormé had perhaps over-inflated his own contributions to the program; it led to an unsuccessful lawsuit by Garland's family.

Tormé befriended Buddy Rich, the day Rich left the Marine Corps in 1942. Rich became the subject of Tormé's book Traps — The Drum Wonder: The Life of Buddy Rich (1987). Tormé also owned and played a drum set that drummer Gene Krupa used for many years. George Spink, treasurer of the Jazz Institute of Chicago from 1978 to 1981, recalled that Tormé played this drum set at the 1979 Chicago Jazz Festival with Benny Goodman on the classic "Sing, Sing, Sing." Tormé had a deep appreciation for classical music; especially that of Frederick Delius and Percy Grainger.

The resurgence of vocal jazz in the 1970s resulted in another artistically fertile period for Tormé, whose live performances during the 1960s and 1970s fueled a growing reputation as a jazz singer. He found himself performing as often as 200 times a year around the globe. In 1976, he won an Edison Award (the Dutch equivalent of the Grammy) for best male singer, and a Down Beat award for best male jazz singer.[citation needed] For several years around this time, his September appearances at Michael's Pub on the Upper East Side would unofficially open New York's fall cabaret season. Tormé viewed his 1977 Carnegie Hall concert with George Shearing and Gerry Mulligan as a turning point. Shearing later said:
"It is impossible to imagine a more compatible musical partner… I humbly put forth that Mel and I had the best musical marriage in many a year. We literally breathed together during our countless performances. As Mel put it, we were two bodies of one musical mind."
Starting in 1982, Tormé recorded several albums with Concord Records, including:
Five albums with pianist George Shearing;
His big band work with Rob McConnell and his Boss Brass orchestra (see Mel Tormé, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass);

A reunion with Marty Paich, resulting in a live recording in Tokyo (In Concert Tokyo) and a studio album (Reunion).
In the 80s and 90s, Mel's trio often included pianist John Colianni, bassist Jennifer Leitham, drummer Donny Osborne, as well as famed New Zealand pianist Carl Doy.
In 1993, Verve Records released the classic "Blue Moon" album featuring the Velvet voice and the Rodgers and Hart Songbook. His version of Blue Moon performed live at the "Sands" in November that year earned him a new nickname from older audiences: "The Blue Fox." The nickname was used to describe Tormé's performance after spending an extra hour with pianist Bill Butler cracking jokes and answering queries from a throng of more "mature" women who turned out to see the show. Under the shimmering blue lights at the Sands, he gained a new nickname that would endure for every future performance in Las Vegas and his last performance at Carnegie Hall. Tormé would develop other nicknames later in life, but none seemed as popular as the Velvet Fog (primarily on the East Coast) and the Blue Fox.

Tormé made nine guest appearances as himself on the 1980s situation comedy Night Court whose main character, Judge Harry Stone (played by Harry Anderson), was depicted as an unabashed Tormé fan (an admiration that Anderson shared in real-life; Anderson would later deliver the eulogy at Tormé's funeral) which led to a following among Generation Xers along with a series of Mountain Dew commercials and on an episode of the sitcom Seinfeld ("The Jimmy"), in which he dedicates a song to the character Kramer. Tormé also recorded a version of Nat King Cole's "Straighten up and Fly Right" with his son, alternative/adult contemporary/jazz singer Steve March Tormé.[citation needed] Tormé was also able to work with his other son, television writer-producer Tracy Tormé on Sliders. The 1996 episode, entitled "Greatfellas," sees Tormé playing an alternate version of himself: a country-and-western singer who is also an FBI informant.
In a scene in the 1988 Warner Bros. cartoon Night of the Living Duck, Daffy Duck has to sing in front of several monsters, but lacks a good singing voice. So, he inhales a substance called "Eau de Tormé" and sings like Mel Tormé (who in fact provided the voice during this one scene, while Mel Blanc provided Daffy's voice during most of the cartoon).

