Share this article:

Unheard Art Tatum

Uncategorized

norman lebrecht

August 28, 2021

More unreleased discoveries from Mikhail Kaykov. The date is November 1940, but you’d never guess from the sound and the mood.

Tatum died in 1956, aged 47.

Comments

MR says:

August 28, 2021 at 9:25 am

Another jazz pianist, Lennie Tristano, was said to be able to play Art Tatum solos even faster than the originals. Most heroically, both of them excelled even though they were blind. Personally, I’ve always found Lennie’s playing more substantive, and Art’s more embroidery. Sitting in the control booth at WKCR FM in NYC with Phil Schaap during the 1990 John Coltrane birthday broadcast, I asked him what direction he believed the future of jazz would head in, and his sense was it might perhaps build upon innovations and implications of Lennie Tristano’s music not yet realized.
http://www.azuremilesrecords.com/exemplarskonitztristano.html
http://www.azuremilesrecords.com/jazzjugalbandis.html

Bone says:

August 28, 2021 at 11:27 pm

Now that’s a very hot take, sir: Art Tatum playing dismissed as “embroidery.” No offense to Tristano, but he and Tatum are not on the same planet regarding innovation, imitation, or appreciation.

Reply