@timstella I am sorry you feel that the conversation is silly. It is not one bit silly. I watched the Dick Cavett interview when it happened. I have every record Oscar Peterson ever made, many in duplicate as well as every Tatum recording that I can find, although there are many that were never offered publicly so the search never ends. I also saw Peterson live several times. Personally studied with Ed Thigpen. Please don't dismiss this conversation as silly. You can certainly disagree with it, that is your prerogative. I suggest a more meaningful reality check for you. Jim Wilke is still alive I believe, and he recorded the Oscar Peterson Trio in Seattle circa 1958. Since you are sceptical of my assertion that the group played the same tunes in the same way, used the same breaks, the same same, even smiled and laughed at the same riffs every time, every night, ask Jim. Many people have commented on this over the years. I personally saw this myself more than once, in LA, in Toronto, in Hartford. You don't have to believe me, but the group was a well oiled machine, well rehearsed. Moreso even than Ellington, who also was criticized for doing the same thing. Moreso even than MJQ, ditto. With all that said, I love the music and believe it has tremendous merit. Improvisation is only one element in the amalgam that makes up the complexity of things that we call jazz music. Every recognizable tune is obviously a compendium of repeatable parts after all. So we need to accept all of what we hear for what it is and not reject any part of it on an intellectual basis because of personal bias.
