Oscar Peterson. What is left to say about such an icon?
Would it be fair to give a critical review about an 81
year old man who could barely cross the stage to get to
the piano? No, he is beyond critiquing. All appearance
of frailty aside, by the time his fingers hit the keys,
you would never know he was 81.
His set was about what I would have expected--equal
parts blues, standards and ballads. Perhaps he did lean
a little heavily toward the ballads (mostly originals)
but by the time he got to Sweet Georgia Brown (about
two hours after he started) he just shredded the solos.
Truly amazing for someone at any age.
He had a very adept band rounding out the quartet,
including a guitar player who sounded eerily like the
late Joe Pass, a staple Peterson collaborator.
The familiar standards included Satin Doll (very modern
reharmonization of the chords), Neal Hefti's Cute, and
a gorgeous Here's That Rainy Day. The audience was
mesmerized of course, and almost everyone in the
audience I talked to was either a piano player, guitar
player, or drummer.
So what can we learn from attending such a performance?
I personally was able to watch his hands and for the
first time, connect what his playing sounds like to
what it looks like. Maybe, just maybe, some of that
playing will rub off on me.
I wanted to drive home right a way after the concert
and try some things out. But for me, it was a three
hour drive that got me home at 1:30 am and too tired to
do any practicing. But first thing the next morning I
was at the piano.
Of course Oscar at 81 isn't the same as hearing him
when he was 41. Certainly he has lost a few miles per
hour off his fastball. But he's made up for it by
becoming more of a finesse player. He consistently gets
his curve balls over, and has a devastating change-up.
He was everything a legend should be.
Friday, September 8, 2006
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Hi, I'm Robert Laughlin, and this is my blog. After learning the piano in my early twenties, I played professionally in my late twenties. Then traded the bar rooms for class rooms. Want to learn to play piano? Give me three and a half hours with you, and you're there.
So I received this email that sent me to your blog. My name is Toni Dunlap, but my professional name was Toni Harper. I had the extreme pleasure of recording an album with Oscar when I was 19 years old. That is what I readon the Internet, however I thought that I was 16 years old. The album that has been remastered to a CD availbable at Amazon.com and Tower.com is ntitled "Toni".
ReplyDeleteI remember that Norman Granz had me to come to a recording studio where I met Oscar for the first time. Oscar, Ray Brown, Alvin Stoller and Mel Lewis and I went over sheet music, some songs I had never heard. He played them through, found a key for me and off we went into an adventure for me. What an experience. He was so kind and gentleand patient. What a guy. I had always wanted to rehearse and rehearse and rehearse some more. So this was an entirely new experience for me. Util recently I always thought that I did not get it right.
Now when I listen, I am beyond grateful for the experience. And I think that I did get it right, thanks to those powerful musicians. I cherish the memory. So Oscar is 81 and I am 70. I smile at this. How fortunate for me to read your blog and be able to say this aloud at this age. It is wonderful. Thank you.
Toni
http://www.tonidunlap.com
I played with a drummer named Terry Clark for 5 years. He played with Oscar for 10 years and he taught me a lot about the way Oscar played and it helped my playing greatly. I recorded 3 albums with Terry and his feel is incredible. Best jazz drummer on the planet.
ReplyDeletePaul Tobey teaches piano lessons using the 10-24-7 method. This is a form of accelerated learning which he uses in his online piano lessons to help the learner get the most from their structured piano lesson. Get a free piano lesson today.
Paul Tobey