Oscar Peterson
Celebrating Oscar Peterson,
A Canadian Legend
In the summer of 1925, a boy was born in Montreal who would alter Canada’s place in the jazz world forever. Oscar Peterson grew up to become one of the most brilliant pianists and composers in the history of music—captivating and inspiring generations with his legendary talent.
His story is more than that of a musician, moment in history, or tale of epic success. Oscar Peterson changed the musical landscape of not only Canada, but the entire world—and his impact can still be felt today.
The Man
Photo: Oscar Peterson at a piano with his brother, Chuck, playing trumpet
Source: Library and Archives Canada/Oscar Peterson fonds/e011073128
A Legend Is Born
Oscar Peterson was born on August 15, 1925. The fourth of five children, he was raised by a loving family who lived in the Little Burgundy neighbourhood of Montreal. It was here that Oscar first discovered his love of music.
Oscar’s childhood home was always full of music. Because his father strongly believed in the importance of musical education, each child in the Peterson family learned how to play the piano. So, at the age of five, Oscar started to play. After a bout of illness that affected his lungs (and his ability to play the trumpet—another instrument he was learning), Oscar began to focus exclusively on playing the piano. By the time he was eight years old, it was clear that a musical star was in the making.
Inspiration All Around
Oscar’s older sister, Daisy, was his first teacher. Tasked with teaching her younger siblings music theory and piano, Daisy played a pivotal role in Oscar’s musical development. Oscar later credited Daisy—as well as his classical piano teacher, Paul de Marky—for helping him believe that he had something to offer the musical world.
Oscar got his first taste of jazz from the records and radio broadcasts his older brother listened to, and he was greatly influenced by popular jazz pianists of the era: Nat King Cole, Teddy Wilson, and especially Art Tatum. Montreal’s music scene was a source of inspiration as well—Oscar once said, “I had to teach myself […] by being around the jazz that was being played in Montreal at that time.”
Photo: Oscar Peterson with his sister, Daisy, at a piano
Source: Library and Archives Canada/Oscar Peterson fonds/e011073127
Photo: Oscar Peterson / photographed by D.C. Langford
Source: Library and Archives Canada/Oscar Peterson fonds/e010752610
Path To Greatness
Dedicated to his craft, Oscar practiced diligently and as often as possible. At age 14, thanks to the encouragement of his sister Daisy, he entered a nationwide amateur talent competition and won first place. This achievement led to Oscar’s first public performances and work, including his own weekly radio show, Fifteen Minutes Piano Rambling. By the early 1940s, Oscar was a rising star on the Montreal jazz scene.
As Oscar’s popularity grew, he began to receive offers to join American jazz bands. But, feeling that he wasn’t quite ready to leave home and move abroad, Oscar turned them down. Eventually, an opportunity arose for 16 year-old Oscar to play in one of Montreal’s most popular dance bands—and he accepted. Before allowing Oscar to leave school to focus on his music career, his father told him, “I won’t let you leave school to just be a piano player. You must tell me you will be the BEST piano player.”
It didn’t take long for Oscar to start earning the title of “best,” quickly living up to the promise he made his dad.
The Music
Canadian Icon
As Oscar’s talents continued to grow, so too did his success. He signed with a record label and, in 1945, released his first recordings: I Got Rhythm and The Sheik of Araby. He went on to create 16 records over the next four years. Oscar was frequently featured on CBC radio shows Light Up and Listen and The Happy Gang, and he went on to tour Western Canada twice in 1946.
As the popularity of his songs spread across the country, Oscar established himself as a bonafide Canadian jazz star. In 1947, he began a residency as the headlining act at the Alberta Lounge—an iconic music venue in the heart of downtown Montreal. Oscar had arrived.
Photo: Oscar Peterson / photographed by D.C. Langford
Source: Library and Archives Canada/Oscar Peterson fonds/e010752610
Photo: Oscar Peterson at the piano
Source: Library and Archives Canada/RPM fonds/e011044419
From Montreal To Carnegie Hall
One fateful day in 1949, Norman Granz, an influential jazz producer, was taking a taxi to the Montreal airport. Granz was impressed by the music playing on the radio. After asking the cab driver what record it was—and then discovering that the music was actually a live broadcast from the Alberta Lounge—Granz asked the cab driver to turn around and take him there. Granz went on to become Oscar’s manager and remained so until his retirement in 1988. The two also became close friends.
Granz played an important role in furthering Oscar’s career. On September 18, 1949, he introduced Oscar to American audiences during a Jazz at the Philharmonic performance at the renowned Carnegie Hall in New York City. As a surprise guest, Oscar thrilled the audience with his electric piano playing. This was just the beginning of his international debut—within a year, Oscar had captured the hearts of music lovers all around the world.
