Yeah - it's sad to see great artists 'struck down' with illness, and is
especially heart-breaking when it happens in the public eye for all to
see, i.e., Oscar Levant, Nureyev, Martha Graham, et al. Oscar Peterson
was a very soft-natured, humble man. My father worked with him alot
during the 70s and 80s - my father has some great Oscar stories of their
days together at the CBC studios. Once my father accidentally peed on
Oscar's leg in the men's room during one of many recording sessions - a
mutual friend of theirs turned off the bathroom light on them as a
practical joke, and my startled father turned around too quickly, before
he, ahem, finished 'doing his business' lol! He apologized profusely to
Oscar, but Oscar thought the whole thing was hilarious and was very cool
about it. The unfortunate thing is, poor Oscar had to do the whole
recording session with a big wet stain on his pant leg!
Cheers!