Oscar Peterson’s career ran for more than 60 years, from the clubs of Montreal to concert halls all over the world. These are 10 Oscar Peterson songs, from his Carnegie Hall debut in 1949 to his duets with Benny Green almost 50 years later, with the story behind each one and a recording to start with.
It nearly didn’t happen. As a teenager in Montreal, he was given a short, sharp shock about his abilities when his father, a railway porter, brought home Art Tatum’s recording of “Tiger Rag”. Peterson was sure it was a duet. “That’s got to be two people playing,” he told Smithsonian magazine, and he stopped playing the piano for several weeks.
And at the end, the taxi ride that took him to Carnegie Hall.
Four to six hours a day at the piano
Peterson was born in Montreal, Quebec, on 15th August 1925. His father was an amateur musician who had taught himself to play piano, organ, and trumpet. Young Oscar started playing both piano and trumpet at the age of five, but after being taken ill with tuberculosis at seven years old, he cut short his trumpet-playing aspirations, and he focused on the piano.
As a dedicated student of the instrument, Peterson was known to practise for four to six hours a day, and it was only in his later years that he cut down his practice to a couple of hours daily.
As well as Tatum, Peterson was also influenced by swing-style pianists Teddy Wilson and Nat King Cole. Although never a modernist, Peterson’s style was adaptable, and he was a mainstay on Norman Granz’s various labels, including Verve and Pablo, as well as touring with Granz’s concert package Jazz at the Philharmonic. Duke Ellington was an acknowledged admirer of Peterson’s playing and described him as the “Maharaja of the keyboard.”
He is perhaps most famous as the leader of his own trio, first with Ray Brown on bass and guitarists Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis. When Ellis left, Peterson hired drummer Ed Thigpen in what would become his most famous trio, who would go on to record the classic album Night Train.
In a career spanning more than 60 years, Peterson won a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy as well as many other awards that would include 8 Grammys. All in all, Peterson left a musical legacy of more than 200 recordings prior to his death on 23rd December 2007.
Below, you’ll find 10 Oscar Peterson songs.
Fine And Dandy – (Live at Carnegie Hall 1949)
Impresario and producer Norman Granz made the claim that he ‘discovered’ Peterson and would manage the pianist for much of his career. This performance with Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic was one of Peterson’s first performances in the United States, helping to launch his career.
Start with: Oscar Peterson on Debut: The Clef/Mercury Duo Recordings 1949–1951 (recorded 1949). Listen for Ray Brown’s bass, there beside him from the very first night.
Sweet Georgia Brown – (Live in Brussels 1957)
At the peak of his career with his trio with guitarist Herb Ellis and Ray Brown on bass. This performance, captured live, shows the empathy between the three musicians. All the more valuable as a year later, Ellis would have left the trio to be replaced by drummer Ed Thigpen.
Hymn to Freedom – (Night Train 1962)
From the classic Night Train album, this is the only original song on the recording. Wanting a song with an early blues feel to it, Granz asked Peterson if he could come up with something appropriate. The pianist wrote this music in the studio, dedicating it to Martin Luther King. The composition would be adopted by the Civil Rights Movement after lyrics were added by Harriette Hamilton.
Start with: The Oscar Peterson Trio on Night Train (recorded 1962, released 1963). Listen for the first chorus, which Peterson plays alone before signalling Brown and Thigpen to come in.
Cotton Tail – (Plays the Duke Ellington Song Book 1959)
Perhaps to capitalise on Ella Fitzgerald’s successful songbook series for Verve, Norman Granz tried the same with Peterson. Whatever the motives, one cannot deny the quality of the music. A longtime admirer of Ellington—a feeling that appears to have been mutual—Peterson lays down some wonderful tracks, and his virtuoso display here is a joy.
Start with: The Oscar Peterson Trio on Oscar Peterson Plays the Duke Ellington Song Book (1959). Listen for how fast he takes it, with Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen right with him.
