Oscar Peterson (1925-2007) from Montreal, Quebec, is undoubtedly one of the masters of the jazz piano. Classically trained, he was already popular in Canada as a teenager in Canada when Jazz impresario Norman Granz became aware of Peterson in 1949 and hired him for his his extremely popular "Jazz At The Philharmonic" concerts and tours. When Granz founded his own labels such as Norgran or Verve not much later, Peterson was the pianist of choice for his productions.