James Pearson Trio plays Oscar Peterson

Forsyth Music Shop

James Pearson piano / Arnie Somogyi double bass / Sebastien de Krom drums

James Pearson returns to the Forsyth piano showroom after sold out performances in both 2022 and 2023, as he delivers his tribute to arguably the most successful jazz pianist of all time: Oscar Peterson.

Coming from humble roots and going on to achieve international stardom with countless accolades to his name, Peterson’s notorious prowess at the keyboard can still astound to this day. With rapid octave passages and seemingly impossible sequences of block chords, he made the piano sound more like a big band.

In James Pearson’s show, you will hear some of Oscar’s compositions and versions of jazz standards, fused with anecdotes (from a highly amusing first encounter) and historical facts. James’s own style of playing has been compared with Peterson’s: the Evening Standard said of his performance at Ronnie Scott’s, “Oscar would have loved it”.

James Pearson is a pianist, composer, creative tour de force, and the Artistic Director at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, where his trio is the house band.

But James is equally at home as a concert pianist. He has played concertos with the Philharmonia and the BBC Concert Orchestra; his performance of Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto was broadcast on Classic FM and Gershwin’s Piano Concerto and Rhapsody in Blue on BBC Radio 2.

James’ many collaborators include Dame Cleo Laine, Marian Montgomery, Petula Clark, The John Wilson Orchestra, Elvin Jones, Wynton Marsalis, Joss Stone, Dave Stewart, Buddy Greco, Johnny Griffin, Richard Rodney Bennett, Ray Davies, Polly Gibbons, Nigel Kennedy, Robbie Williams, Rufus Wainwright, Gregory Porter, Imelda May, Jeff Beck and Paul McCartney.

The performance starts at 7.30.