On August 8, 1996, a stroke abruptly ended his 65-year singing career. In February 1999, Tormé was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Another stroke in 1999 ended his life. In his eulogistic essay, John Andrews wrote about Tormé:
"Tormé's style shared much with that of his idol, Ella Fitzgerald. Both were firmly rooted in the foundation of the swing era, but both seemed able to incorporate bebop innovations to keep their performances sounding fresh and contemporary. Like Sinatra, they sang with perfect diction and brought out the emotional content of the lyrics through subtle alterations of phrasing and harmony. Ballads were characterized by paraphrasing of the original melody which always seemed tasteful, appropriate and respectful to the vision of the songwriter. Unlike Sinatra, both Fitzgerald and Tormé were likely to cut loose during a swinging up-tempo number with several scat choruses, using their voices without words to improvise a solo like a brass or reed instrument."



Melvin Howard Tormé (13 de septiembre de 1925 – 5 de junio de 1999), apodado The Velvet Fog, fue un músico estadounidense, uno de los grandes cantantes de jazz. También fue compositor de jazz, arreglista, percusionista, actor de radio, cine y televisión, y autor de cinco libros.

Nacido en Chicago, Illinois, sus padres eran inmigrantes rusos judíos1 de nombre Torma. Niño prodigio, cantó por primera vez de manera profesional a los cuatro años de edad con la Coon-Sanders Orchestra, interpretando "You're Driving Me Crazy" en el restaurante Blackhawk de Chicago. Entre 1933 y 1941 actuó en los seriales radiofónicos The Romance of Helen Trent y Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy. Escribió su primera canción a los 13 años, y tres después, su primer tema publicado, "Lament to Love," fue un éxito con la grabación de Harry James. Tocó la batería en la Shakespeare Elementary School de Chicago siendo adolescente. En esa época cantaba, arreglaba y tocaba la batería en una banda liderada por Chico Marx, uno de los Hermanos Marx. Su educación formal finalizó en 1944 con su graduación en la Hyde Park Career Academy de Chicago.
En 1943 Tormé debutó en el cine con la primera película de Frank Sinatra, el musical Higher and Higher. A lo largo de su carrera cantó y actuó en numerosos filmes y episodios televisivos, incluso presentando su propio show televisivo en 1951–52. Su actuación en el film musical de 1947 Good News le convirtió durante años en un ídolo de los adolescentes.
En ese año también formó el quinteto vocal "Mel Tormé and His Mel-Tones," inspirado en el de Frank Sinatra con The Pied Pipers. The Mel-Tones, en el cual se incluía Les Baxter y Ginny O'Connor, tenían varios éxitos, entre ellos el de Cole Porter "What Is This Thing Called Love?". The Mel-Tones eran unos de los primeros grupos vocales influenciados por el jazz, abriendo un camino seguido más adelante por The Hi-Lo's, The Four Freshmen, y Manhattan Transfer.

Más adelante, en 1947, Tormé actuó solo. Su canto en el club neoyorkino Copacabana hizo que un disc jockey local, Fred Robbins, le diera el apodo de "The Velvet Fog", el cual Tormé detestaba. Como solista grabó varios éxitos románticos para Decca Records (1945). Con la orquesta de Artie Shaw grabó para el sello Musicraft Records (1946–48). En 1949 se pasó a Capitol Records, donde su primera grabación, "Careless Hands," fue su único número uno de las listas. Sus versiones de "Again" y "Blue Moon" se convirtieron en melodías características. Su composición "California Suite" facilitó que el disco de Gordon Jenkins "Manhattan Tower" fuera el primer LP de Capitol.
Entre 1955 y 1957 Tormé grabó siete álbumes de jazz vocal para Bethlehem Records, todos con grupos liderados por Marty Paich, destacando Mel Tormé with the Marty Paich Dektette. Estas grabaciones fueron un éxito creativo, tanto para Tormé como para Paich.

