Oscar, was born and raised in the Little Burgundy Section of South-Central Montreal, his dad Daniel, worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway and played trumpet. His sister Daisy played piano. Being surrounded by the jazz influence and the music scene that Montreal was and still is famous for, the talented Oscar thrived and grew in music education.

His first instrument was the trumpet, but under the guidance of his sister, he found his instrument in the piano.

His musical studies came under Hungarian pianist Paul de Markey who himself was a student of Franz Liszt. Although his training was essentially classical, he was influenced by the Jazz and Ragtime and the Boogie Woogie that blared from the clubs on Montreal.

By the time Oscar was twenty-five years old he was a mainstay on Canadian Radio and his influence was being heard all over the Dominion.

New York impresario Norm Granz while on a visit to Montreal heard Oscar playing on the Radio and thrilled by the music, he was hearing went to meet him and then took him to New York City, where he played Carnegie Hall.

Duke Ellington called Oscar the “Maharaja of the Piano”. Louis Armstrong called him the “Man With Four Hands”. Ella Fitzgerald thought that it was a blessing to work with him.

Although his fame was exploding in the U.S. he always maintained his home in Canada. He moved to Mississauga, Ontario to be closer to the Toronto recording studios that he loved to record at because he just felt comfortable in those surroundings.

He was awarded 16 Honorary University Doctorates and a Companion Order of Canada. A French letter of arts and a Statue in his honour unveiled by Queen Elizabeth at the National Arts theatre in Ottawa. He has numerous Juno’s and Grammys and other awards and Honours too numerous to mention.

His two treasured compositions are ‘The Canadiana Suite’ for his Canada and ‘The Hymn to Freedom’ that he wrote for the US. Civil Rights movement..

Enjoy