Oscar Peterson – pianist (b. August 15, 1925 – d. December 23, 2007)

was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer whose career extended across nearly seven decades. Born on August 15, 1925, in Montreal, Quebec, he grew up in the city's Little Burgundy neighbourhood in a family of West Indian origin. He began studying piano with his sister Daisy Peterson and later studied with Lou Hooper and the classical pianist Paul de Marky. He also attended the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal. His early training combined classical piano study with the popular and jazz music he encountered in Montreal. Peterson's first significant public success came when he was still a teenager. In 1940, at the age of 14, he won a national music competition associated with CBC radio. He subsequently appeared regularly on Montreal radio, including his own programme Fifteen Minutes Piano Rambling. His early broadcasting helped establish him as a young pianist to be followed in Canadian musical life. In the early 1940s Peterson moved increasingly toward professional performance. In 1943, he left school to join the Johnny Holmes Orchestra, a popular Montreal dance band. He remained with the orchestra until 1947, becoming its featured pianist. During this period he... Read