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Dec. 24th, 2007 08:58 pmOscar Peterson died today.
He was one of the great Jazz pianists of all time.
When I was going through post-traumatic stress issues in college (night terrors and a batch dump of early childhood memories dealing with the evacuation from Vietnam when I was 3), his album Night Train was the only thing that would get me to sleep and let me stay asleep. His music made me feel safe.
[side note: The people that knew what I was going through were few and far between. Those who did encouraged me to drink to excess to fall asleep and stay asleep. My PSA for today? NEVER recommend alcohol as a sleep aid.]
I was lucky enough to see him live at the Beaux Arts in Brussels. His fluidity on the piano looked so effortless.
I remember hearing an interview with him. When he was a young man, he went to an after hours club where Art Tatum (a giant both in talent and figure) hung out. He played, and Tatum gave him a quick critique and then sat down and played to blow the house away.
A day or two later, Peterson was back. This time, he sat down and played a perfect parody of Tatum. When he was through, Tatum's comment was "You're learning, boy."
Peterson was always elegant. His comments on other musicians were kind. There were some where the comments were brief. I assume that, for some reason, he didn't rank them in among the greats, but he was never rude.
I don't know how to embed music, but please, listen to Oscar Peterson's "I've got it bad and that ain't good." It's great jazz.
He was one of the great Jazz pianists of all time.
When I was going through post-traumatic stress issues in college (night terrors and a batch dump of early childhood memories dealing with the evacuation from Vietnam when I was 3), his album Night Train was the only thing that would get me to sleep and let me stay asleep. His music made me feel safe.
[side note: The people that knew what I was going through were few and far between. Those who did encouraged me to drink to excess to fall asleep and stay asleep. My PSA for today? NEVER recommend alcohol as a sleep aid.]
I was lucky enough to see him live at the Beaux Arts in Brussels. His fluidity on the piano looked so effortless.
I remember hearing an interview with him. When he was a young man, he went to an after hours club where Art Tatum (a giant both in talent and figure) hung out. He played, and Tatum gave him a quick critique and then sat down and played to blow the house away.
A day or two later, Peterson was back. This time, he sat down and played a perfect parody of Tatum. When he was through, Tatum's comment was "You're learning, boy."
Peterson was always elegant. His comments on other musicians were kind. There were some where the comments were brief. I assume that, for some reason, he didn't rank them in among the greats, but he was never rude.
I don't know how to embed music, but please, listen to Oscar Peterson's "I've got it bad and that ain't good." It's great jazz.
