Audrey Morris On Oscar Peterson

Audrey Morris On Oscar Peterson

Date Posted: March 04 2008

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Audrey Morris on Oscar Peterson

This issue's interviewee, Audrey Morris, was good friends with the late-great Oscar Peterson. In fact, Peterson's family requested that Morris perform at the Oscar Peterson tribute at the recently held IAJE convention in Toronto. Excerpted from the interview on page 5, Morris gives a rare insight into the life of Oscar Peterson.

Audrey Morris: I've been extremely lucky because I've met so many of my idols. A lot of it through working at the London House, because they would come into town, and they would be the starring acts and I was the host. So I got to meet a lot of them, in particular Oscar Peterson.
Chicago Jazz Magazine: When did you first meet Oscar?

Morris: Working at the London House. In the early sixties when I was in the house group there. And he came in and I was scared to death: What am I going to do now? But he was such a gentleman and so encouraging—I'll never forget him.
Chicago Jazz Magazine: Talk about him as a musician. As a piano player yourself, you must have completely related to what he did.

Morris: No one could touch what he did. His idol, of course everybody knows, was Art Tatum—Art Tatum scared him to death. And one night he was playing in Montreal, his home town. And Art Tatum came in and he said hello, and Oscar introduced him to me. As they talked, Oscar told him how really afraid he was to have him in the room, and Art Tatum said to Oscar, "It's mine now, but you are next." Isn't that nice?
Chicago Jazz Magazine: That's wonderful. Is it true that Oscar's father was such a taskmaster that he would play Art Tatum records and chastise Oscar for not playing as well as Art Tatum?

Morris: Absolutely. And Oscar didn't play for several months after having heard Art Tatum. But his Father was decidedly a taskmaster. He worked on the railroad, on the Canadian Pacific. And one of Oscar's sisters, Daisy, is a wonderful pianist and a teacher, and she was in charge of Oscar. Oscar also studied many other groups, many other people, but Daisy was there, kind of watching him. Once, Oscar decided to ditch his piano for the day and just kind of bum around town and have a good time. Guess who rounded the corner? His Father! [laughs] There was something to pay for that. But he got paid back, because he became the greatest.
Chicago Jazz Magazine: What is it about his piano playing that makes Oscar Peterson great?

Morris: I don't think it's only one thing. I remember working at the London House. The reviewers would come in for the first set which was around seven o'clock or maybe seven-thirty, maybe even eight o'clock. They would be there for that first set because they had a deadline and they had to get back to the newspaper and write up their review, so it would be out for the first edition. Well, this first set was also the set where the conventioneers would come in to have dinner and so forth. And they were interested in what they were there for, not necessarily the music.
Chicago Jazz Magazine: So it was a noisy set.

Morris: Exactly. Very noisy. And so the reviewers would hear this remarkable exhibition of technique, but actually he was just going all over the piano trying to hear himself. But then the musicians would get off their gigs and come and listen to Oscar on the late sets. And what a lot of people who weren't there don't know, was that Oscar was a magnificent ballad player. One night he played "Laura" for forty minutes. When it finally ended there was dead silence in the room, the people were so stunned at what they had just heard. For several seconds—maybe a minute—they were unable to applaud. They just sat there in stunned silence. Isn't that beautiful?
Chicago Jazz Magazine: Aside from his great musical ability, what was he like personally?

Morris: Magnificent. If he was your friend there is nothing he wouldn't do for you. He was very, very loyal and very supportive and he was fun, and that's important too. And he loved jokes, and was a practical joker.
Chicago Jazz Magazine: Any you'd care to share?

Morris: Oh, he would laugh if he got caught. He would laugh. But I remember one night it was an early set with all the noise going on. And I played the first set and I was coming off and he was going to do his first set. And I said, "How are you tonight?" He said, "I'm okay. I'm bringing in a television set tomorrow." I said, "All right. What are you going to do with that?" "I'm going to set it up on your piano and I'm going to watch the Lucy Show." [laughs] He didn't do it.
Chicago Jazz Magazine: You were at the recent Jazz Educator's convention in Toronto, where there was a special tribute to Oscar Peterson.

Morris: Yes, there were two nights. I'll never forget them, they were so beautiful. The first night was the gala, and all kinds of famous people came. They had a wonderful, wonderful big band there. Kurt Elling performed and was magnificent. And the second one was late on Saturday afternoon. That was for close friends of his, and was quite lovely.
nCJM

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