Before the world knew his name, Montreal heard him first

The Harlem of the North, Little Burgundy, raised a legend. It took 100 years to say it as loudly as possible from the city's rooftops.

J.P. Karwacki

August 15, 2025- Read time: 7 min

Oscar Peterson at Boys Club, 556 Bathurst Street. | Photograph: City of Toronto Archives. Globe and Mail Collection, Fonds 1266, Item 102548.

On August 15, 1925, in a modest walk-up on rue Delisle in Little Burgundy, a boy was born who would grow up to change the sound of jazz—and help define what it meant to be a Black Canadian artist on the world stage. A hundred years later, the city that shaped Oscar Peterson is finally giving him his due.

Peterson’s centenary has sparked a convergence of tributes across Montreal. A new plaza bearing his name is slated for McGill College Avenue. The Montreal International Jazz Festival staged a major tribute concert. The National Film Board is resurfacing archival works, and public pianos dot the city’s sidewalks in the warmer months—a nod to the man once known as “the Maharaja of the keyboard.”

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