Art Tatum

[jostber]

This quite recent release on Fuel 2000 is very fine:

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=8137326

[bichos]

I guess this goes here. In a roundabout way, I was listening to some of the tracks of Art playing in 1940/41 that are on the HighNote CD God is in the House. Originally on LP, two tracks were added to the CD. These two tracks may be the highlights of the disc actually, so I was glad I passed on the LP over at DG the other day.

what two tracks are they? i have the old "onyx" lp and want to know what two tracks i´m missing:

a propo missing: did you all ever see this unedited clip of the art tatum trio??

keep boppin´

marcel

[ejp626]

I guess this goes here. In a roundabout way, I was listening to some of the tracks of Art playing in 1940/41 that are on the HighNote CD God is in the House. Originally on LP, two tracks were added to the CD. These two tracks may be the highlights of the disc actually, so I was glad I passed on the LP over at DG the other day.

what two tracks are they? i have the old "onyx" lp and want to know what two tracks i´m missing:

The last two:

Lady Be Good

Sweet Georgia Brown

An Amazon reviewer reports they were recorded September 16, 1941 at Monroe's Uptown House w/ Ebenezer Paul on bass and Frankie Newton on trumpet. I can't check the veracity of this at the moment. Possibly/probably on the Storyville box? In any event, in the US, you can download the two tracks separately if you want to go that route.

[bichos]

thanks, but this two tracks are also on my lp!! so i miss nothing.

keep boppin´

marcel

[EKE BBB]

In Praise of Art Tatum, Stealth Radical in the Jazz Piano Pantheon 

By LEWIS PORTER • SEP 5, 2017

http://wbgo.org/post/praise-art-tatum-stealth-radical-jazz-piano-pantheon#stream/0

 

[JSngry]

That's a nice article that really does the math.

[JSngry]

Reading through this a few times, I'd like to change my comment of "nice" to excellent.

Outside of Schuller, there's surprisingly little discussion about what Tatum did musically that was so widely admired, beyond playing very fast.

More commentary like this, and even better, more commentary that follow through on the threat to actually understand the mechanics and the context. Both! Knowledge of science, not just emotion and sociology. Because this shit don't just play itself.

[mikeweil]

Great article! Thanks for linking.

[Brad]

Thanks for the article.  Really enjoyed the analysis. 

[jeffcrom]

Max Harrison is another critic who really understands Tatum. His short essay on the pianist in Jazz on Record 1917-1967 is excellent. Since I doubt many folks have access to it, here are some excerpts:

Externally, then, Tatum's music offers a fantastic array of pianistic devices, but we shall be mistaken if we allow this to dazzle us for it is the smaller part of his achievement. We shall also be misled if we expect him to build new melodies on the chords of the pieces he plays, like most soloists, for Tatum represents, among other things, the final sophistication of stride school practices. This means that he uses a melody, preferably a well-known ballad, as a cantus firmus around which evolves a structure of ever-changing textures, full of countermelodies, inner voices. Sometimes a melody is "analysed" into its basic motives, which recur again and again, often modified, usually revoiced, reharmonised and over various intensifications of stride bass patterns.

And later:

As one recording session follows another, while his virtuosity becomes more extravagant the rhythmic invention grows more acute and personal, the harmony more complex yet sensitive. While a certain part of this music's expressive force derives from tension between its athletic execution and the sensual complexity of its harmony, the main point is that Tatum's staggering technical command is the vehicle of a vast harmonic and rhythmic imagination. These are the elements through which he principally works and he is by far the greatest harmonist jazz has produced.

[Brad]

This was in Jazz Profiles this week:

http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2018/05/art-tatum-genius-in-prospect-and.html?m=0

[gmonahan]

3 hours ago, Brad said:

This was in Jazz Profiles this week:

http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2018/05/art-tatum-genius-in-prospect-and.html?m=0

Nice piece. Thanks for posting!

 

 

gregmo

[Brad]

6 hours ago, gmonahan said:

Nice piece. Thanks for posting!

 

 

gregmo

I liked it quite a bit. Jazz Profiles publish some terrific articles. 

[gmonahan]

I've always liked Basie's account of the first time he met Tatum. This article in the NY Times summarizes it, though it gets the city wrong (it was Toledo, not Cleveland), but it's fun: Basie's story, including the time he met Tatum

 

 

gregmo

[EKE BBB]

A more technical article by Lewis Porter, published last September:

Deep Dive with Lewis Porter: In Praise of Art Tatum, Stealth Radical in the Jazz Piano Pantheon

[Brad]

48 minutes ago, EKE BBB said:

A more technical article by Lewis Porter, published last September:

Deep Dive with Lewis Porter: In Praise of Art Tatum, Stealth Radical in the Jazz Piano Pantheon

You posted that last year 

[Teasing the Korean]

I have an RCA Camden compilation called Modern Jazz Piano: Four Views (CAL 384).  It has several Art Tatum solo tracks.  I was not aware of any Art Tatum on RCA.  Did he briefly record for them?

[Big Beat Steve]

I also have that LP. The liner notes do not give much in the way of session details. The Tatum tracks come from a 4-track session (that yielded 2 78s) that he recorded on Jan. 20,lm 1947. So you now have 3 quarters of "The Complete Art Tatum on RCA".

The Mary Lou Wiliams tracks that you asked about in your other thread are from two sessions (8 tracks) from July 24 and October 7, 1946 (both with all-girl groups).

[JSngry]

What about the Error Garner tracks? I can't find anything firm here: https://www.jazzdisco.org/erroll-garner/discography/

[Chuck Nessa]

Garner recorded those 4 for Victor on 4/22/47.

[JSngry]

Thanks. Wonder how that has eluded the jazzdisco site.

[gmonahan]

The Tatum tracks were issued on Classics (Art Tatum 1945-47) in case some out there (like me) don't have the old Camden album!

 

 

gregmo

[EKE BBB]

4 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

I also have that LP. The liner notes do not give much in the way of session details. The Tatum tracks come from a 4-track session (that yielded 2 78s) that he recorded on Jan. 20,lm 1947. So you now have 3 quarters of "The Complete Art Tatum on RCA".

The Mary Lou Wiliams tracks that you asked about in your other thread are from two sessions (8 tracks) from July 24 and October 7, 1946 (both with all-girl groups).

The January 20, 1947 is Tatum's only session for RCA (as per Laubich/Spencer discography).

I haven't been able to find any additional data on this session in James Lester 'Too Marvelous For Words' Tatum biography.

[Big Beat Steve]

On 14.10.2018 at 11:10 PM, EKE BBB said:

The January 20, 1947 is Tatum's only session for RCA (as per Laubich/Spencer discography).

Considering that the RCA LP (for those who'd care to take a look at the track listing) has three of the tracks from that session, this is exactly why I said that TTK now has "three quarters of The Complete Art Tatum on RCA".

Point settled.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Big Beat Steve

[Teasing the Korean]

2 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Considering that the RCA LP (for those who'd care to take a look at the track listing) has three of the tracks from that session, this is exactly why I said that TTK now has "three quarters of The Complete Art Tatum on RCA".

Point settled.

So which track am I missing?  Something he must have recorded elsewhere, I assume?