Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson dies

(swiped from BBC & Pitchfork Media)

Oscar Peterson, the legendary Canadian jazz pianist known for his breathtaking displays of speed and agility, died Sunday, December 23 at his home in Mississauga, Ontario, according to various news sources. He was 82 years old. According to the Associated Press, the cause of death was kidney failure.

Peterson was born in Montreal on August 15, 1925. He grew up in a musical family, and was influenced by Art Tatum and Nat "King" Cole at an early age. While only in high school, he played in a band with trumpeter Maynard Ferguson and performed regularly on Canadian national radio. In 1949, Peterson performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City, launching his international career. He signed to Verve in the early 1950s, and went on to play with such greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, and Charlie Parker. His reputation for velocity and virtuosity grew and grew in the decades that followed, and he attracted a large international following. A 1993 stroke weakened his left hand, but Peterson continued to play for years to come.

Throughout his lifetime, Peterson was given countless honors and awards, including many Grammys. He was given his own stamp in Canada and Austria. He also started blogging in 2000.

Since the news of Peterson's death hit on Christmas Eve, tributes from the jazz world have been pouring in. The Associated Press quoted the following statement from Herbie Hancock: "Oscar Peterson redefined swing for modern jazz pianists for the latter half of the 20th century up until today. I consider him the major influence that formed my roots in jazz piano playing. He mastered the balance between technique, hard blues grooving, and tenderness ... No one will ever be able to take his place."

A message from Peterson's family on his website asks that those seeking to honor the pianist's memory can make donations to World Vision or Christian Children's Fund.

Video: Oscar Peterson Trio: Live in Italy 1961

Max Roach (1924-2007)

Max Roach, the jazz drummer, composer, bandleader and educator whose approach to rhythm had a profound effect on music in the second half of the 20th century, died of an unspecified illness at his home in New York last night. He was 83 years old.

Born in Newland, North Carolina in 1924, Roach and his family settled in Brooklyn in the late 1920s. An early interest in music was encouraged, and he was drumming with bands by the age of ten. Roach is one of the last surviving members of the generation of musicians who came to prominence in New York in the 1940s and set in motion the influential jazz style that came to be known as bebop. Both Roach and fellow drummer Kenny Clarke were ubiquitous on the scene, which also included saxophonist Charlie Parker, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and pianists Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, among others.

With its faster tempos and adventurous use of harmony, bebop was arguably the first jazz movement to position itself as art rather than entertainment. Roach, building on the innovations of Clarke, strove to free his instrument from its timekeeping role, establishing the drums as an improvisational voice and exploring the textural properties of percussion.

Roach continued to be identified with the first wave of bebop musicians his entire life, an association that peaked upon the release of the landmark Jazz at Massey Hall, a 1953 album featuring Parker, Gillespie, Powell, and bassist Charles Mingus (the album was released on the Debut label, an artist-run imprint started by Roach and Mingus). But he never stayed in one place for long and his music continued to evolve.

During the 50s and 60s, Roach became involved in the civil rights movement, and his activism was reflected in his work. His controversial and ambitious 1960 album We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, which directly addressed oppression in the United States and Africa, became a classic of both jazz and political art.

Roach was a relentless experimenter, working in virtually every setting, from solo to percussion ensembles to duets to big bands. He joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst as a professor in the early 70s and taught at the Lenox School of Jazz. In 1988, he was the recipient of a MacArthur foundation "genius grant," the first jazz musician to receive the award. An outspoken commentator and intellectual who could give a great interview, Roach occasionally drew connections between jazz and the rhythmic innovations and political consciousness of hip-hop (he appeared onstage with Fab Five Freddy and a team of breakdancers at a concert in the early 80s).

(article swiped from Pitchfork Media)