Swing, jazz and blues - Dance to the music

I felt absolutely heart sick when I heard the news of Oscar's passing. I remember in May of '93, I was incredibly lucky to attend the Glenn Gould Prize Ceremonies here in Toronto, down @ the Glenn Gould Studio at the CBC...it held barely a few hundred people, if that. (The prize itself, $50,000 and an original piece of art by a Cndn. artist, is awarded every 3 years and was created by the Glenn Gould Foundation and administered by the Canada Council. Up until that time Yehudi Menuhin and R. Murray Schafer were previous recipients.) But as a first, Oscar, in keeping with the prize criteria, chose a Protoge to also receive a $10,000 prize -- that night, it was pianist Benny Green of New York. The performances (Oscar, Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, Jeff Hamilton; then Benny) were incredible -- and the sound in that Hall ... just beautiful. I'm actually looking now at the autograph from Oscar on that night's programme, as there was the opportunity for those of us at the reception to meet him; i believe he either just had his first hip operation -- as he was in a wheel chair -- and awaiting his 2nd operation, or was about to have his first, don't know. He was somewhat quiet and not overly talkative..my gut told me he was in some pain...but extremely gracious, humble, and patient with those of us that were just aching to jump out of our skin at the chance to interact with him personally. His performance was flawless... Benny was still quite young, barely 20 i think at the time, and he was on Cloud 9, very chatty and full of life and possibilities and probably knowing what the evening's honour was about to bring...(little did I know at the time that he had already played professionally with the Ray Brown Trio, so he was already well on his way...) Oscar was, in the truest sense, a real citizen of the world -- in addition to his extraordinary artistic gifts and his willingness to share them, he always nurtured the next generation, exemplified 'pay it forward', and always, always spoke out on injustice and the inhumane whenever he could. It is because of individuals like him that make me so proud to be Canadian. He will be missed. Thank you for acknowledging and remembering him.

little_d, thank you so much for sharing that story! /Henrik