Oscar Peterson The Trio

Laugh Out Loud! I am reminded of the movie Amadeus, where the king tries to counsel young composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart that his musical piece has "too many notes"!

For me, the same holds true for Canadian jazz pianist-composer-legend Oscar Peterson. Not in a bad way, of course. His music is fascinating. There ARE a lot of notes. His fingers seem to fly along the keyboard.  And you can tell he is loving every minute he is performing - with him happily humming as he is playing along.

 He began studying music when he was five under the direction of his father, an amateur trumpeter and pianist, and his older sister, a classically trained pianist. He continued his studies with other well-known instructors. The young prodigy practiced four to six hours per day.  He dropped out of high school when he was 14 to become a professional musician It wasn't long before he became known as the "Maharaja of the keyboard"  and his career continued to grow. He recorded over 200 pieces during his career.

We are looking at the Trio performed before a live audience in Chicago. The trio, including guitarist Joe Pass and bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen produced the album The Trio which won the1974 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance. It was a nice surprise to find the The Trio CD among Jim's collection.  I've been listening to it all week as I drove to work.  It is truly joyous music.

Songs on the CD include:

• Blues Etude
• Chicago Blues
• Easy Listenin' Blues
• Come Sunday
• Secret Love

All great! Listen to some Oscar Peterson here.

Listen to a piano lesson here.


Also, I am reminded  of Black Books, The Entertainer, where Manny (Bill Bailey) plays the piano.

Peterson passed in December 2007 and is remembered through the Oscar Peterson International Jazz Festival. Check it out.  Maybe you can attend.