WINNIPEG, MB – Spend an evening with the music of jazz legend, Oscar Peterson as the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra celebrates his acclaimed collection. Peterson travelled much of Canada and turned the landscapes he experienced on these tours into the eight descriptive movements making up his Canadiana Suite, which he recorded with his trio in 1964.

Peterson was a man who stood by his values and exuded them in such ways that not only welcomed admirers into the jazz world but influenced them to take his art and turn it into fire. “We’d all be lucky to have 10 percent of what Oscar was as a human being,” declared Quincy Jones.

There are two performances at the Winnipeg Art Gallery on March 25 at 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM.

Peterson, called the “Maharaja of the keyboard” by none other than Duke Ellington, travelled much of Canada on his many tours. He turned the landscapes he experienced on these tours into the eight descriptive movements making up his Canadiana Suite, which he recorded with his trio in 1964. This collection of sound paintings takes the listener east to west across Canada: from the Maritimes (Ballad to the East), the Laurentian Mountains (Laurentide Waltz), Montreal (Place St. Henri), Toronto (Hogtown Blues), the Prairies (Wheatland & Blues of the Prairies), Calgary (March Past), to British Columbia (Land of the Misty Giants). Nominated for a Grammy in 1965, Peterson called this suite “my musical portrait of the Canada I love”.

Filling Oscar Peterson shoes at the piano will be WJO’s own Will Bonness. Will is an accomplished performer and a full-time faculty member in the University of Manitoba Desautels Faculty of Music, where he teaches jazz piano.

With Files from Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra

Photo from winnipegjazzorchestra.com