The Maharaja

by digby

I just found out that jazz virtuoso Oscar Peterson shuffled off his mortal coil yesterday at the age of 82. For those of you who aren’t familiar with his work, you might think of him as the Eddie Van Halen of jazz piano — aggressive, fast and fierce. Duke Ellington called him the Maharaja.

Here is a Youtube of him playing “Caravan” with the Oscar Peterson Trio in 1985. Hang in there for the first minute or so and you won’t be disappointed. It’s like a volcano explosion — a fiery and smokin’, powerful sound.

He was the greatest.

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