Oscar peterson 1925 2007 from montreal, quebec, is undoubtedly one of the masters of the jazz piano. Classically trained, he was already popular in canada as a teenager in canada when jazz impresario norman granz became aware of peterson in 1949 and hired him for his his extremely popular jazz at the philharmonic concerts and tours. When granz founded his own labels such as norgran or verve not much later, peterson was the pianist of choice for his productions. Among the most popular and artistically rewarding studio encounters with oscar peterson on piano are the recordings with louis armstrong and ella fitzgerald. Songs like april in paris, autumn in new york and many others became immortal in these versions. A four record musical biography of dancer and singer fred astaire is a treasure long forgotten. Peterson also shaped the recording sessions with billie holiday, which, produced by granz in the early 1950s, ushered in a new, more mature phase in lady day's vocal artistry. The albums with anita o'day, the young toni harper and the singing drummer buddy rich also show why the pianist was on everybodys first call list. Peterson was a more than acceptable singer himself and a big fan of nat king cole, as you can hear on soft sands.