There's A New Heritage Minute That Tells The Story Of Canadian Jazz Pianist Oscar Peterson

Canada's own!
Senior Writer

There's a new Heritage Minute that tells the story of Oscar Peterson, a famous Canadian jazz pianist who was born and raised in Montreal.

Historica Canada, the organization that puts out the famous clips, told Narcity the video focuses on him growing up and his rise to fame.

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This Heritage Minute shows him as a "piano prodigy" in his early years, his time playing in someone else's band and then him later headlining a lounge in Montreal with his own trio.

Historica Canada said that Peterson grew up in Little Burgundy, a Black working-class community in Montreal.

In the video, Peterson's father brings home a piano for his son to practice with because music was "the ticket out of poverty."

Then, after playing classical pieces, Peterson gets into jazz and becomes a celebrity in Montreal's music scene in the 1940s before becoming an international sensation.

Historica Canada said that Peterson was the first jazz star Canada could call it's own and he is known as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time.

This is the 96th Heritage Minute the organization has released, and other videos have included stories about Drake, the Canadian liberation of the Netherlands and a pioneer for Canada's LGBTQ2+ community.

  • Senior Writer

    Lisa Belmonte (she/her) is a Senior Writer with Narcity Media. After graduating with a Bachelor of Journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), she joined the Narcity team. Lisa covers news and notices from across the country from a Canada-wide perspective. Her early coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic earned Narcity its first-ever national journalism award nomination.

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