© Andrea Canter
If Minnesotans only know one area jazz musician by name, it’s
most like Jeanne Arland Peterson. Maybe they remember her as the organist for
the Minnesota Twins 40 years ago. Or remember her voice and piano skills over
two decades on WCCO radio. More recently, she was often heard with three (and
later four) generations of family musicians on holiday concert and jazz
festival stages, or with her daughters Patty and Linda at a Mother’s Day brunch.
Area jazz fans delighted in her forceful swing and amazing dexterity that
recalled her muses, Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson. With Judy Garland, Jeanne
held the distinction as the only women in the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame, and
two governors proclaimed days in her honor. And she once joined the “other”
grand dame of jazz, Marian McPartland, on a segment of NPR’s Piano Jazz.
Jeanne passed away today after 91 years of a life invested
in music and family. And there was no tighter bond for Jeanne than music and
family. Jeanne and her late husband Willie raised five amazing musicians (Linda,
Ricky, Billy, Patty and Paul) and inspired many more across the next
generations, within the family but also within the larger community of
musicians. Over the years we all became part of the Petersons (Minnesota’s First Family
of Music), through those holiday concerts, birthday celebrations at the Artists
Quarter and Dakota, the family affairs on the stages of the Twin Cities Jazz
Festival and numerous fund-raising and celebratory events.
Failing health couldn’t keep Jeanne away from the piano. Even
when it seemed she couldn’t muster the energy to face the day, she couldn’t
pass up the chance to play one more song. Her music was her life source, and
the legacy she leaves all of us.