Cuando el rock and roll llegó en la década de 1950, el éxito comercial se hizo elusivo. Durante las siguientes dos décadas, Tormé a menudo grababa arreglos mediocres de las melodías pop del momento, sin trabajar específicamente para sello alguno. A veces tuvo que ganarse la vida actuando en clubes. Tuvo dos éxitos menores, su grabación de 1956 de "Mountain Greenery," y su tema de Rhythm and blues de 1962 "Comin' Home, Baby," arreglado por Claus Ogerman. La segunda de las grabaciones hizo que la cantante de jazz y gospel Ethel Waters dijera que "Tormé es el único blanco que canta con el alma de un negro."
En 1960 actuó junto a Don Dubbins en el episodio "The Junket", en la serie televisiva de la NBC Dan Raven, protagonizada por Skip Homeier.
En 1963–64, Tormé escribió canciones y arreglos musicales para The Judy Garland Show, y actuó en dos ocasiones como artista invitado en el programa. Sin embargo, ambos discutieron, y él fue despedido de la serie, la cual fue cancelada por la CBS poco después.
Entre los libros que escribió Mel Tormé se incluyen "Wynner" (1979), "It Wasn't All Velvet" (1988) y "My Singing Teachers Reflections on Singing Popular Music" (1994).
Tormé hizo amistad con el percusionista Buddy Rich el día en que Rich dejó el ejército en 1942. Rich aparecía en el libro de Tormé Traps—The Drum Wonder: The Life of Buddy Rich (1987).
El resurgir del jazz vocal en la década de 1970 resultó en otro fértil período para Tormé, cuyas actuaciones en directo en los años sesenta y setenta le dieron una creciente reputación como cantante de jazz. Llegó a actuar hasta 200 veces en un año. En 1976 ganó un Premio Edison (equivalente holandés del Grammy) y un Premio Downbeat al mejor cantante masculino.

A partir de 1982, Tormé grabó varios álbumes con Concord Records, incluyendo:
Cinco discos con el pianista George Shearing;
Un trabajo de big band con Rob McConnell y su orquesta Boss Brass;
Una grabación en directo con Marty Paich en Tokio y un disco de estudio.
Además, en los años ochenta a menudo actuaba junto al pianista John Colianni.
Tormé actuó en nueve ocasiones como él mismo en la serie televisiva de la década de 1980 Juzgado de guardia, cuyo principal personaje, el Juez Harry Stone (interpretado por Harry Anderson), era un fan de Tormé (admiración que Anderson compartía en la vida real). A mediados de los noventa Tormé se dio a conocer por los integrantes de la Generación X interviniendo en comerciales de Mountain Dew y en un episodio de la serie Seinfeld, en el cual dedicaba una canción al personaje Cosmo Kramer. Tormé también grabó una versión del tema de Nat King Cole "Straighten up and Fly Right" con su hijo, el cantante Steve March Tormé.
Así mismo Tormé trabajó con su otro hijo, el guionista y productor televisivo Tracy Tormé, en un episodio de la serie de Tracy, Sliders.

En febrero de 1999, Tormé fue galardonado con el Grammy a una vida dedicada al mundo de la música. El 8 de agosto de 1996 sufrió un accidente cerebrovascular, finalizando su carrera abruptamente a causa del mismo. En 1999 sufrió otro ictus, falleciendo a causa del mismo. Su muerte tuvo lugar en Los Ángeles, California.

Ben Webster

Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973), a.k.a. "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. Known affectionately as "The Brute", he had a tough, raspy, and brutal tone on stomps (with his own distinctive growls), yet on ballads he played with warmth and sentiment. Stylistically he was indebted to alto star Johnny Hodges, who, he said, taught him to play his instrument.

Webster learned to play piano and violin at an early age, before learning to play the saxophone, although he did return to the piano from time to time, even recording on the instrument occasionally. Once Budd Johnson showed him some basics on the saxophone, Webster began to play that instrument in the Young Family Band (which at the time included Lester Young). Kansas City at this point was a melting pot from which emerged some of the biggest names in 1930s jazz, and Webster joined Bennie Moten's legendary 1932 band that included Count Basie, Oran Page and Walter Page. This era has been recreated in Robert Altman's film Kansas City.
Webster spent time with quite a few orchestras in the 1930s, including Andy Kirk, the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra in 1934, then Benny Carter, Willie Bryant, Cab Calloway, and the short-lived Teddy Wilson big band.

