AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Oscar Peterson

Artist:Oscar Peterson

Song:Bags' Groove

Album:Jazz 'Round Midnight

This is another in my series of Jazz for Beginners of all time jazz greats. The only requirements are a performance video clip and a CD for beginners. Oscar Peterson is one of the all time jazz greats. His main contributions was as leader of the Verve Records house band in the 50s. He was born Aug. 15, 1925 in Montreal. His parents were from the West Indies. His father was a railway porter and an amateur musician. His dad taught him to play piano. In 1940 Peterson won a national music competition organized by the CBC. He started playing local clubs as a teen and recorded for RCA Victor in the late 40s. Peterson's big influence was Teddy Wilson. The key figure in Peterson's career was Norman Granz. He promoted the Jazz at the Philharmonic concert series and owner of Verve Records. Granz said he was in a cab heading to the Montreal airport when he heard a live radio broadcast of Peterson. He was so impressed that he had the cabbie take him to studio to meet Peterson. Granz became Peterson's manager and brought him to New York to debut with Jazz at the Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in 1949. Peterson started out with bassist Ray Brown and then they added guitarist Barney Kessel. When Kessel tired of touring, he was replaced by Herb Ellis in 1953. This band not only toured for several years but they were Verve's house band in the recording studio. They recorded with everyone who recorded for Verve including Fred Astaire and Roy Eldredge. When Ellis left in 1958, he was replaced by drummer Ed Thigpen and Peterson, Brown and Thigpen is the band on this recording of Bags' Groove from the 1963 album Night Train. By this time Granz sold Verve to MGM. He produced this album but Peterson left Verve shortly afterwards. You can get Bags' Groove on this budget comp which is a good intro to Peterson's music. Peterson recorded for Mercury's Limelight label and BASF's MPS label until Granz started Pablo Records in 1972. By this time Peterson's band was Joe Pass on guitar and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen on bass. Drummer Martin Drew was added in 1974. Peterson did the same stuff at Pablo that he did at Verve. He led the Pablo house band until Granz sold Pablo to Fantasy Records in 1987. Those recordings are now owned by Concord and the Verve recordings are owned by Universal. After that Peterson recorded for Telarc. He suffered a stroke in 1993 and he continued to record and tour though it did affect his ability to play. He also had mobility problems because of his weight. In 1997 Peterson received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and an International Jazz Hall of Fame Award. Peterson's health continued to decline until he died on Dec. 23, 2007 at age 82. Here's Oscar Peterson with Ray Brown on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums performing Bags' Groove on German TV 1963.