[Dixielandjazz] Oscar Peterson interview on Individuality

[Chris Tyle]

Nancy - A MILLION thanks for submitting that interview to the DJML. 
Oscar was an incredible musical presence, a "beyond category" (to quote 
Duke Ellington) musician. I sadly never got to hear him in person but my 
record collection includes many of his recordings. I will never forget 
how much I dug his recording with Roy Eldridge from Montreux in, I 
think, 1977, and then that performance came out on DVD. For a trumpet 
player, it is a TOTAL lesson in how to play swing trumpet. There are 
times when I put that DVD on, watch what Roy is doing, and play the same 
stuff on my horn. Fabulous!!! There's a great story about Dizzy being 
backstage at that concert, commenting that Roy was really "on" that day. 
And was he ever!!

I love the stuff Oscar mentions about using Lester Young's licks for 
"Sometimes I'm Happy" in his own solos. So much for those people who 
carp about playing someone else's licks! I think it deserves to be 
reiterated here:

"The funny thing about it: I don't have any inhibition about
saying I learned such-and-such-a-person's solo. I can play you Nat's solo on
"Easy Listening Blues," I can play you Lester's "Sometimes I'm Happy," I can
play you numerous solos. I can sit there and sing them for you cause I
absorbed them in my growing up process. I'm not ashamed of that."

So for those people who say that copying someone else's ideas or solos is not creative, I say if it's good enough for Oscar, it's good enough for ANYONE! And I'll also mention that ALL the really great jazz players had the ability to play, note-for-note, some great solo by one of their mentors that they admired or were influenced by. 

Cheers,
Chris Tyle