The choice wasn't difficult. I could watch Georgia playing the Czech Republic as part of the Euros, or listen to a three disc set of newly discovered, previously unreleased, live recordings by the Art Tatum Trio.
What would you do? Spot on! Me too.
Once again we have to thank Zev Feldman and Resonance Records for their relentless quest to uncover gems from dank cellars and dusty attics or, in this case, Chicago's Blue Note Jazz Club where the trio played in August 1953.
The piano playing is simply wonderful no other word will do and even that seems inadequate to describe what's unfolding before my very ears. Tatum has often been accused of being, despite his prodigious technique (or maybe because of it), an unsympathetic accompanist. This is only partly correct. True he rarely feeds the soloist with sparse chords instead he lays down his own solo beneath or alongside the soloist creating a contrapuntal effect à la Bach.
This works fine with Barksdale, less so with Stewart whose arco solos tend to muddy the waters. However, this in no way detracts. Indeed the bassist's trademark vocal sounds add an endearing touch to the sessions.
And, as if the music wasn't enough there's a 56 page booklet that comes with the package. This includes excerpts from interviews by Zev Feldman with Ahmad Jamal, Sonny Rollins, Terry Gibbs, Spike Wilner, Monty Alexander, ELEW and others, all extolling the greatness of the partly sighted piano genius from Toledo, Ohio where he was born on October 13, 1909.
Thirty-nine classics by the man many consider to be the greatest jazz pianist ever go to make this a no-brainer.
Magic! Lance
Disc 1: Night and Day; Where or When; On the Sunny Side of the Street; Don't Blame me; Soft Winds; These Foolish Things; Flying Home; Memories of You; What Does it Take; Tenderly; Crazy Rhythm; The Man I Love; Tea For Two.
Disc 2: I Cover the Waterfront; Body and Soul; Laura; Humoresque; Begin the Beguine; There Will Never be Another You/September Song; Just One of Those Things; Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams; St. Louis Blues; After You've Gone; Someone to Watch Over me; Elegy.
Disc 3: Sweet Lorraine; Indiana; Tabu; Judy; Lover; Dark Eyes; Stompin' at the Savoy; If; Out of Nowhere; Would You Like to Take a Walk?; Stardust; Air Mail Special; I've Got the World on a String; The Kerry Dance.
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