Oscar Peterson's piano was there, his beloved personal Bösendorfer being played in public for the first time. His wife and daughter were there. His colleagues and fans were there. And his music was there.
The only thing missing in Friday night's loving and emotional tribute to Oscar Peterson at Keorner Hall was the great pianist himself, who died in 2007. But, actually, as I'm sure anyone in the the sold-out crowd will confirm, Oscar was there in the most meaningful way. As all great creators are – through his art.
The occasion for the Peterson love-fest was the launch of a new, three-CD set, Oscar, With Love, produced by Oscar's wife, Kelly, featuring 16 of the world's greatest jazz pianists performing Peterson compositions, many recorded for the first time, on his piano, recorded in his basement studio, as a tribute in what would have been his 90th year.
On Friday, six of those pianists – Kenny Barron, Robi Botos, Bill Charlap, Gerald Clayton, Benny Green, Oliver Jones, Renee Rosnes – along with bassist Dave Young gave an adoring, emotional audience a taste of that CD set. Oscar, with love, indeed.
It's hard to pick out favourites among the 18-odd selections performed on Friday. As Jazz FM's Ross Porter said in an on-stage interview with the Conservatory's Mervon Mehta, who produced the concert, Oscar's prowess as a player obscured his other musical talents.
He was, for instance, not a bad singer, in a decidedly Nat King Cole style. And we know a few of Oscar's compositions, such as his Canadiana Suite and his Hymn to Freedom, but few would think of Oscar as a jazz composer. Oscar, With Love, among other things, was designed to redress this balance. And on the basis of what we heard Friday, although Peterson might not be ranked up there with an Ellington or a Thelonius Monk as a creator of genius, he had many fine moments writing the tunes, as well as playing them.
Interestingly, for a pianist who made his reputation as a hard-driving, swinging son of the stride family of jazz – who traced his roots from Earl Hines to Fats Waller to Art Tatum – most of the Peterson compositions on display Friday were ballads. Which allowed his pianist-colleagues a chance to display what is often overlooked in jazz – their ability to shape a melody, to work with tone, colour and texture – in effect, parts of their technique closer to classical music than any other form. (It didn't hurt that Oscar's Bösendorfer is a massive concert grand).
Not to say there wasn't some fine swinging from the likes of Bill Charlap and Benny Green, the latter an Oscar protege, the former one of today's great players. But the dominant sound Friday night was more reflective, more serene, full of the beauty of melody and harmony.
As I said, hard to pick out favourites among this group, but for me, Kenny Barron's two performances stand out. Barron, now 72, just sat down at Oscar's Bösendorfer and spun out two exquisitely shaped improvisations/performances, with a strong harmonic bass line and a constantly evolving right hand.
Benny Green, on the other hand, pounded out a solid and gutsy blues early in the show and then quieted down later for a beautiful performance of Oscar's If You Only Knew. Renee Rosnes and Bill Charlap ended the first half of the evening with a spirited, witty, four-handed version of Oscar's Sushi, and then Rosnes returned with bassist Young for more ballad-y beauty with Love Ballade.
Young, as a solo act, may have turned in the most emotionally affecting performance of an emotional evening with his tribute to his longtime colleague with Goodbye, Old Friend. And Oscar's old friend, Oliver Jones (could any Oscar tribute be presented without him?), at 81, still managed to coax beautiful and swinging sounds out of a keyboard.
However, perhaps the emotional highlights of the evening were the one-two punch saved for the end. Gerald Clayton, at 31, by far the youngest performer on stage, just tore into Oscar's ode to the Civil Rights movement, Hymn to Freedom, composed long before Clayton was born, and pulled out of it just about every musical thought and sentiment it had to offer.
And then, somehow, to top, or perhaps to complement it, Robi Botos, walked on stage, sat down simply and played what Oscar thought was his best composition (according to his daughter, Celine, emcee for the night), When Summer Comes.
The beautiful ballad ended, Robi stood up, embraced Oscar's piano, and the evening ended, reverberating with Oscar's spirit.
The Oscar, With Love concert can be streamed online at http://performance.rcmusic.ca/livestream