On February 21, 2000 I had to be in Ottawa at the request of the A/V Preservation Trust. This is an organization that was founded by members of the Canadian government and the arts community in order to preserve what they consider treasures in the world of art. This encompasses not only visual arts, but also the audio field. Heritage Minister Sheila Copps was particularly instrumental in seeing that this agency was established.
Many of you, I'm sure, are well aware of how much has been lost to us in the several arts through the unfortunate ignorance and indifference of those who were in a position to do better. Let me offer one simple example from my own experience. Some years ago I hosted a television series in England that featured various musical guests. I was fortunate enough to have the eminent Benny Green, a well-known Jazz critic, as my assistant for any information that I needed on my guests in the Jazz field, or on various Jazz figures that I might from time to time refer to in my dialog. At one particular point I wanted to make musical reference to the piano genius, Art Tatum, who had passed away, and asked people in the television archives about any possible footage that they might have on him that I could use in my talk. I was informed that the network at one time did indeed have taped performances by Tatum, but these had been erased to make room in the library archives for more recent projects. Needless to say, I was speechless with disbelief and anger at so horrendous a musical loss. This, as I say, is but one example. It could be multiplied a thousand-fold, and for all the arts, of course, not just music. So, when I was informed of the establishment of the A/V Preservation Trust of Canada, I was delighted at the prospect that we might now begin to see some serious attempts at the careful and systematic preservation of significant audio and visual performances.

The A/V Preservation Trust created what they termed the Masterworks Series, and decided that it should have four categories: film, television, audio recordings and radio recordings. Commencing this year, three works in each of the above categories will be designated as Masterworks. I was pleased to see the Plouff Family radio series designated as one of the Masterworks, along with an incredible film titled Neighbours, created by the gifted Norman McLaren of the National Film Board. I had the good fortune of having worked with Norman on one of his film projects titled Begone Dull Care, a creation of his that received many plaudits and awards over the years, and is still replayed from time to time on various networks throughout the world. And, needless to say, I was more than honored to have one of my Verve albums (The Trio), recorded at the London House in Chicago, designated as one of the Masterworks in the audio recording field.

But it was not only, or even primarily, pride at having my album selected that brought me a great feeling of joy. It was more importantly the fact that the people of the A/V Preservation Trust have spent the time and effort to make certain that artistic creations will not only be recognized as important efforts by the individual artists involved, but also will be constituted as an historic legacy within the Canadian experience that will live on for years to come. This is an exemplary step that should be copied and instituted by other nations in the world so that future generations will have a well-documented artistic history of what has taken place in their particular generation and geographic location. My congratulations and thanks to all those whose effort and vision have made this possible.

The A/V Preservation Trust can be found on the internet at www.avpreservationtrust.ca. Be sure to check it out!

©2000 Oscar Peterson

On May 2 my family and I flew to Switzerland where I was to play three concerts promoted by Hans Zurbruegg , a gentleman I have known for quite a few years now. He and his wife Marianne also own the hotel – the Innere Enge – where we lived during our stay in Bern. It is a beautiful place , located atop one of the hills overlooking the city . I arrived a couple of days early in order to give myself a better chance of fighting off jet lag . During this time I had the opportunity of making and re-establishing friendships with some great musicians. I was pleased to meet for the first time a pianist that I happen to admire greatly, Kenny Barron . I have long enjoyed his playing on records, but to this date had never had the opportunity of hearing him in person. Along with Kenny, I was able to renew friendships with buddies I hadn't seen for some time. People such as bassist Keter Betts (from our Jazz at the Philharmonic days when he played for Ella), Frank Capp (the well-known drummer and bandleader from Los Angeles), Gerald Wiggins (a wonderful pianist in his own right, and at whose house I was a guest for one of Art Tatum's famous piano parties where he disposed of about six bass players and gave the pianists apoplexy, including yours truly) and also Phil Woods (he and I made a tentative date to one day record together). I also renewed acquaintances with Nicholas Payton, the rising trumpet star, whom I had the pleasure of meeting and hearing on the QE2 Jazz cruise last November. Speaking of trumpet stars, I had a chance to spend some time with a particularly special old JATP buddy of mine, and one whom I consider to be a genius on his instrument: Clark Terry .

