 Oscar Peterson in 1958 (CP Photo/CBC)
December 25, 2007 -- TORONTO - Oscar Peterson, one of the world's best-known jazz pianists, died yesterday at his home in Canada. He was 82. His wife, Kelly, and daughter, Celine, were with him at his home in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, whose mayor, Hazel McCallion, said the cause of death was kidney failure. In a career that spanned seven decades, Peterson played with just about everyone who was anyone in jazz. His awards included the Order of Canada, a Lifetime Grammy (1997), and admission to the International Jazz Hall of Fame. Duke Ellington dubbed him "the maharajah of the keyboard." Count Basie said he "plays the best ivory box I've ever heard." And French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday said, "One of the bright lights of jazz has gone out. He was a regular on the French stage . . . It is a great loss for us." Peterson was born on Aug. 15, 1925, outside Montreal. His father, Daniel, was a railway porter and self-taught musician. Oscar played trumpet and piano as boy, but gave up the horn after a bout with tuberculosis and became a teen sensation in the late 1930s and early '40s. After he played Carnegie Hall in 1949, he was often compared to his childhood idol, Art Tatum. In 2005, Peterson became the first living person not a monarch to have his own commemorative stamp in Canada. Of course, he was already jazz royalty there, with streets, squares, concert halls and schools named after him.
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