Playing with Duke Ellington's orchestra for the first time in 1935, by 1940 Ben Webster had become its first major tenor soloist. He credited Johnny Hodges, Ellington's alto soloist, as a major influence on his playing. During the next three years he was on many famous recordings, including "Cotton Tail" and "All Too Soon"; his contribution (together with that of bassist Jimmy Blanton) was so important that Ellington's orchestra during that period is known as the Blanton–Webster band. Webster left the band in 1943 after an angry altercation, during which he allegedly cut up one of Ellington's suits.
After leaving Ellington in 1943, Webster worked on 52nd Street in New York City; recorded frequently as both a leader and a sideman; had short periods with Raymond Scott, John Kirby, and Sid Catlett, as well as with Jay McShann's band, which also featured blues shouter Jimmy Witherspoon. In 1948 he returned briefly to the Ellington orchestra for a few months.

In 1953 he recorded King of the Tenors with pianist Oscar Peterson, who would be an important collaborator for Webster throughout the decade. Along with Peterson, trumpeter Harry 'Sweets' Edison and others he was by now touring and recording with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic organisation. Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster with fellow tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins was recorded on December 16, 1957 along with Peterson, Herb Ellis (guitar), Ray Brown (bass), and Alvin Stoller (drums). The Hawkins and Webster recording is a jazz classic, the coming together of two giants of the tenor saxophone, who had first met back in Kansas City.
In 1956 he recorded a classic set with pianist Art Tatum, supported by bassist Red Callender and drummer Bill Douglass.

Webster generally worked steadily but in 1964 he moved permanently to join other American jazz musicians in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he played when he pleased during his last decade. In 1971 Webster reunited with Duke Ellington and his big band for a couple of shows at the Tivoli Gardens in Denmark and he recorded "live" in France with Earl Hines.
Webster died in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in 1973 and was buried in the Assistens Cemetery in the Nørrebro, Copenhagen. Although not all that flexible or modern, remaining rooted in the blues and swing-era ballads, Webster could swing with the best and his tone was a later influence on such diverse players as Archie Shepp, Lew Tabackin, Scott Hamilton, David Murray, and Bennie Wallace.



Ben Webster (Kansas City, 27 de marzo de 1909 - Copenhagen, 20 de septiembre de 1973) fue un saxofonista (tenor) estadounidense de jazz. Está considerado como uno de los "big three" (tres grandes) saxofonistas tenores del swing, junto con Coleman Hawkins (su principal influencia) y Lester Young.
Recibió lecciones de violín en su infancia, para posteriormente aprender a tocar el piano gracias a Pete Johnson que le enseñó a tocar blues; tocaría el piano para películas mudas en Amarillo (Texas). Estudió música en la Universidad de Wilberforce.

Budd Johnson, después, le inició en el saxofón. Aunque su aprendizaje del saxofón fue relativamente tardío, a partir de 1930, eso no le impidió hacerse conocido progresivamente en las orquesta del suroeste de músicos como Gene Coy, Jap Allen, Blanche Calloway y la Young Family Band (donde recibió varias lecciones de Lester Young y su padre). En 1931, se unió a la orquesta de Benny Moten y tocó en temas como "Lafayette" y "Moten Swing". Durante los años treinta tocó también con las big bands de Andy Kirk, Fletcher Henderson, Benny Carter, Willie Bryant, Cab Calloway y Teddy Wilson.