I Get A Kick Out of You – (A Jazz Portrait of Frank Sinatra 1959)
A busy time in the studio for Peterson and the trio, this is the pianist’s tribute to Frank Sinatra in a selection of songs that are associated with the singer. Frank’s songs they may be, but Oscar, Ray, and Ed put their own stamp on this Cole Porter song.
Start with: The Oscar Peterson Trio on A Jazz Portrait of Frank Sinatra (1959). Recorded in Paris in a single day, with nearly every track under three and a half minutes.
Days of Wine And Roses – (We Get Requests 1964)
One of the trio’s most popular albums after Night Train, Oscar plays some of the tracks that are so popular in his concert repertoire. Easy to hear why in this easy swinging and inventive performance. Unlike Night Train, it was produced by Jim Davis, not Norman Granz, and the tracks are all relatively short with the intention of being radio-friendly.
Start with: The Oscar Peterson Trio on We Get Requests (recorded 1964). Listen for how plainly Peterson states Mancini’s melody, in under three minutes.
C Jam Blues – (Live in Denmark 1964)
Another live performance with a trio that could swing hard. With Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen on drums, this trio was Peterson’s most famous lineup. This tune by Duke Ellington would be one that Peterson would have played hundreds of times, and in 1952 he also played a “Jam Blues” with Benny Carter and Charlie Parker at one of Norman Granz’s studio jam sessions in Hollywood.
Start with: The Oscar Peterson Trio on Jazz Icons: Oscar Peterson Live in ’63, ’64 & ’65 (DVD; filmed 1964). The Danish TV set, filmed in Holbæk, ends with “Hymn to Freedom”, so you can watch the trio play it too.
Mack The Knife – (Live in Finland 1965)
This popular tune immortalised by Louis Armstrong is a standard that has been covered by countless musicians. What makes this performance so captivating is the presence of trumpeter Clark Terry, who seems to strike up an immediate rapport with Peterson and the trio.
Start with: The Oscar Peterson Trio on Live in Finland 1963 • 1965 (recorded 1965). The Helsinki concert also has Terry’s mumbling vocal routine on “Mumbles”.
Old Folks – (Saturday Night at the Blue Note 1991)
Recorded live at the iconic venue, Oscar won a Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Group, and this is a delightful solo version of another song that he would have played countless times. A virtuoso performance that incorporates swing and stride piano effortlessly.
Start with: The Legendary Oscar Peterson Trio on Saturday Night at the Blue Note (recorded 1990, released 1991). Herb Ellis is back on guitar, 32 years after he left the trio.
The More I See You – (Oscar and Benny 1998)
One of Oscar’s later recordings and in duet with fellow pianist Benny Green. Peterson had, at this stage in his career, also become a mentor and teacher to the younger generation of musicians, and Benny Green was one of those who benefitted from the older man’s experience and knowledge.
Start with: Oscar Peterson and Benny Green on Oscar and Benny (recorded 1997, released 1998). Ray Brown, his bassist at Carnegie Hall in 1949, is on the session too.
A taxi to the Montreal airport
In 1949 Norman Granz was in a Montreal cab on his way to the airport when the radio played a live broadcast from the Alberta Lounge, where Peterson’s trio was the house band. Granz told the driver to turn around and take him to the club.
Peterson had no American work visa, so on 18 September 1949 Granz sat him in the audience at his Jazz at the Philharmonic concert at Carnegie Hall, then called him up as a surprise guest. With Ray Brown on bass, he played “Fine and Dandy”, the performance at the top of this list.
DownBeat reported that he “stopped the concert dead cold in its tracks.” Granz managed and recorded him for most of the next four decades.
Those are 10 Oscar Peterson songs, from that first night at Carnegie Hall in 1949 to his duets with Benny Green almost half a century later.
For more on Oscar Peterson, start with our picks of his 10 essential albums and the full story of Night Train. The man who scared him off the piano is in our guide to Art Tatum albums, and the concerts that launched Peterson are in our history of Jazz at the Philharmonic.
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Which Oscar Peterson trio do you go back to most: the one with Herb Ellis on guitar, or the one with Ed Thigpen on drums? Tell us in the comments.