After spending a wonderful couple of days 'hanging out with the guys', it was time to start thinking about our own concert in Lausanne. Martin Drew, Niels Pedersen, Ulf Wakenius and I put together our program, and before we knew it we were on our way there to perform. We had a good crowd that night, made even better by virtue of the fact that one of the members of the audience was a dear friend of mine, and a great pianist, conductor, composer and arranger, Michel Legrand. He and I, along with the quartet, had just finished performing the music for the Trail of Dreams Suite at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, and recording it for Telarc the following day. This was a performance and record date that was memorable for the emotion that was felt on both days, both from the audience at the hall, and the excitement of the string players at the concert and the recording date. That, however, is another story, which I plan to include in a forthcoming installment of the Journal. During the intermission and after the concert I had the opportunity of saying hello to Michel, and once again thanking him for stepping in to do the arranging and the conducting of the Suite for me. We tentatively plan to perform it at several venues in Europe sometime in the near future.

The concert in Lausanne turned out to be another wonderful event for the quartet, and hopefully for the fans, and we returned to Bern fatigued but exhilarated after the show.

The following day the Mayor of Bern hosted a luncheon for us at the City Hall . On the way there we could not help noticing the variety of bigger than life-sized eggs that decorated various parts of the city in celebration of the Easter season. Each egg was different in its own way, having been created by a different artist, which lent a charm to the display that uniformity could never have provided. The City Hall itself is imposing, in the positive sense of the word. The building retains its wonderful feeling because of its ancestry, and is particularly highlighted by carefully sculptured and cared-for gardens , which we had the pleasure of sitting amongst for the luncheon. The Mayor made a speech of welcome to all of the artists, and we spent an exhilarating and gratifying afternoon exchanging views about the state of some of the so-called “Jazz” festivals in comparison to these three that we were playing that had been carefully and artistically arranged by Hans Zurbruegg and his staff. To my way of thinking, a Jazz festival in its true form should be performed by Jazz musicians and, by the same token, Pop and Rock festivals should be allotted to Pop and Rock artists, for in my view, the twain shall never meet. I admire the dedication and artistic knowledge of Hans Zurbruegg and the city of Bern in keeping the festivals within the parameters of the true Jazz world and was pleased that the Mayor agreed with me on this point. As a note of interest, I was pleasantly surprised on my way out of City Hall to be greeted by a corps of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police , who were visiting in Bern at that same time – a welcome remembrance of Canada.

The second concert took place in Luzern , again to a packed house of enthusiastic fans. The concert hall in Luzern is not only a thing of beauty architecturally, but is also probably the most acoustically accurate hall in Europe, having been just recently completed and opened. It was a joy to play there.

We returned that night to Bern, and the following evening played the concert there. The group, along with the audience, was thrilled to be joined on the latter half of the evening by Clark Terry, who filled us all with the joy and spontaneity of his incredible musical talent. He ended his portion of the show by doing his famous rendition of Mumbles. The audience refused to let us go, but due to the tremendous heat in the hall that evening, we had to call it a day after two or three curtain calls.

We returned to Hans' hotel , and after refreshing ourselves, joined him in the dining room where we had a fine meal, and then sat for the next hours reminiscing about amusing experiences we had had on previous tours, along with the stories of his wife Marianne growing accustomed to Japanese culture during her stay in the far east, where she was designing decor for several hotels.

I have very fond memories of my visit to Bern, not only on this trip, but also several years ago when, along with Benny Carter and Clark Terry, I received the Bern trophy, also called the Three Key Award, which I treasure to this day. The artist who designed the Three Key Award, Carlos Aguilar Linares , was also present during our visit this time, and I had the pleasure of meeting him and seeing some of his other works, all of which retain his full personality in their execution. This was a visit that will be long remembered amongst all of my various travels, and I sincerely thank His Honor the Mayor, and Marianne and Hans Zurbruegg for their caring, hospitality and warmth during our visit.

I hope you enjoy the photos I have included. I feel they reflect the excitement and happiness of our visit to Switzerland this year, from the musicians right down to the re-establishment of the warm association that my daughter Celine has for her Uncle Clark , whom she adores.

We have lost quite a few in our Jazz ranks, particularly over the last decade, but this reunion with the wonderful players that were present served to renew my faith in the belief that Jazz itself will never die.