Pat Collins, who will be anchoring the bottom end of the house band tonight at "Feelings From the Heart: The Mayor's Valentine Tribute to Oscar Peterson" at the Living Arts Centre well remembers attending his very first jazz concert.
"It would have been about 1980 and I was just starting to play electric bass," says the Levi Creek resident who is one of the leading lights in Canada's large staple of talented players on acoustic bass. "I was in high school and I was in a trio with Phil Dwyer (yes, that Juno-award winning saxophonist Phil Dwyer) and a drummer.
"We drove from Vancouver Island over to Vancouver with Phil and Phil's parents and we saw Oscar Peterson with Joe Pass, the Count Basie Orchestra and Ella Fitzgerald." Sort of a mini-Jazz at the Philharmonic. "It was fantastic."
Thus was kindled Collins' passion for jazz and his subsequent interest in OP, the godfather of Canadian jazz.
"He just had such a presence when he played," says Collins of the good doctor of the 88s. "When he walked into the room to play, he just filled it with song."
Collins ended up switching from electric to acoustic bass and checking out all of the Peterson Trio records. "I particularly remember all those records on Pablo," says Collins who lives with his wife Sherri, a music teacher in Cawthra Park's distinguished arts program, and sons Matthew and Daniel in their home Levi Creek.
"Those Pablo records with Dizzy, Louis Bellson, Johnny Griffin... They were great."
Collins eventually moved to Toronto, then to Mississauga about 17 years ago and, as fate would have it, eventually got to play with Oscar.
In 1997, Oscar had a date scheduled at Symphony Hall in Chicago when his regular bassist was unavailable. An extremely nervous Collins filled in with the the Peterson quartet, which also featured guitarist Ulf Wakenhuis who was still in the group at the time of Oscar's death Dec. 23 and drummer Martin Drew.
Collins also played a mini-gig at the LAC with Peterson, when his daughter Celine's Froebel school held their music concert there. Drummer Barry Elmes, who is in Collins' quartet, Pat and Oscar backed the school choir. Not a bad little group with which to make your elementary school musical debut, eh?
"This is going to be a fun night," says Collins of the concert, which features a number of other Mississaugans including Sly Juhas on drums in the house band, singer Shannon Butcher (whom Collins' wife taught at Cawthra), singer Carol McCartney (like Pat a jazz instructor at Mohawk College), and pianist Nancy Walker of Port Credit, who like Oscar, was born in Montreal and eventually found a home here.
Collins is particularly looking forward to playing with Phil Nimmons, Oscar's old friend and business partner in his Advanced School of Contemporary Music, which began in Oscar's Scarborough basement (don't tell Hazel) in the early 1960s.
"Oscar and Phil are two of the absolute heroes of the music," says Collins, who played at many of Phil's summer jazz camps through the years. "Phil's 84 and he's still so full of life. He's one of the most inspiring people and players around."
Anyone who attended the Sept. 10 2003 Oscar tribute concert at LAC will remember that Nimmons provided one of its most poignant moments, speaking of the friendship he and his late wife Noreen shared with Oscar and remembering the many practical jokes they played on each other.
Nimmons dedicated his performance to Noreen and Oscar's late bassist Ray Brown, then played a brooding, edgy Can't Get You Out of My Heart on clarinet that caused goosebumps to rise.
Expect lots of "chicken skin" music tonight at what should be a very special concert. Tickets are available at the door.