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.

Jay Livingston & Ray Evans' "Silver Bells"

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks,

Dressed in holiday style

In the air there's a feeling of Christmas

Children laughing, people passing

Meeting smile after smile

And on every street corner, you hear

Silver bells, silver bells,

It's Christmas time in the city

Ring-a-ling, hear them ring

Soon it will be Christmas day.

In 1950, Paramount Pictures approached the song writing duo of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans and asked them to write a Christmas song for their new picture, The Lemon Drop Kid.  Livingston, inspired by a bell sitting on his piano, penned Tinker Bells (others claimed that he was inspired by the Salvation Army bells).  However, his wife Lynne Gordon pointed out that "tinkle" is a slang word for urinate so the piece was changed to Silver Bells.

Later that year, Bing Crosby and Carol Richards recorded the Christmas song with Decca Records. The Lemon Drop Kid premiered, starring bob Hope and Carol Richards, who sang the song.  The piece was not expected to be a success; Nat King Cole placed it on the B-side of his album.  However, the song took off on the charts and was recorded by numerous singers.  Livingston and Evans, with hits like Que Sera, Sera and  Buttons on Bows, and now Silver Bells, were called "the last great songwriters in Hollywood". (http://www.metrolyrics.com/silver-bells-lyrics-christmas-carols.html)

http://www.marieb.com/MBSet10260.html

Bob Wells' & Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song"

And so I'm offering this simple phrase

To kids from one to ninety two

Although it's been said many times, many ways

Merry Christmas to you.

On a blistering hot summer day in 1945, singer Mel Torme showed up at the Toluca Lake House. Inside, Bob Wells, trying to think of ways to keep cool, sat down at his piano, grabbed his spiral pad and scribbled the phrases:  "Chestnuts roasting...Jack Frost nipping...Yuletide carols...Folks dressed up like Eskimos."  The chestnuts came from Bob Wells' childhood in Boston where street vendors would serve them in paper cones at Christmas time.  

The words caught the eye Mel Torme who started composing music for them.  "I think you might have something here," he said.  Forty minutes later, a hit was born.  

The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded The Christmas Song, subtitled Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, in 1946.  Nat King Cole was the first black American to record a Christmas standard.  A second recording came later that year, this time accompanied by strings.  A 1953 Nat King Cole recording included a full orchestra.  The 1961 recording, however, is considered to be the most well known.

Mel Torme recorded the song as part of At the Crescendo in 1954.  A 1970 recording by Mel Torme included an introduction.  

All through the year we waited

Waited through spring and fall

To hear silver bells ringing, see wintertime bringing

The happiest season of all.

To hear the Nat King Cole version, visit http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-christmas-song-lyrics-nat-king-cole.html.

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I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In

I saw three ships come sailing in 

On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day,

I saw three ships come sailing in

On Christmas Day in the morning.

This 16th Century English carol talks about three ships that came sailing into Bethlehem on Christmas Day.  However, the closest body of water to the birthplace of Jesus was 20 miles away (the Dead Sea).  It is suspected, therefore, that the three ships refer to three vessels carrying relics of the three wise men to Cologne Cathedral in the 12th Century.  

Another interpretation suggests that the three ships refer to King Wenceslaus of Bohemia sho bore the coat of arms "Azure three galleys argent".  King Wenceslaus is mentioned of course in the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas.  

A third interpretation points to the three camels that the three wise men road through the desert following the Star in the East to Bethelehem where they presented their gifts to the baby Jesus.

The parent tune for the hymn is "Greensleeves".  The first printed version of the carol appeared in the 17th Century.  It was published by Willliam Sandys in 1833.  Nat King Cole recorded the carol in 1960 on his album The Magic of Christmas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l5bUgETaic).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rc8CQwMmd0