Oscar Peterson: Black + White

I'm neither young nor a jazz pianist, but this morning I made my way through a few of Oscar Peterson's songs he wrote for students called Exercises for the Young Jazz Pianist. Now that I think about it, I'm almost embarrassed to say I'm a pianist, but I love to play and his exercises have shaped not only what and how I play, but how I think about music and its infinite possibilities.

I dream that they'll invent a machine that would allow me to play piano like Oscar played it, even for just a few minutes. What must that be like? I'm not even talented enough to imagine that. Oscar says in this that when his dad had him listen to Art Tatum for the first time he asked, "Who are those two guys playing piano?" When his pop told him it was only one guy...and that he was blind, the distraught young Oscar stopped playing for two months. I know the felling, like every time I watch Oscar play it maked me want to throw my piano out my fourth floor window.

... that my lifelong idol has this mediocre offering with his name on it.

Perhaps there is very limited video of the real man available, or perhaps there were licencing issues. A video with other people playing his music just isn't good enough.

Standard format used of people saying only nice things, limited coverage of his earlier years, and a somewhat awkward inclusion of his last wife.

The parts with Oscar talking were great and there is nothing to compare with his actual playing.

Perhaps a culled version of 45 mins would do it until (if ever) a better tribute comes along.

But this is Oscar so we should end on a happy note. And that is done by playing one of his albums. I'd suggest something from the early '60s.

Wow what a piece of crapola this was.

It's not good enough to pass this off, you're so daft you had footage of Oscar playing a synthesizer and still tried to sync your D grade band with that footage?

It was just so bad.

I think people would be better of exploring some clips on youtube and reading wikipedia because at least they wouldn't have to endure this garbage.

A lot of this footage actually looks like it has been ripped off youtube too. The extra zoom on the clips to avoid watermarks looks very suspicious to me.

I wish this was never made and I never tried to watch and enjoy it.

-100 out of 10.

As "Oscar Peterson: Black + White" (2021 release from Canada; 81 min.) opens, a group of musicians is gathering to pay tribute to Oscar Peterson by performing some of his songs. We then go back in time to "Montreal 1925", and we get a quick overview of Oscar's upbringing and his father's outsized influence on that. At this point we are less than 10 min into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from Canadian producer-director Barry Avrich ("Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story"). Here Avrich assesses the legacy of Oscar Peterson, one of jazz's all time greats and truly a Canadian treasure. If rating this was about Oscar Peterson himself, my rating would be a 9 or 10 for sure. But what about the documentary itself? Alas, I cannot be nearly as enthusiastic as I am about the jazz legend. While obviously well intended, the documentary never finds its groove, and certainly never sheds any new light on the jazz legend. On top of that, it feels like the documentary is struggling to come up with enough material, even at a running time of just 1 hr and 20 min. I have no idea what the "White + Black" of the movie title refers to. Yes, the footage of the tribute band for some reason switches back and forth from color to B&W, but I can't come up with any reason why. And yes, some (older) of the archive footage is in B&W, while other (more recent) clips are in color. Per the usual, there are plenty of talking heads providing their perspective on (universal acclaim of) Oscar Peterson, including Billy Joel, Herbie Hancock, the New York Times jazz critic, and many others. Bottom line: I can't help but feel disappointed with this documentary. Given his immense stature in the history of jazz, Oscar Peterson surely deserves better that his.

"Oscar Peterson: Black & White" premiered at last Fall's Toronto International Film Festival, and it started streaming on Hulu just this past weekend, where I caught it. If you are a fan of Oscar Peterson, or simply are interested in a the history of jazz, I'd suggest you approach this with limited expectations. Og course don't take my word for it, so check it out and draw your own conclusion.