Website:
http://www.wnyc.org/music/articles/25442
Tones:
Authoritative,
Polished,
Sound Rich
Language:
English
Description:
During "An Hour with Oscar Peterson," this remarkable musician speaks about his childhood aspiration to be a trumpeter, cut short by tuberculosis ("I got to the piano, via the trumpet, via tuberculosis"), and his subsequent piano studies ("My elder sister Daisy went the classical way... and I was a renegade; I went the other way. I didn't know I was good, really; I just knew this was what I wanted to do.")
Peterson's reminiscences are interspersed with many archival recordings: listeners hear Peterson's Carnegie Hall debut performance, on September 18, 1949, when the 24-year old was a special guest at "Jazz at the Philharmonic," as well as a meditative rendition of "I Get Along Without You Very Well" from London's Royal Festival Hall in 1978; and "Lulu's Back In Town" recorded at the German villa of Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer in 1968. During the hour, Peterson also shares his memories of jazz colleagues Art Tatum, Ray Brown, Nat "King" Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and others.