El momento más importante en la carrera musical de Webster se produjo en 1940 cuando se incorporó a la orquesta de Duke Ellington para convertirse en el primer saxofonista importante de la misma, llegando a desempeñar un papel crucial en muchas de las obras clásica de Ellington en esa etapa como "Cotton Tail", "Conga Brava" y "All Too Soon". Además, superando la percepción que se tenía de él como un clon de Coleman Hawkins, encontró su propia voz moviéndose siempre entre un estilo arrebatado y otro romántico, con un inconfundible timbre chillón y usando con frecuencia el vibrato. Estuvo con Ellington durante tres años.
En lo personal, se hizo conocido por su oscilaciones de carácter debidas a su afición al alcohol.
Desde 1944, lideró sus propios grupos y trabajó también para otros músicos como Raymond Scott, John Kirby, Sid Catlett y Stuff Smith. Se volvió a juntar con Ellington en 1948-1949, realizó giras con Jazz At The Philharmonic en los cincuenta y trabajó más tarde acompañando en el estudio a cantantes como Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald y Carmen McRae.

En 1964 Webster se trasladó a Copenhagen, desde donde empezó a trabajar por toda Europa, tocando en clubes y festivales con distintos músicos.
En 1974, Webster fue elegido por los críticos para entrar en el Down Beat Hall of Fame.

Oscar Peterson

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson CC CQ OOnt (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career. He is considered to have been one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, having played thousands of live concerts to audiences worldwide in a career lasting more than 60 years.

Peterson was born to immigrants from the West Indies; his father worked as a porter for Canadian Pacific Railway. Peterson grew up in the neighbourhood of Little Burgundy in Montreal, Quebec. It was in this predominantly black neighbourhood that he found himself surrounded by the jazz culture that flourished in the early 20th century. At the age of five, Peterson began honing his skills with the trumpet and piano. However, a bout of tuberculosis at age seven prevented him from playing the trumpet again, and so he directed all his attention to the piano. His father, Daniel Peterson, an amateur trumpeter and pianist, was one of his first music teachers, and his sister Daisy taught young Oscar classical piano. Young Oscar was persistent at practising scales and classical etudes daily, and thanks to such arduous practice he developed his astonishing virtuosity.
As a child, Peterson also studied with Hungarian-born pianist Paul de Marky, a student of Istvan Thomán who was himself a pupil of Franz Liszt, so his training was predominantly based on classical piano. Meanwhile he was captivated by traditional jazz and learned several ragtime pieces and especially the boogie-woogie. At that time Peterson was called "the Brown Bomber of the Boogie-Woogie.
At age nine Peterson played piano with control that impressed professional musicians. For many years his piano studies included four to six hours of practice daily. Only in his later years did he decrease his daily practice to just one or two hours.

In 1940, at age fourteen, Peterson won the national music competition organized by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. After that victory, he dropped out of school and became a professional pianist working for a weekly radio show, and playing at hotels and music halls.
Peterson resided in a two-storey house on Hammond Road in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, until his death in 2007 of kidney failure.
Some of the artists who influenced Peterson's musicianship during the early years were Teddy Wilson, Nat "King" Cole, James P. Johnson and Art Tatum, to whom many have tried to compare Peterson in later years. One of his first exposures to Tatum's musical talents came early in his teen years when his father played Art Tatum's Tiger Rag for him, and Peterson was so intimidated by what he heard that he became disillusioned about his own playing, to the extent of refusing to play the piano at all for several weeks. In his own words, "Tatum scared me to death" and Peterson was "never cocky again" about his mastery at the piano. Tatum was a model for Peterson's musicianship during the 1940s and 1950s. Tatum and Peterson eventually became good friends, although Peterson was always shy about being compared with Tatum and rarely played the piano in Tatum's presence.

Peterson has also credited his sister Daisy Sweeney — a noted piano teacher in Montreal who also taught several other noted Canadian jazz musicians — with being an important teacher and influence on his career. Under his sister's tutelage, Peterson expanded into classical piano training and broadened his range while mastering the core classical pianism from scales to preludes and fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Building on Art Tatum's pianism and aesthetics, Peterson also absorbed Tatum's musical influences, notably from piano concertos by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Rachmaninoff's harmonizations, as well as direct quotations from his 2nd Piano Concerto, are thrown in here and there in many recordings by Peterson, including his work with the most familiar formulation of the Oscar Peterson Trio, with bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis. During the 1960s and 1970s Peterson made numerous trio recordings highlighting his piano performances that reveal more of his eclectic style that absorbed influences from various genres of jazz, popular and classical music.

