I guess you're wondering what his death has to do with this blog. His 1964 CD "We Get Requests," specifically the songs "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars," "Days of Wine and Roses" and "My One and Only Love" are my Madeleine (apologies to Marcel Proust). No matter where I am, hearing these songs instantly takes me into my parents' living room when I was a kid. It was their go-to CD for cocktail parties, dinner parties and other grownup functions. I used to love it when that CD came on, because it meant something fun and adult was about to happen.
And then I got older, and it became MY go-to CD for pretty much everything. And then I learned more about Oscar Peterson, the music he made and the technical master he was. And studying him brought me to others, like Herb Ellis, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge and one of my other heroes, Bill Evans.
Which brings me back to the house. I wonder what, 20 or 30 years from now, will remind me of this house and right now. Will fire remind me of the way the house smells when Lindsey makes a fire? Or will random typing remind me of the sound of Lindsey typing in her office, writing her next book? Or perhaps it will be rain, which will always remind me that it rained almost every weekend during the first summer we owned this house.
Either way, I know I'll be listening to Mr. Peterson, and I will be grounded--perhaps even comforted--by the history his music represents.
Posted by Evan
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