Though excellent musicians who either apprenticed with or performed with Peterson, the fact is, nobody but Oscar Peterson is Oscar Peterson. In Oscar Peterson: Black + White, a group of Toronto jazz musicians - among them, pianist Robi Botos, bassist Dave Young - perform the music of Oscar Peterson at Koerner Hall in Toronto. Jones and D-Man in the Waters, a group of contemporary dance students remount Jones’s famous piece “D-Man in the Waters.” Ailey and Can You Bring It at least hint at the way these choreographers’ work is passed through generations and shows their continuing influence. In Ailey, a new dance is choreographed that pays homage to Alvin Ailey’s work in Can You Bring It: Billy T. There’s been a trend lately in documentaries about great artists, especially ones no longer living, to revive them by reviving their work through contemporary artists. This is all to say that, as someone who knew his music well, it was disappointing that I came in knowing more about it than the film even attempted to reveal. I even had the chance to see one of Peterson’s last live performances in the late 1990s, and like so many of the people interviewed in the film, I can attest that even with his loss of dexterity in his left hand, due to a stroke, he still played like he had three hands. We had a copy of Peterson’s sheet music for The Canadiana Suite, and it was a running joke in my household that it was missing half the notes. Almost everyone interviewed in the film - from Branford Marsalis to Billy Joel - comments on how he played the piano as though he had four hands. I grew up with Oscar Peterson’s music his playing is what made me want to play the piano. It’s a decent enough introduction to Peterson for the uninitiated, likely to get you to at least check out his work, but it offers precious few insights into his contributions to music and his technical prowess, and even skimps on showing us enough of his actual performances. Unfortunately, Barry Avrich’s Oscar Peterson: Black + White fails to do justice to the towering figure in twentieth century jazz by neither delving deep into his music nor his life. It’s hard to believe that we’ve yet to have a documentary on the life and work of the great Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson - especially considering that TIFF annually programs docs on Canadian figures in the arts, from the band The Tragically Hip to the poet Al Purdy. We’re running a daily TIFF 2021 newsletter to give you all our reactions to the best new films as they premiere. Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson in Barry Avrich’s documentary Oscar Peterson: Black + White Barry Avrich’s documentary Oscar Peterson: Black + White barely scratches the surface of the great jazz pianist’s life, music, and legacy.Ĭlick here to find all of our TIFF 2021 coverage and sign up to our TIFF newsletter.
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