Oscar Pettiford (September 30, 1922 – September 8, 1960) was an American jazz double bassist and composer. He was one of the earliest musicians to work in the bebop idiom.
Jazz bassist Christian McBride called Pettiford "probably the most important bass player of that bebop generation in terms of creating new language for the bass."
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Is there a more “bassist photo” than this? Paul Thompson tells the story behind Art Kane’s "Harlem, 1958" pic you (probably) don't know about, and the four bassists in it.
Much of the work of late bebop pioneer Oscar Pettiford is now available in one package: The Classic Albums 1953-1960. The five disc set includes recordings made after the jazz double bassist began using the cello in earnest as his secondary instrument following an arm injury. The late Pettiford, who was a composer and bandleader as well, is known for...
Newly unearthed modern jazz recordings from a Nov. 14, 1958 Hamburg, Germany performance by Oscar Pettiford Quartet have been released on the collection, We Get the Message. Pettiford, a highly influential double bassist/cellist, was known for saying that the center of his work was “to pass on the message.” Sadly, he was able to do so for only so long...
I’m a sucker for jazz ballads on bass, so when Christopher Brydge shared this duo of Oscar Pettiford and Attila Zoller playing “The Gentle Art of Love,” I dropped everything to watch. The video is part of some rare footage from a TV program called “Black and White Show no. 2” which aired on June 15th, 1959. Pettiford, who is...
By the 1950s, Oscar Pettiford had already made a name for himself as a force in the bebop movement and was working as a bandleader. But when the bass legend first arrived in Germany in 1958, he was lauded even more than he could believe. His signature style and use of bass as a solo instrument was extremely popular with...
