Oscar Peterson (1925-2007) from Montreal, Quebec, is undoubtedly one of the
masters of the jazz piano. Classically trained, he was already popular in Canada as
a teenager in Canada when Jazz impresario Norman Granz became aware of
Peterson in 1949 and hired him for his his extremely popular "Jazz At The
Philharmonic" concerts and tours. When Granz founded his own labels such as
Norgran or Verve not much later, Peterson was the pianist of choice for his
productions.
Among the most popular and artistically rewarding studio encounters with Oscar
Peterson on piano are the recordings with Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.
Songs like "April in Paris", "Autumn in New York" and many others became immortal
in these versions. A four-record musical “biography” of dancer and singer Fred
Astaire is a treasure long forgotten. Peterson also shaped the recording sessions
with Billie Holiday, which, produced by Granz in the early 1950s, ushered in a new,
more mature phase in Lady Day's vocal artistry. The albums with Anita O'Day, the
young Toni Harper and the singing drummer Buddy Rich also show why the pianist
was on everybody’s first call list. Peterson was a more than acceptable singer
himself (and a big fan of Nat "King" Cole), as you can hear on "Soft Sands".