An engaging biography of a living musical legend; Oscar Peterson. A man Duke Ellington once called the maharajah of the piano. Gene Lees carefully builds up the portrait of Peterson; his childhood and what it meant to be be black and talented in Montreal in the 1940s; hist three marriages and six children; his musical partners (Ray Brown; Herb Ellis and Ed Thigpen); his musical friends and colleagues (Ella Fitzgerald; Dizzy Gillespie; Art Tatum and Lester Young; amongst others) and the critical controversy and mythology that have long surrounded Peterson. This updated version has a new chapter that covers Peterson's appointment as Chancellor of York University; his receipt of ten honorary doctorates and the Order of Canada; his stroke and partial recovery; the origins and fallout of his cancelled North American tour and much more.