XMAS Feast, Oscar Peterson, & tidbits

Happy Holidays All!!!

I'm brimming with the spirit of the season... it tends to sweep me up and make me feel like flying. I've had butterflies on the mind lately - why would I hide this smile?

I'm taking a break from the madness of preparing a feast for friends. My feet hurt and I can't chop anymore, but I'm content and happy to be feeding my friends. There are a few who can't be here, of course, and they are missed. I find that as I cook, my thoughts linger on those who will share the meal - bonds made over food are lasting and warm in my world :)

I'm curious to see how my guests will mix and mingle... it's a diverse crowd in terms of gender, race, economics, religion, age, marital status, nationality, and expectation. hmmm more on that after the fact, I suppose.

Sad news in the music world... seems like so many great ones are gone... if you haven't enjoyed live music recently... GO!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7159591.stm

Jazz legend Oscar Peterson dies

Peterson received all of Canada's highest honours during his lifetime Peterson performing

Jazz pianist and composer Oscar Peterson has died of kidney failure at his home in Toronto, at the age of 82.

Peterson was one of jazz's most recorded musicians, and was famous for his fast-playing virtuoso style.

He made more than 200 albums and won eight Grammy awards, including a lifetime achievement honour in 1997.

He released his first single at the age of 19 and performed with greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington and Nat "King" Cole.

The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame announced last month that it was to present the star with its Founder's Award in 2008.

This was to celebrate "a brilliant jazz pianist and composer" who showed "musical dexterity and energetic performances", it said.

Peterson, who had a working-class upbringing in Montreal, won a talent contest organised by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) when he was 14 years old.

"The world has lost an important jazz player," Hazel McCallion, mayor of Mississauga, Ontario, and Peterson's close friend, told CBC News.

"He's been going downhill in the last few months, slowing up," she added.

His studio and live partners included Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and Stan Getz.

Basie once described Peterson as someone who "plays the best ivory box I've ever heard", while Ellington referred to him as "Maharajah of the keyboard".

Gifted at improvisation, Peterson said in 2005 how live free-form jazz could enable "moments of great beauty to emerge".

He was made a Companion of the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honour, and he was the first living Canadian to be depicted on a stamp.

Peterson was married four times and had five children.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/7159591.stm

Published: 2007/12/24 18:59:13 GMT

© BBC MMVII