Oscar Peterson

Hey all,

For those of you in jazz band with me, this is a story that will interest you.  Just a little bit of background first, though.  In Mexico, when I was freaking out about homework that didn't exist, I figured out (with only a little help from Dad and Lori) that I wanted to research Oscar Peterson.  He seemed interesting as both Dad and Lori agreed that he had been compared to the Mozart of jazz.  It turns out that Brandon (oh, darn him) chose him before me, so instead I am researching Gene Harris.  Anyways, my grandpa (Ron) has the best story.  Sorry for the copy and pasting, but it sounds so much cooler when he tells it.

"This happened when I was at college at the Royal Military College in Kingston.  I had an old car which I kept hidden in down town Kingston as the cadets at RMC were not allowed to own or drive cars.  So I kept it at a service station in Kingston and I could sneak out the window in my room, put my skates on and skate around (in Winter) to this service station, put on a disguise and fire up the old Plymouth.  I had heard that Oscar was in this bar in Watertown just across the US border from Kingston so took a couple of other guys with me and we headed down to this bar.  We had a few drinks, then during one of the intermissions, Oscar came over to my table and sat down.  During the conversation, I told him that I played the piano a bit and he suggested that we get together in a duet during the next set.  So he called me up and sat down, he playing the bass and me the treble.  He had drums and a bass and we worked out way through Georgia on My Mind and one other improvised medley in jam style.  My most striking memory was the size of his hands.  He could easily play a 12th with both hands...quite remarkable which was one of the reasons why he sounded like 2 guys playing.  His technique was beyond words...these large hands moving over the keys like lightning and never, never a wrong note.  I stayed there until the place closed at 2 am and then managed to get safely back to Kingston, stash my car and sneak successfully back to my room.
This would have taken place in January 1963 during the beginning of Oscar's rise to the world's best jazz pianist.  I saw him several time after that in concert in Toronto but never had a chance to speak to him about the night in Watertown, New York.  I highly doubt if he would have remembered.
Incidentally, my car is at the bottom of the St Lawrence River now after we were racing the ferry from Wolfe Island to Kingston one night on the ice.  We managed to get a bit too close to the open ferry channel and it went through the ice.
Myself and another guy managed to successfully escape, crawl onto the ice and walk back to the barrack block on the ice, about 2 miles.  I bought this car for $25 so it wasn't a significant financial loss."

Isn't that cool???????  25$  Awesome. I love you Ron.

Hugs,

Ali

Oscar Peterson Link  Listen to this.  Not the best quality of picture, but it still sounds AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Again, hugs,

Ali