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Oscar Peterson, the master of the jazz piano, has recorded more than 200 albums over a career that spans six decades. Music is the consuming passion in Peterson's life; music is at the heart of this warm tribute by well-known writer and broadcaster Alex Barris. From his youth in Montreal, to his introduction to a wildly enthusiastic audience at Carnegie Hall in 1949, to his work with Jazz at the Philharmonic and the international stardom that followed, Oscar Peterson: A Musical Biography traces the many roads that Peterson took as composer and sometime singer, soloist and accompanist, leader and arranger. Alex Barris, who has known Peterson for over five decades, was granted extensive interview time and access to his subject. Barris has also included interviews from music critics, fans and many of Peterson's contemporaries: Ray Brown, Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie, to name a few. A candid stroll through modern music history, Oscar Peterson: A Musical Biography is also a note-perfect celebration of Canada's greatest gift to the world of jazz.… (more)
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Alex Barris had been aware of Oscar Peterson’s brilliance even before he made his triumphal appearance at Carnegie Hall that launched his international career. Barris was a jazz journalist in Toronto in the 1940s and was astounded by Peterson whenever he visited and performed in Toronto. Thereafter he kept Peterson in his journalistic sights, becoming both a friend and sometime impresario. Which largely explains why this “musical biography” moves between personal memoir and (mostly) objective treatment of Oscar’s recordings. It’s hard to judge whether Barris’ assessment is even close to neutral. But that doesn’t diminish the charm, such as there is.
Although superseded by Peterson’s autobiography that was published in the same year (and which contains many of the same anecdotes), Barris’ musical biography remains a useful volume for insight into the recordings. I especially appreciated his recommendation of four cds that best capture Peterson’s development over the years: Oscar Peterson Beginnings — 1945-1949; The Oscar Peterson Trio at the Stratford Shakepearean Festival (from 1956); Ella and Oscar (from 1975); and Last Call at the Blue Note (from 1990).