Piano Lessons With The Maharaja of the Keyboard

He’s as pleasant and avuncular as a Mountie. He was born in Canada, after all. He practiced six hours a day until he could play like that. Everyone thinks there’s some other approach that will work.

His geniality masks what appears to me to be genius. Prodigious guided intellect with a view around a corner. He understands the essence of what scores of other estimable performers were doing, and can execute them on a whim. But he’s not a mimic. He understands it, then uses it.

I can’t recall a piano player that had all that firepower at his disposal that still played eminently accessible music with it. He never forgot to entertain the audience. Even when he wasn’t playing the piano.

Oscar Peterson