One of the most influential players of jazz that the world has known, Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was born on the 15th of August, 1925 in Little Burgundy, Montreal. His living environment was one imbibed with jazz music since lived in a locality where most of the people were African Americans. When just five years old, he was taught the piano and the trumpet. After being affected with tuberculosis a couple of years later, he dropped the trumpet and turned all his efforts towards the piano.
His main teacher these years, was his self taught father who was a porter working with Canadian Pacific Railways. He taught Oscar and his four brothers all that he garnered while playing the piano when he was in the merchant marine. His sister brought to his attention and taught him classical music.
Since starting to play the piano, Oscar made sure he got his basics right he would faithfully practice his scales and classical etudes daily – a habit which gave him a good grounding in the basics which in his later years contributed to a large part of his mastery over the piano. One of his piano teachers in his early years was Paul De Marky who also like his sister imparted lessons on classical piano playing to Oscar.
He started to catch onto traditional jazz recordings which prompted him to learn many ragtimes and boogie-woogie tunes of his time. This ability of his earned him the tag “The Brown Bomber of the Boogie-Woogie”. By the time he was nine years old, his playing was as mature as any other professional. He spent anywhere between four and six hours every day perfecting himself at the piano – a habit he kept when he was long into his professional career.
When he was 14 years old, he took part in a nation-wide competition organized by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in which he emerged the winner. This marked the beginning of his professional career. His first permanent gig was playing for a once a week show on the radio. He also played at hotels and music halls.
The inspiration for his style of playing came from most of the jazz musicians whom any pianist at the time idolized – Nat King Cole, Teddy Wilson, James P Johnson and Art Tatum. The tables turned later in his career when Art Tatum was compared to him in his later years of success. His first hearing of an Art Tatum piece was when his father played Tiger Rag for him. After hearing it, he almost lost faith in his abilities to play the piano as well as he could. He admitted later that he was intimidated by Art Tatum’s technique and that it made him decide to be humble at his own ability to play. Oscar Peterson ended up becoming good friends with Tatum eventually but he never let go of the awe he was in of the man. He rarely ever played the piano when Tatum was around.
Not only was he mesmerized by Tatum’s music, he also looked up to the pianists that Tatum looked up to as he started playing. His work had a lot of inspiration and note for note picked up sections from some of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s music. His work with his trio -the Oscar Patterson Trio – with Herb Ellis on guitar and Ellis Brown on bass had many such references.
His influences extend toward classical music which he has attributed to his sister Daisy Sweeney. The discipline that it involved was one of the key skills he picked up when he started learning piano from her.
Peterson found a good friend and collaborator in Norman Granz. Granz discovered him when he listening to Peterson playing at a club via a live radio broadcast. He was traveling in a taxi at the time. Upon hearing him play, he asked the driver to take him straight away to the club where Oscar Peterson was playing.
Granz got him a gig at Carnegie Hall as a part of his Jazz at the Philharmonic series. From then on, Granz served as his manager. Granz was behind Peterson in the fight against segregation. He stood in between the trio and a police who was trying to stop them from traveling in “white only” taxis.
Peterson was plagued with health problems throughout his life. He had arthritis to the extent that he could not button his own shirt. He was too heavy for his size which affected his mobility. But physical problems or not, history will certainly record Oscar Peterson as being one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time.
By: Duane Shinn
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on June 15, 1921, Erroll Louis Garner was destined to be an amazing jazz pianist and composer. By the age of three, Erroll was playing the piano successfully.
Like many successful composers and musicians, he did not choose to follow traditional teaching methods to learn the piano. He was a self-taught musician who never learned to read music. He simply played by ear, not by the page.
Being a piano savant, Erroll Garner began his long career in the spotlight at the age of seven. He started appearing on a Pittsburgh radio show. Nothing could stop Erroll. He was performing on the Allegheny riverboats by age 11. In 1937, his collaboration with saxophonist Leroy Brown became the highlight of Garner’s young career. Little did he know that his life was going to hold even more success.
