Oscar Peterson: Music in the Key of Oscar.

• Author: Rothenberg, Robert S.

Jazz videos have been growing in popularity in recent years, especially those that give a musician or group ample time performing the music that viewers had grown familiar with from records or CDs. In focusing on Oscar Peterson, arguably the best - and certainly the most influential - jazz pianist of the past half-century, this video goes beyond the music to portray the man, especially in light of the turbulent times he has lived through.

Built around a historic reunion with guitarist Herb Ellis and bass player Ray Brown to re-create the original Oscar Peterson Trio, this thoughtful documentary uses narration by Peterson to set the framework for the struggle of black musicians before and after the civil rights movement. Interviews by fellow jazz stars Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, Ella Fitzgeraid, and Herbie Hancock deal mainly with Peterson the musician. However, it is Norman Granz, creator of the famed Jazz at the Philharmonic series of concerts that made that...