As "Oscar Peterson: Black + White" (2021 release from Canada; 81 min.) opens, a group of musicians is gathering to pay tribute to Oscar Peterson by performing some of his songs. We then go back in time to "Montreal 1925", and we get a quick overview of Oscar's upbringing and his father's outsized influence on that. At this point we are less than 10 min into the documentary.
Couple of comments: this is the latest from Canadian producer-director Barry Avrich ("Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story"). Here Avrich assesses the legacy of Oscar Peterson, one of jazz's all time greats and truly a Canadian treasure. If rating this was about Oscar Peterson himself, my rating would be a 9 or 10 for sure. But what about the documentary itself? Alas, I cannot be nearly as enthusiastic as I am about the jazz legend. While obviously well intended, the documentary never finds its groove, and certainly never sheds any new light on the jazz legend. On top of that, it feels like the documentary is struggling to come up with enough material, even at a running time of just 1 hr and 20 min. I have no idea what the "White + Black" of the movie title refers to. Yes, the footage of the tribute band for some reason switches back and forth from color to B&W, but I can't come up with any reason why. And yes, some (older) of the archive footage is in B&W, while other (more recent) clips are in color. Per the usual, there are plenty of talking heads providing their perspective on (universal acclaim of) Oscar Peterson, including Billy Joel, Herbie Hancock, the New York Times jazz critic, and many others. Bottom line: I can't help but feel disappointed with this documentary. Given his immense stature in the history of jazz, Oscar Peterson surely deserves better that his.
"Oscar Peterson: Black & White" premiered at last Fall's Toronto International Film Festival, and it started streaming on Hulu just this past weekend, where I caught it. If you are a fan of Oscar Peterson, or simply are interested in a the history of jazz, I'd suggest you approach this with limited expectations. Og course don't take my word for it, so check it out and draw your own conclusion.
