The music was so powerful, so propulsively swinging that fellow musicians found it hard to believe Monday that such a force of nature as Oscar Peterson had finally been stilled.
"It's hard for me to believe even now,'' said fellow pianist Hank Jones, a jazz legend in his own right. "I just thought Oscar would be around for another 100 years. This is one of the saddest days of my life.''
Oscar Peterson, an icon of jazz piano in Canada and around the world, has died at the age of 82, leaving behind a legacy of recordings replete with jaw-dropping virtuosity and legions of musicians trying to match his matchless sound.
Those flashing rivers of quicksilver runs were a big part of his sound, but when musicians talk about what made Peterson great they always eventually get around to rhythm.
"He just drove the whole bus,'' said Senator Tommy Banks, a jazz pianist who once played a duet version of "Satin Doll'' with Peterson on a live TV broadcast.
"He was the kindest, gentlest, most forgiving person on the face of the earth, but when you sit down to paint next to Picasso it's fairly daunting. It was frightening.
"He generated enormous swing.''
Composer and pianist Roger Kellaway was the musical director of a June 8 tribute to Peterson that featured luminaries such as pianist Marian McPartland and trumpeter Clark Terry.
"I always wanted to be able to play with as much power as he had,'' said Kellaway, whose latest disc is entitled "Heroes'' in Peterson's honour.
"When (jazz writer) Gene Lees asked me, `What is it about Oscar that you love?' I said, `The will to swing.' ''
Lees, a former editor of Down Beat magazine and a friend of Peterson's for nearly 60 years, decided that phrase summed up the music so well it became the title of his biography of Peterson.
"He was just one of the most amazing musicians I've ever heard in my life. I've known probably most of the major jazz musicians and Oscar was one of the greatest of them.
"Very rarely have human hands been disciplined to that level. On a good night, he was scary.''
While blazing runs up and down the keyboard may be the most common memory of Peterson's playing, Jones reminds fans of Peterson's touch on ballads.
"He had a beautiful approach to ballads, which a lot of pianists forget,'' said Jones.
Peterson was also a schooled and disciplined musician, who demanded the same of his sidemen.
Jones relays a story told him by Herb Ellis, guitarist in one of Peterson's classic trios. He and bassist Ray Brown got lost in one of Peterson's complex arrangements and faked their way through until they could catch up to their boss.
"When they got off the bandstand, Oscar said, `I would greatly appreciate it if I could get a child's portion of harmony.' ''
Pianists around the world look up to Peterson, said Jones.
"Everything that Oscar did, the word used would be astounding. He had such great technique and agility, anything he could think of he could play.
"Listening to Oscar was a learning experience. Every time you heard him, you'd say, `Oh, that's just marvellous.' I wish I could do that.''
Throughout his career, Peterson stayed true to his musical roots in the swing and early bebop eras.
"What Oscar had was a summational position,'' said Lees. "Everything that had gone on in jazz history up until that time was in his playing. All of it.''
Lees recalls the jazz composer Lalo Schifrin comparing Peterson's music to that of the classical composer and pianist Franz Lizst.
"(Schifrin) said, `Somebody once said, Lizst conquered the piano; Chopin seduced it.' He said `Oscar is our Lizst.' ''
Although the worlds of both jazz and popular music as a whole have changed many times since Peterson's first recordings, Jones says his influence is still with us.
"I don't think anybody can listen to Oscar without being affected, and certainly being inspired by Oscar's playing.
"He would have left a more definite impression me, but I couldn't execute some of the things he did,'' laughs Jones.
"He's somebody who will never be replaced. You cannot replace Oscar Peterson.''
Lees said "I don't think there's ever been a pianist in jazz of the later generation who wasn't influenced by him.''
Oscar Peterson has simply become part of the musical air we breathe, said Banks.
"It keeps coming back and people keep trying to emulate it. All pop music becomes invested sooner or later with the contributions of giants like he.''
Herbie Hancock, another legendary jazz pianist, said Peterson's impact was profound.
"Oscar Peterson redefined swing for modern jazz pianists for the latter half of the 20th century,'' Hancock said. "I consider him the major influence that formed my roots in jazz piano playing. ... No one will ever be able to take his place.''
Jazz impresario Quincy Jones said it was a blessing to have worked with Peterson.
" He was one of the last of the giants, but his music and contributions will be eternal,'' Jones said.
Jazz pianist Marian McPartland called Peterson "the finest technician that I have seen.''
McPartland said she first met Peterson when she and her husband, jazz cornetist Jimmy McPartland, opened for him in Toronto in the 1940s.
"From that point on we became such goods friends, and he was always wonderful to me and I have always felt very close to him,'' she said. "I played at his tribute concert at Carnegie Hall earlier this year and performed `Tenderly,' which was always my favorite piece of his.''
Pianist Billy Taylor called Peterson one of the finest jazz pianists of his time. "He set the pace for just about everybody that followed him.''
Grammy-nominated jazz pianist Eldar Djangirov said he wouldn't have been a musician if he hadn't heard Peterson play. "He was on top for as long as he played. He would play things with one hand that most piano players couldn't do with both of their hands.''
West Coast big-band leader Dal Richards backed Peterson at a Vancouver show that was part of the jazz great's first Canadian tour in the late 1940s and met him several times over the years.
"He was a giant, as we all know, of jazz but more than that he was a perfect gentleman; he was a wonderful man,'' said Richards, still performing with his band as he heads towards his 90th birthday next month.
Richards said Peterson never discussed with him the pressure he was under as a pioneering black star whose appeal crossed racial lines. Besides breaking colour lines, Richards said Peterson has left lasting musical legacy for modern performers such as Victoria's Michael Kaeshammer.
"He's spoken of with reverence amongst piano players, even when he was performing with some handicap in later life,'' said Richards.
"He was looked upon as the man pretty much, certainly by Canadians and almost all Americans, as a pianist. He was the one."
