Oct. 18, 2025: Saturday

Oscar Peterson Centennial Quartet - 7:30pm
Orillia Opera House - Main Stage

Biographies

Kelly Peterson

Kelly Green met Oscar Peterson in 1981. It was a fairy tale encounter:

“I was a fan. I had been to his concerts in Rochester and in New York City when I was living there after university. I wound up in Sarasota, Florida, and I was working at a restaurant there. It was a fish restaurant.”

“Oscar was playing in Sarasota but I couldn’t go. I was working that night. The restaurant was one of two that stayed open late into the night. We had a little trio that played in the bar and to keep the bar open, we had to serve food. Oscar always ate dinner after his concerts, not before, and so he was always looking for a place to eat after a show."

"He was told there were two options: a French restaurant and a fish restaurant.

Oscar said, ‘A French restaurant in Sarasota, Florida? I’ll take fish’. And he walked in.

I was on duty and I recognized him right away. I told him I was a fan and we chatted. When he was leaving, he handed me his business card and said ‘If you want to come to New York (to see him in concert), call me and you can be my guest’. I thought ‘How sweet’. Never in a million years would I have done that, but it made me happy. It was a nice thing to do.”

At that point, Oscar’s taxi had not shown and Kelly drove him to his hotel. Afterwards, he started calling. He called several times from February to June, she said.

“He would talk about his shows, and ask about what I was doing. We developed a friendship. He also always asked ‘Are you going to come to New York?’ Finally I asked, ‘Why?’ He said ‘I just want to get to know you and I have the means to bring you to me’.”

That honesty worked and she said yes. It was going to be a four-day weekend over the July 4 holiday. The restaurant was closed for much of it and she swapped another day with a colleague. When she told her boss what she was doing he told her she couldn’t go.

“I said, ‘Then you are going to have to fire me because I’m going. I’m not missing an opportunity to go to a jazz festival with one of greatest jazz musicians all time. I went. He didn’t fire me, I had a job when I got back.”

Soon, though, she did move on because the friendship with Oscar became an affair of the heart. They were married in 1987.

Jim Doxas

Drummer, versatile percussionist and composer. Popular featured artist at jazz festivals worldwide.

Lance Anderson

Lance Anderson is a Juno award winning producer (Leahy) and was nominated for the 2022 ‘Keyboard player of the Year’ at the National Maple Blues awards an honour he had previously won in 2014. He was trained as a classical composer with an honours degree in music from Western Univ. and has both film and TV credits as a writer.

Respected as one of Canada’s finest record producers, Lance has his own label Make It Real Records. Lance is currently the co-executive producer of the Boquete Panama Jazz & Blues Festival.

As musical director and session pianist Lance has worked with Roger Whittaker, Shakura S’Aida, Danny Brooks, Jackie Richardson, John Finley, amongst many others. Lance has had an eclectic career, from writing songs with Gordon Pinsent to touring with Mr. Dress-up! From rockin’ boogie piano to Hammond organ jazz and orchestral music and filmscores.

In 2017 Anderson was commissioned by the Okanagan Symphony to arrange Oscar Peterson’s ‘Canadiana Suite’ for Ballet Kelowna and the orchestra. It will be performed again Feb. 11, 12, 2023 by the Windsor Symphony Orchestra with Thompson Egbo-Egbo as pianist.

Anderson performed his Live theatre two-man show, ‘Oscar Peterson - The Jazz Legend and the Man I Knew’ at the Orillia Jazz festival last year. Take Five is the sixth in a series of words and music concerts that Lance has done for the Jazz Festival.

In 2015, Lance was music co-producer and performer on ‘Oscar With Love’ a critically acclaimed 3CD package that commemorated Oscar Peterson’s 90th birthday, that included some of the world’s top jazz pianists including Chick Corea, Ramsey Lewis, Michel Legrand, and Oliver Jones, playing Peterson compositions. The recording included Lance’s performance of ‘Sir Lancewell,’ a Peterson composition written for Lance, who had previously worked with Peterson as co-producer of The Oscar Peterson Multimedia CD ROM – now considered one of the world’s best jazz piano resources.

Mike Downes

Multiple JUNO award winner Mike Downes has been a prominent fixture both within the Canadian music scene and abroad, praised for his limitless versatility, seemingly effortless technique and uniquely melodic approach to the bass. Mike is not only an award-winning jazz bassist, but is recognized as a complete musician, equally masterful as a composer, arranger and educator.

Mike has performed worldwide for over 4 decades with virtually all of Canada's top jazz musicians, including Officer of the Order of Canada Molly Johnson (as musical director), PJ Perry, Lorne Lofsky, Don Thompson, Kirk MacDonald, Robi Botos and Pat LaBarbera. He has performed with international artists Pat Metheny, Chris Potter, Michael Brecker, John Abercrombie, Peter Erskine, Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Dave Liebman and many others. Mike’s extensive and award-winning discography includes 8 albums as a leader, over 70 albums as a side musician and even more as a composer, arranger and producer.

Robi Botos

Robi Botos has been hailed as one of the most diverse multi-instrumentalists of this generation. From the hard-bop style of Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock, to the swing of Oscar Peterson and the heartfelt melodic expression of Mulgrew Miller and Cedar Walton, Robi has managed to master the technique of his idols, all while showcasing his musical expressions in a voice that is purely his own. While Robi is known for being a strong player in the traditional jazz and funk fields, he always incorporates an element of the music he grew up listening to into his playing.

Sean Nimmons

Sean Nimmons is a musician, composer, and producer, whose work is heard around the world in films, TV series and advertisements. With more than 15 years of experience as a screen composer, he has written original scores and songs for over 50 films and series’, airing on networks and platforms such as PBS, CBC, Netflix, CityTV, Family Channel and The Hallmark Channel. Sean’s work as an album producer includes co-production on The Stella and Sam Album which received the Juno Award for Children’s Album of the Year in 2013. As a pianist with a multi-instrumental background, he has an extensive performance and recording resume including international tours and festival appearances.

Ulf Wakenius

For 10 years I was blessed to work with the Jazz Piano Icon Oscar Peterson. Over the last 25 years i have been fortunate to collaborate with many of the Jazz greats such as, Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Mike Brecker, Jim Hall, Ray Brown, Toots Thielemans, Michel Legrand, Max Roach, Milt Jackson, Phil Woods.