Oscar Peterson: the will to swing By one-piece-live-action76.blogspot.com

An interesting and illuminating account of the life of the greatest jazz pianist I have ever heard. English Well done. I felt like I was truly taken through the life AND times of Oscar. Hardcover There's a lot of Info on Oscar's life and times. I thought it was very interesting. 256 pages Learning what went down before us as jazz musicians is as important as learning our scales. When I listen to OP And the ensemble I can hear the depth of the swing. It just grooves so very much. One hears the great spirit of it all which needs to be passed forward. 0333465474 I enjoyed learning about Oscar Peterson’s life, but the flow of this book seems a bit off towards the middle and latter half. The ebook also includes several spelling/grammar conversion errors per chapter. These two flaws definitely detracted from the reading experience, but if you’re an O.P. fan, it’s a worthwhile read 978-0333465479

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Disjointed, with far too much repetetive discussion of jazz critics. Lees has a somewhat didactic and seemingly arrogant style which cloys after a while. Overall, the work fails to do a great artist proper justice. Not recommended. 978-0333465479 This is somewhat of a mixed bag, uneasily straddling the divide between a fan's gushy enthusiasm and a critic's distanced perspective. I, in turn, am torn between giving it 3 or 4 stars. Perhaps it is the fan in me that ultimately nudges my decision upwards to the fourth star.

In my youth I spent countless hours at the piano, almost all of it devoted to classical music. Hence, I have less of a feel for jazz piano than I would like. But for a long time, Oscar Peterson has been one of my favorite jazz pianists (along with Bill Evans, until about a decade ago when I first was introduced to Art Tatum, who may even edge out OP). I also was familiar with the NPR duo/interview disc Marian McPartland did with Peterson, and I was impressed with his obvious intellect, thoughtfulness, and dignity.

With all that as background, I opened this book with keen anticipation. I learned that Oscar Peterson, even putting aside his mammoth musical ability, is a remarkable and admirable person. (So, too, were his father and sister, both of whom had a lot to do with his character and musical training, and Ray Brown, his bassist and alter ego in perhaps the finest trio(s) in jazz history.) And I learned that indeed Oscar Peterson is a person of intelligence, thoughtfulness, and dignity. I also learned much about his life, in a straightforward, easy to digest fashion, albeit without at times sufficient critical distance.

The book is written by Gene Lees, who is both a long time fan and friend of Oscar Peterson (and, apparently, fellow Canadian) and a long time jazz critic. To my mind, the best chapters of the book were two in which Lees as critic were to the fore than Lees as fan: Chapter 18 deals with jazz criticism, the uneasy position of the piano within jazz, and Oscar Peterson as a piano virtuoso in the tradition of Chopin and Liszt; Chapter 21 contains a provocative discussion of the present problems with jazz and reasons for its decline in popularity. I can unreservedly recommend those two chapters to anyone interested in jazz or piano, but the rest of the book, I believe, would be appreciated primarily by those already taken with Oscar Peterson.

I can't resist ending with one quote from Oscar Peterson. As a youth in Montreal, he had received considerable teaching and training as a classical pianist. When asked late in life whether he would have continued in the classical tradition had it not been for the then almost insuperable barriers to entry to the concert stage for black musicians, Peterson said: No. I'd still have taken the direction I did. Because of the creativity of jazz. biblical If you listen to Oscar Peterson recordings and ever wonder just how and why he became so great this is he book to read. An accurate and facinating biography of Peterson from birth right up the year 2000 in this updated edition.

The book is full of little musical details that you won't know about. Stories about Oscar's influences, his musical competetiveness and his abhorence of racism. There is lot written on the mixed reaction to Oscars playing over the years. Nobody disputes he has (or had) technique of the highest standard, but some critised him for lacking originality and Miles Davis (in)famously once said he even had to learn how to play the blues. All this is discussed and .

A great biography of a great artist. one-piece-live-action76.blogspot.com great Oscar Peterson: the will to swing