Join us in honoring Oscar Peterson’s Centenary!
Oscar Peterson would have been 100 this year, and we are marking the occasion with a high-caliber tribute show by the Domi Edson Trio.
Oscar Peterson, born in 1925 in Montreal, began his performing career while he was still in high school, as pianist with the Johnny Holmes Orchestra. After a few years with the orchestra, he formed his own trio, the first in a format he maintained throughout his lifelong career. With the trio, Peterson quickly gained fame and popularity throughout Canada. His appearances at the Alberta Lounge in Montreal were broadcast live on the radio. In 1949, impresario Norman Granz heard one of those broadcasts, went to the Alberta Lounge and enticed Peterson into making a surprise guest appearance with Granz’s all-star “Jazz at the Philharmonic” at Carnegie Hall later that year. Leaving the audience amazed, Peterson joined JATP in 1950 as a full-time touring member. He formed a piano-bass duo with Ray Brown and began recording for Granz at the same time. He also added Barney Kessel as the first of the guitarists with whom he would form trios.
Peterson then devoted more and more time to composition while still maintaining a vigorous performance schedule. His “Hymn To Freedom” became one of the crusade songs of the civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He also composed a salute to his beloved Canada, “The Canadiana Suite,” in the early 1960s. You will hear this suite in its entirety at this show.
Peterson received the Praemium Imperiale (the arts equivalent of the Nobel Prize, presented by the Japan Art Association), the UNESCO International Music Prize, eight Grammy Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Grammy), the 1993 Glenn Gould Prize (of which he was the third recipient, the first chosen by unanimous decision and the first ever non-classical musician) and many honorary degrees. His passion for life, love and music remained strong throughout his life, and he continued to perform until shortly before his death. Oscar Peterson passed away at his home on the morning of December 23, 2007. His legacy lives on through his incredible music.
The “Canadiana Suite” a tribute to the diverse landscapes of Canada, drawing inspiration from Peterson’s travels by rail across southern Canada. Beginning in the Maritime provinces with "Ballad to the East", the suite travels west through the Laurentian Mountains of southern Quebec in "Laurentide Waltz", then pays a visit to the neighborhood in Montreal where Peterson grew up, Place St. Henri, in the song of the same name. Next, the suite moves on to Canada's next great metropolis, Toronto, in "Hogtown Blues", before heading to the great plains of Manitoba ("Blues of the Prairies") and Saskatchewan ("Wheatland"). Finally, Peterson takes us through Calgary in "March Past", and on into the Rocky Mountains with "Land of the Misty Giants". Explaining his motivation for writing Canadiana Suite, Peterson said "My profession has taken me to every part of the world, none of them more beautiful than where I live. As a musician, I respond to the harmony and rhythm of life, and when I’m deeply moved it leaves something singing inside me. With a country as large and as full of contrast as Canada, I had a lot of themes to choose from when I wrote the Canadiana Suite. This is my musical portrait of the Canada I love.”
The Domi Edson Trio is a local treasure. The group has three albums- Without the Re (2021), Stories from Solitude (2022), and A Jazzy Hanukkah with the Domi Edson Trio (2023). The group has been on three tours across the United States and Western Canada- some highlights include Frankie's Jazz Club (Vancouver, B.C.), The Royal Room (Seattle, WA), Yardbird Suite (Edmonton, AB), The Alluvion (Traverse City, MI), The International Society of Bassists Conference, and Dazzle (Denver, CO). They also had multiple performances at Universities and High Schools along the way. Learn more about Domi Edson here.
