Jazz genius Oscar Peterson dies at 82

Fellow jazz musician Oliver Jones, a family friend, said Peterson died at his home in Toronto on Sunday.

The cause of death was kidney failure.

Peterson's fourth wife, Kelly, and their daughter, Celine, were said to have been with him during his final moments. He also had six children from his previous marriages.

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During an illustrious career spanning seven decades, the Canadian played with some of the biggest names in jazz including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

He won eight Grammy awards and is also remembered for the trio he led with bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis in the 1950s.

Peterson once said: "A jazz player is an instant composer. You have to think about it, it's an intellectual form."

His stature was reflected in the admiration of his peers.

Duke Ellington referred to him as the "maharajah of the keyboard", while Count Basie once said that "Oscar Peterson plays the best ivory box I've ever heard".

Peterson was often invited to perform for heads of state, including the Queen, and wrote A Royal Wedding Suite for the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.

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Born in a poor neighbourhood of Montreal, Peterson got his passion for music from his father Daniel, a railway porter and self- taught pianist, who saw it as a way out of poverty for his five children.

At the age of five Oscar learned to play trumpet and piano, but after a bout of tuberculosis he chose to concentrate on the keyboards.

He became a teenage sensation in Canada, playing in dance bands and recording in the late 1930s and 1940s.

He quickly made a name for himself as a jazz virtuoso.

Impresario Norman Granz was so impressed after hearing Peterson at a Montreal club that he invited the pianist to come to New York for a jazz concert at Carnegie Hall in 1949 that launched his international career.

Peterson was brought up from the audience as a surprise guest, overwhelming everyone with his dazzling technique and mastery of different jazz styles from boogie woogie to bebop.

In 1993, he suffered a stroke that weakened his left hand. But after a two-year recuperation, he gradually resumed performing and recording.

He kept playing despite worsening arthritis and difficulties walking.