The High Notes
Oscar’s career as a pianist and composer continued to flourish. He toured all over the globe, released multiple records a year, and worked with many other legendary jazz artists like Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong, who subsequently called Oscar “the man with four hands.”
Over the years, Oscar was frequently recognized for his artistic contributions and incredible skills. He won seven Grammy awards, a Gemini Award for Best Musical Score, and The Glenn Gould Prize. He also won a Juno Award for Best Jazz Album.
One of Oscar’s most well-known compositions is Canadiana Suite. A love letter to Canada, the album contains eight movements, each paying homage to the varied regions across the country—from Ballad to the East, to his hometown Place St. Henri, all the way to the Rockies and beyond with Land of the Misty Giants. Oscar had a great love and admiration for Canada, which he continued to call home for the rest of his life.
The Impact
A Vehicle for Change
Oscar’s music not only delighted his listeners, but it also became a vehicle for change. Hymn to Freedom, which was Oscar’s first major composition, became an important song in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s—and had a profound and lasting impact on the world.
Oscar crafted the composition with the goal of creating a blues and gospel-inspired track, influenced by the spirituals he heard growing up in Montreal. It wasn’t until lyrics were added that the song gained momentum as a powerful anthem for freedom and equality. Harriette Hamilton, who wrote the lyrics to Hymn to Freedom, explained: “All the lyrics had to do was express in very simple language the hope for unity, peace and dignity for mankind. It was easy to write.”
Today, Oscar’s wife, Kelly, is working to translate the song into as many languages as possible so the words can be heard and understood by everyone around the world. So far, the inspirational lyrics have been translated into French and Cree.
A Master of His Art
Beyond the albums and compositions, Oscar’s legacy has been celebrated over the years with many awards and accolades. Notably:
- His induction to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1978—he was the first of the two inaugural inductees.
- Being named Officer of the Order of Canada in 1972, and later Companion of the Order in 1984.
- An award in his honour created by the Festival international de jazz de Montreal in 1990.
- The first recipient of the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement (Popular Music) in 1992.
- Receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.
- A concert hall named in his honour at Concordia University in 1999.
- Receiving the Praemium Imperiale Award, the arts equivalent to the Nobel Prize, in 1999. Oscar was the first Canadian as well as the first jazz musician to receive this award.
- Receiving the UNESCO International Music Prize in 2000.
- His induction to the Canadian Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 2008.
- A statue in his honour at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, which was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010.
Photo: Oscar Peterson, Norah Willis Michener and Governor General Roland Michener
© Library and Archives Canada. Reproduced with the permission of Library and Archives Canada.
Source: Library and Archives Canada/John Henry Evans Studio fonds/e002107535
Credit: John Evans
The Great Mentor
Like his father, Oscar believed in the importance of musical education—and he felt compelled to carry on this legacy. In addition to his career as a recording artist, Oscar taught piano and improvisation in various capacities over the course of his life.
Oscar opened the Advanced School of Contemporary Music in Toronto in 1960. The school shut down a few years later due to Oscar’s touring demands, but that didn’t stop him from passing on his love of music. He continued to teach and mentor pianists throughout his career: Oscar began teaching at York University as an adjunct professor in the 1980s, and, in 1991, became the university’s Chancellor. York University also established the Oscar Peterson Scholarship in his honour for incoming students who “demonstrate a unique musical ability, especially in the field of jazz performance.” Today, the Oscar Peterson School of Music—the community school at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto—continues to teach and inspire musicians of all levels and backgrounds.
The Last Bow
Today, we honour Oscar Peterson with a coin that Canadians can find in their change—a quiet celebration for a Canadian change-maker who had a loud and echoing influence.
“One day I’ll make a final performance. When that happens, there’s going to be no fanfare. I’m just going to get up from the piano, take my bows, thank my group, and say, ‘This is it.’ Then I’ll close the piano and that will be the last time I play publicly.” – Oscar Peterson
Oscar’s love of music and his lasting legacy is celebrated with the 2022 commemorative circulation coin—a symbolic standing ovation for a Canadian legend who helped shape the Canada we know and love today.
Photo: Oscar Peterson
© Library and Archives Canada. Reproduced with the permission of Library and Archives Canada.
Source: Library and Archives Canada/Harry Palmer fonds/a182399
Credit: Harry Palmer
“Hymn To Freedom” written by Oscar Peterson – Tomi Music Company (SOCAN)/ Sony Music Publishing Canada (SOCAN)
All rights reserved. Used by permission.