From the late 1950s, when Peterson gained worldwide recognition as one of the leading pianists in jazz, he played in a variety of settings: solo, duo, trio, quartet, small bands, and big bands. However, his solo piano recitals, as well as his solo piano recordings were rare, until he chose to make a series of solo albums titled "Exclusively for my friends." These solo piano sessions, made for the Musik Produktion Schwarzwald (MPS) label, were Peterson's response to the emergence of such stars as Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner.
Some cognoscenti assert that Peterson's best recordings were made for MPS in the late 1960s and early 1970s. For some years subsequently he recorded for Granz's Pablo Records after the label was founded in 1973. In the 1990s and 2000s he recorded several albums accompanied by a combo for Telarc.
In the 1980s he played successfully in a duo with pianist Herbie Hancock. In the late 1980s and 1990s, after the stroke, Peterson made performances and recordings with his protégé Benny Green.

Peterson wrote pieces for piano, for trio, for quartet and for big band. He also wrote several songs, and made recordings as a singer. Probably his best-known compositions are "Canadiana Suite" and "Hymn to Freedom," the latter composed in the 1960s and inspired by the U.S. civil rights movement.
Peterson taught piano and improvisation in Canada, mainly in Toronto. With associates, he started and headed the Advanced School of Contemporary Music in Toronto for five years during the 1960s, but it closed because concert touring called him and his associates away, and it did not have government funding. Later, he mentored the York University jazz program and was the Chancellor of the entire university for several years in the early 1990s. He also published his original jazz piano etudes for practice. However, he asked his students to study the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, especially the Well Tempered Clavier, the Goldberg Variations, and The Art of Fugue, considering these piano pieces essential for every serious pianist. Pianists Benny Green and Oliver Jones were among his students.

Peterson had arthritis since his youth, and in later years could hardly button his shirt. Never slender, his weight increased to 125 kg (280 lb), hindering his mobility. He had hip replacement surgery in the early 1990s. Although the surgery was successful, his mobility was still inhibited. Somewhat later, in 1993, Peterson suffered a serious stroke that weakened his left side and sidelined him for two years. Also in 1993 incoming Prime Minister and longtime Peterson fan and friend Jean Chrétien offered Peterson the position of Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, but according to Chrétien he declined, citing the health problems from his recent stroke.

After the stroke, Peterson recuperated for about two years. He gradually regained mobility and some control of his left hand. However, his virtuosity was never restored to the original level, and his playing after his stroke relied principally on his right hand. In 1995 he returned to public performances on a limited basis, and also made several live and studio recordings for Telarc. In 1997 he received a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement and an International Jazz Hall of Fame Award, another indication that Peterson continued to be regarded as one of the greatest jazz musicians ever to play. Canadian politician, friend, and amateur pianist Bob Rae contends that "a one-handed Oscar was better than just about anyone with two hands".
In 2003, Peterson recorded the DVD A Night in Vienna for Verve, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (NHØP), Ulf Wakenius and Martin Drew. He continued to tour the U.S. and Europe, though maximally one month a year, with a couple of days' rest between concerts to recover his strength. His accompanists consisted of Ulf Wakenius (guitar), NHØP or David Young (bass), and Alvin Queen (drums), all leaders of their own groups.

Peterson's health declined rapidly in 2007. He had to cancel his performance at the 2007 Toronto Jazz Festival and his attendance at a June 8, 2007 Carnegie Hall all-star performance in his honour, owing to illness. On December 23, 2007, Peterson died of kidney failure at his home in Mississauga, Ontario. He left seven children, his fourth wife Kelly, and their daughter, Celine (born 1991).



