The mark of a truly transcendent musician is establishing a signature sound. Whether it’s the voice, the saxophone, trumpet, or bass, if the listener can make out who the artist is in the first 10 seconds of a song, then you have done something right.
Oscar Peterson was one of those kinds of musicians, to say the least. In a new documentary chronicling his life and work, Oscar Peterson: Black + White, pianist Joe Sealy says at the very beginning that all it takes is four notes to know its Peterson playing those ebony and ivory keys.
It is clear from this film that many people rate Peterson as arguably the greatest pianist who ever lived. Few frames go by when the viewer doesn’t see Peterson’s fingers engaged in ravenous improvisation on his instrument.
Being great at one thing often means you are greatly lacking in another area of your life. Brilliance requires sacrifice. Oscar Peterson: Black + White shows the price that Peterson ultimately had to pay for devoting his life to his craft.
The film, directed by Barry Avrich, is half a traditional documentary, half a musical tribute. Avrich interweaves archival footage and interviews with live musical performances by Peterson protégés and devotees.
Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Jon Batiste, Billy Joel, and Ramsey Lewis are among those who offer their impressions of Peterson’s prowess. Fellow pianists like Sealy and Robi Botos all play Peterson’s compositions in the studio as a sort of live scoring.
It’s befitting that Botos, Sealy and others are playing songs like Peterson’s “Place St. Henri” and his arrangement of “C Jam Blues” throughout the course of the film. Peterson himself is seen in the documentary, via numerous comprehensive interviews, calling jazz “instant composition.”
We see Peterson, who was born in Montreal, Canada in 1925, talk about his childhood and his teachers — his father, his sister, and an instructor named Paul De Marky. By the time he was 18, he was a virtuoso playing all over his native country before coming to New York in his mid-20’s.
Although his key influences were Nat King Cole, Art Tatum, and Teddy Wilson, music fans in America were surprised by Peterson’s ability to play like a pianist who’d earned his stripes playing in juke joints, speakeasies, and blues clubs. In the doc, Batiste says it was “in his DNA somehow.”
Two important portions of the film feature a crucial breakdown of Peterson’s ability to play his left hand independently from his right with peerless virtuosity, as well as detailing the improvisational nature of jazz.
One of the most astute descriptions of Peterson’s dynamic playing came from New York Times jazz critic Giovanni Russonello who appears in the doc. He says that with Peterson, “You see somebody whose body is in complete control, but whose mind is a few steps ahead.”
An overarching figure in Peterson’s life is Norman Granz, an American concert promoter and music producer who played a major role in introducing him to the world. Granz’s “Jazz at the Philharmonic” tour, featuring Peterson’s trio along with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Buddy Rich, and Dizzy Gillespie, put jazz in concert halls formerly meant for classical symphonies.
That introduces the subtext of race to the film and the role it played in Peterson’s life after coming to America. As he toured the country throughout the 40s, 50s, and 60s, Peterson was introduced to systemic racism, and it took a toll on him. Traveling in an era of whites-only lunch counters, bathrooms, and hotels, he called his introduction to American racism the “worst experience of my life.”
Those experiences led to his timeless composition, “Hymn to Freedom,” a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that with its plaintive melody evokes images of civil rights era protests, along with those of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Black Lives Matter.
One of Peterson’s biggest challenges was his intimate relationships. Decades of constant touring and recording along with hob-nobbing with celebrities proved “debilitating from a personal aspect,” as he told the Wall Street Journal in 2006.
The pianist was divorced three times before marrying his fourth wife, Kelly Peterson, in the 80s. They remained married until his death in 2007.
Perhaps the most telling quote from Peterson came when he considered the price he paid for leaving his personal life in the rearview mirror while playing piano all over the world.
“It was lonely, but music filled that gap for me.”
Oscar Peterson: Black and White is available on-demand on Hulu.
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