Oliver Jones, a pianist who grew up in the same part of Montreal as Oscar Peterson,  paid tribute to him Friday as "the greatest jazz pianist in the world."

Oliver Jones, who grew up around the corner from Oscar Peterson in Montreal, paid tribute to his friend on Friday: 'It's very unusual for any artist to dominate one field for 60 years.'
(CBC)

"We'll see a lot of musicians play piano in future, but I don't think we'll ever see another Oscar Peterson," he said in an interview at the CBC Broadcast Centre in Toronto on Friday.

Peterson died Dec. 23 at his Mississauga, Ont., home at age 82. A weekend of tributes to the late Canadian jazz pianist began Friday with a Toronto concert devoted to his music as part of a conference of jazz artists and educators.

That concert, supported by the Canada Council of the Arts and the U.S.-based Endowment of the Arts, will be followed on Saturday by a free public tribute to Peterson at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall.

Jones said he'd known Peterson since he was four or five, and always looked up to his talent.

"Growing up just around the corner from him, he was someone I saw every day of my life as a youngster. I spent a lot of time in the stairway listening to him practising," he said.

Peterson didn't just have talent, he had discipline and drive, Jones said.

"In that era, it was hard for a black musician to make his mark," he recalled.

''If he wanted to be a classical concert pianist, he could have. He could make the piano sound like a freight train or the next minute play as soft and tender as a child's music box," he said.

That versatility helped Peterson evolve from his boogie-woogie roots to new forms as jazz itself evolved, Jones said.

"It's very unusual for any artist to dominate one field for 60 years," Jones said.

Jones plans to play a Peterson composition called Place St. Henri, named for the district of Montreal where they grew up, in the tribute Friday.

Another Canadian participating in the Friday tribute is pianist Bill King, who recalled studying with Peterson in 1963 at a music school he formed in Toronto.

"What was striking was the atmosphere of music," he said. "Everything was always at a boiling point. You were so receptive to anything that was said in the classroom by this master."

Peterson was trying to teach how to play "from the heart" at a time when piano education was all about practising scales and jazz could only be heard in clubs, King said.

"He was trying to teach us how to feel from the inside."

Because he was a big man — six feet three inches — Peterson could stretch his hands over a keyboard in a way few musicians can match, King recalled.

"His hands could do things few piano players can do."

Both King and Jones performed Friday as part of a concert during the International Association of Jazz Educators' annual conference at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Peterson Chair, scholarships created at York

On Friday, the Ontario government announced a new $4-million Oscar Peterson Chair in Jazz Performance at Toronto's York University.

Another $1 million will be given annually in music scholarships for underprivileged students at York in memory of Peterson.

The Oscar Peterson: Simply the Best concert scheduled for Saturday at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall will have free admission, with members of the public allowed to enter on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 3 p.m. ET.

It will be broadcast live at 4:05 p.m. ET by CBC Radio One and at 4:05 p.m. ET on Sirius 137.

The broadcast will be repeated at 8:05 p.m. ET on CBC Radio Two and SRC Espace Musique.