Oscar Peterson: Maharaja of the Keyboard

Oscar Peterson was born and raised in Montreal to immigrants from the West Indies.  Peterson's father worked as a porter for the Canadian Pacific Railway.  Growing up in an all black neighbourhood and surrounded by the jazz culture, Peterson first learned how to play the trumpet.  However, a bout of tuberculosis forced him to give up the horn for the piano.  His sister, Daisy, was one of his first piano teachers.  Peterson also studied under Hungarian born classical pianist Paul de Marky.  Thanks to his persistent practice of four to six hours per day, Peterson mastered the art.

At the age of fourteen, Peterson won a CBC national music competition and quit school to pursue music fulltime.  Peterson, drawn to jazz, was heavily influenced by Teddy Wilson, Nat King Cole, James P. Johnson and Art Tatum.  The young talent made his first recordings, I Got Rhythm and The Sheik of Araby, for RCA Victor in 1945.

Peterson was introduced to American audience through Jazz at the Philharmonic in 1949.  Peterson's first tour of Europe took place in 1952.  He made more than 200 albums with other bands or artists including "Ella and Oscar" with Ella Fitzgerald.  Peterson left his mark on Duke Ellington who called him the "Maharaja of the Keyboard".  Canadiana Suite, which came out in 1964, was a nod to Peterson's home and native land.  While he was an international success, he would never forget his Canadian roots.

Canada Post stamp courtesy https://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/personal/collecting/stamps/archives/2005/2005_aug_peterson.jsf.

Jazz: The Genius of America is Improvisation

"Jazz is open and free.  And yet, jazz itself adheres to some pretty important rules.  In some ways, people are playing within that, which is much like democracy.  We're given freedom, but we know that freedom has to occur within certain boundaries and constraints..." (Ken Burns)

Duke Ellington at the Hurricane Club in NYC circa 1943 courtesy https://musicelephants.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/112/1024px-jazz_musician_duke_ellington/.

I am a baby of the late 1960's and yet I grew up listening to jazz.  I listened to it in the car.  I listened to it in the kitchen.  I heard its strains through my bedroom wall as I fell asleep.  As the daughter of a jazz musician, I knew a lot about jazz.  I knew that Buddy Rich was the jazz drummer.  I knew that Billie Holliday was the female jazz singer.  I knew that Glenn Miller was an orchestra leader whose plane disappeared in the fog during the Second World War.  I even knew what lockhand was.  But I was the exception in my rock generation.

Buddy Rich courtesy http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Buddy_Rich.html.

Ken Burns has taught a whole new generation about jazz through a series which ranks with the best of them.  Burns believes that jazz is inherently American.  As writer Gerald Earley said at the beginning of the film:  "When they study our American civilization 2000 years from now, we'll only be known for three things:  the Constitution, baseball and jazz music."  As Burns explained:  "I think what he was saying is that the genius of America is improvisation" -- whether it be in jazz, politics or baseball.

Chicago, Jazz and The Great Migration courtesy http://cdn-prod.www.aws.nypl.org/sites/default/files/neh%20Great%20Migration%20Map%201916%20to%201930_0.jpg.

Burns' Jazz series starts with jazz's roots in New Orleans and how it, bit by bit, meandered up the Mississippi River all the way to Chicago.  Just as The Civil War series has Shelby Foote, the Jazz series has Wynton Marsalis.  Here is a breakdown of the episodes:

One:  Dixieland Jazz, Jelly Roll Morton

Two:  Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington

Three:  Benny Goodman, Bix Biederbecke, Bessie Smith

Four:  Harlem Dancers

Five:  Big Band Swing, Billie Holiday

Six:  Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald

Seven:  Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker

Eight:  Miles Davis, Gil Evans

Nine:  Duke Ellington Re-Emerges

Ten:  Ellington & Armstrong Die; classic style re-emerges

Billie Holiday courtesy http://www.mtv.com/artists/billie-holiday/.