Oscar Peterson (Montreal, 15 de agosto de 1925 - Mississauga, 23 de diciembre de 2007) fue un pianista canadiense de jazz.

Su estilo, formado durante los años cuarenta como en el caso de otros pianistas como Erroll Garner y George Shearing, oscila entre el swing y el bop, y se engloba dentro de la tendencia clasicista o tradicional del jazz. Seguidor de Art Tatum, se trata de un pianista acústico de gran técnica, con una destacable capacidad para tocar con velocidad y con una gran habilidad para el swing, independientemente del tempo de ejecución. Son elogiadas tanto sus interpretaciones en grupos pequeños como acompañando a cantantes, aunque sus mejores momentos sean como solista.
Aunque subestimado, Peterson es también compositor: por ejemplo, escribió y grabó la afamada "Canadian Suite" en 1964. Varias de sus propias obras las ha grabado con piano eléctrico. Excepcionalmente vocalista, su voz recuerda mucho a la de Nat King Cole.
Peterson ha sido criticado a lo largo de toda su carrera por lo que algunos entienden como una exuberancia innecesaria, tanto por lo que se refiere a la profusión de notas en sus interpretaciones como a la gran cantidad de discos grabados.
Aunque su padre era ferroviario, no le quitaba tiempo para su afición a la música, motivando al pequeño Oscar para volcarse a ella. De esta manera empezó a recibir lecciones de piano clásico a los seis años y aprendió con gran rapidez. Tras ganar un concurso para jóvenes talentos a los 14 años, empezó a trabajar en un espectáculo semanal de la radio de Montreal. Peterson tuvo sus primeras experiencias musicales serias tocando con la orquesta de Johnny Holmes. De 1945 a 1949, grabó 32 temas para Victor en Montreal. Se trata de interpretaciones en trío que muestran a un Peterson cómodo con el boogie-woogie, del que se apartaría pronto, y con el estilo próximo al swing de Teddy Wilson y Nat King Cole. Aun joven, su técnica era ya muy admirada por los aficionados y críticos.

El productor Norman Granz descubrió a Peterson en 1949 y pronto lo promocionó como una de las más relevante jóvenes promesas de su conjunto de músicos para espectáculos de jam session "Jazz at the Philarmonic" con el cual debuta a fines de ese año. Peterson grabó en 1950 una serie de dúos teniendo como compañeros en el contrabajo a Ray Brown y a Major Holley. Su version de "Tenderly" se convirtió en un éxito. Su fama se acrecentó en 1952 cuando formó un trío con el guitarrista Barney Kessel y con Brown. Kessel fue reemplazado más adelante por Herb Ellis. Este trío fue uno de los grupos de jazz más importantes entre 1953 y 1958. En 1958, cuando Ellis abandonó el grupo, se decidió prescindir de la guitarra y se unió un batería, Ed Thigpen. El trío Peterson-Brown-Thigpen (que estuvo trabajando hasta 1964), a diferencia del anterior, propició un mayor protagonismo del piano de Peterson. Otras versiones del trío contaron con baterías como Louis Hayes (1965-66), Bobby Durham (1967-70), Ray Price (1970) y con bajos como Sam Jones (1966-70) y George Mraz (1970).

En 1960, Oscar Peterson creó la Advanced School of Contemporary Music en Toronto. Peterson grabó su primer disco en solitario en 1968. Durante su estancia en el sello de Granz, trabajó con el guitarrista Joe Pass y el bajo Niels Pedersen. Apareció en docenas de grabaciones con otras estrellas, hizo cinco discos en dúo con importantes trompetistas (Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Clark Terry y Jon Faddis), y tocó con Count Basie en duelos pianísticos.
Un grave accidente cardiovascular en 1993 lo dejó fuera de combate durante dos años. Desde entonces, regresó gradualmente a escena, aunque su mano izquierda había quedado afectada.
Murió el 23 de diciembre de 2007, con 82 años en su casa de Mississauga en Ontario (Canadá).