Oscar Peterson
piano
Canadian virtuoso pianist who came to fame with Jazz at the Philharmonic; Barry set him against Bud Powell as the model he did not happen to learn from, and shared a Grammys concert with him and Hank Jones.
- mentions
- 2
- recordings
- 1
- Barry speaking
- 2
What Barry says
Barry learned to solo from ‘Webb City’, a record of Bud Powell with Sonny Stitt, using a special record player from the pianist Bess Bonnier. It just happened, he says, that it was Bud and not Oscar Peterson; Peterson, he thinks, came out a little later, with Jazz at the Philharmonic.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶38Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶40Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶7
For a Grammys event, Barry, Hank Jones and Oscar Peterson were left off the main show and put in a shabby little theatre used for boxing, where at first they were told to change in the restrooms. Barry says he will never forgive the people responsible, less for himself than for Peterson and Jones, who deserved more respect.
In a poorly captioned class clip, Barry appears to tell a story of Oscar Peterson and Bud Powell playing the same club on the same night, a kind of contest, and to say that Bud was the one who was jazz.
Master class, part 2: technique and dedication3:06
In his own words
So the first thing I learned how to play was “Webb City”! Now, see, “Webb City” is Sonny Stitt and Bud Powell... It just happened it wasn’t Oscar Peterson.
Well, Oscar Peterson came out with Jazz at the Philharmonic and stuff like that. So this probably was before him, yes.
I’ll never forgive them, not so much for myself, as for Oscar Peterson and Hank Jones. They been around a long time and they should have been shown more respect than that.
Every mention
2 moments in the recordings, 2 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Master class, part 2: technique and dedication
In the interviews and notes
Asked which pianists struck him before Bud Powell, Barry says Art Tatum struck everybody, but he learned to solo from a Bud Powell and Sonny Stitt record, not from Oscar Peterson, who emerged a little later through Jazz at the Philharmonic.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶37Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶38Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶40
Barry recalls playing for the Grammys with Hank Jones and Oscar Peterson in a run-down little theatre rather than on the main show, and Berry Gordy throwing a big party for them.
Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶363Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶365
Setting students the task of finding the sixth-diminished voicings that carry Barry’s name on a record, PianoGroove teacher Tuomo Uusitalo suggests starting with Oscar Peterson, especially his solo piano, and Barry’s own comping.
Tuomo Uusitalo (PianoGroove teacher) with Hayden Hill and members, ‘Barry Harris’ Voicings (PianoGroove Community forum thread) ¶29Tuomo Uusitalo (PianoGroove teacher) with Hayden Hill and members, ‘Barry Harris’ Voicings (PianoGroove Community forum thread) ¶31Tuomo Uusitalo (PianoGroove teacher) with Hayden Hill and members, ‘Barry Harris’ Voicings (PianoGroove Community forum thread) ¶32
De Lima argues that Barry, Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Erroll Garner and Bud Powell all hum or scat along as they play, and stop playing when they stop to breathe, which gives their phrases the rise and fall of speech.
De Lima counts Barry Harris and Oscar Peterson among the players he would call true jazz specialists for what they gave to teaching, in contrast to some academic jazz instructors.
Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶444Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶445
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.