In 1944, Erroll Garner moved to New York. From 1944 to 1947, Garner worked with bassist Slam Stewart and Charlie Parker. Although he was an amazing talent, he was quite small in stature; therefore, according to some, Garner would often sit on top of a large Manhattan telephone book. During the majority of his performances, along with sitting on a telephone book, Erroll Garner also was rumored to sing while playing. His vocals are featured in many of his recorded performances.
Although his musical ear was his major asset, Peterson was also well-known for his compositions. Peterson’s most recognized and celebrated composition was “Misty.” “Misty” was written in 1954. Because of this song, Erroll Garner was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame 37 years after its release. The song “Misty” also became an inspiration for the 1971 movie “Play Misty for Me.”
In his own words, Erroll discussed his gift, stating, “I always play what I feel. I always feel like me, but I’m a different me every day. I get ideas from everything. A big color, the sound of water and wind, or a flash of something cool. Playing is like life. Either you feel it or you don’t.” Of course, Erroll Garner was modest about his talents. However, it is agreed that his ability for playing the piano and using his ear to play music were remarkable talents.
Earl Hines, a fellow pianist and Pittsburgh resident, was a great example and influence for Garner. Garner’s level of success is often compared to the fame achieved by Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller. From 1947 through 1991, Erroll Garner recorded and released 15 records.
The most recent record from 1991 was “Body and Soul.” His most popular live recording was “Concert by the Sea” with bassist Eddie Calhoun and drummer Denzil Best. Other well-known albums included 1947’s “Giants of the Piano,” 1951’s “Erroll Garner at the Piano,” 1958’s “Paris Impressions” and 1967’s “That’s My Kick.” “Erroll Garner,” “Mambo Moves Garner,” “Misty,” “Feeling is Believing,” “Erroll Garner Amsterdam Concert,” “Erroll Garner Plays,” “Gemini,” “Magician” and “Play it Again Erroll” are the remaining of Garner’s recorded albums.
The United Kingdom hosted two rare consecutive appearances of Erroll Garner in 1964 on the British Broadcasting Corporation’s music series called “Jazz 625.” Garner performed with bassist Eddie Calhoun and drummer Kelly Martin in these performances. A notorious shot of Garner was taken during these sessions. This shot includes sweat running down Garner’s face due to extreme thought and concentration during the performances.
At the time of his death, Erroll Garner was well-known all over the world. On January 2, 1977, he died at the age of 56.
By: Duane Shinn
The piano or keyboard is an instrument that can be played in a solo performance or it can be part of a band. Jazz bands make heavy use of pianos since jazz began. The reason for this is that pianos along with guitars are some of the few instruments in a jazz band that can play chords in addition to a melody or counter melody.
In the past, a jazz pianists main role was to keep tempo with a combination of repetitive chords, but in recent years this has changed. Jazz pianists now days are able to select from a multitude of styles and techniques that they will use to accompany a band or singer. Short and sustained chordal or melodic fragments are used.
Experienced jazz pianists are not only great at sight-reading, but can also improvise chord symbols and adapt to the various playing styles of jazz bands. A jazz pianist must balance this improvisation and interpretation with the music style of the band.
The extended range that the piano provides also helps a jazz pianist with creating unique sounds that other instruments in the jazz band can not create.
Jazz pianists have 3 goals that they aim to achieve while they are playing. The first is to provide a clear rhythm and swing. The second is to play a melody or improvised solo with the right hand. Jazz pianists are also expected to help guide the band into chord changes with the help of notes leading up to the chord change.
It is quite a challenge for pianists to meet these 3 demands at the same time. Most jazz pianists are quite skilled in this art and are able to maintain this while planning unique improvisations.
If the intend to be great at playing the piano in a jazz band, you need to master these styles and techniques.
By: Mary Nicole Hicks
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