20th Century Piano Genius

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20th Century Piano Genius
Art Tatum's studio album

Publication
(s)

1986

Label (s) EmArcy Records , Verve Records

Format (s)

2 LP, 2 CD

Genre (s)

Jazz , swing

Title (number)

29

running time

2:17:05

occupation

production

Michael Lang (Reissue)

Location (s)

los Angeles

20th Century Piano Genius is a jazz album by Art Tatum that was privately recorded on April 16, 1950 and July 3, 1955 in Beverly Hills , Los Angeles . It was first released in 1986 as a double album on EmArcy Records and was re-released as a compact disc on Verve Records in 12 previously unreleased titles .

The album

Most of the tracks recorded by Art Tatum on this album were gutted in 1950 at a party at Ray Heindorf's residence . Heindorf, who was working as musical director and film composer at Warner Bros. during this time , was a friend and admirer of the pianist. Heindorf had excellent audio equipment at home. Altogether, in 1950 and 1955 he gave Tatum two piano performances for his friends in his Hollywood home. During this period (1952–55) the pianist did not give any public concerts for health reasons; Art Tatum died in 1956. According to the Tatum biographer James Lester, Tatum was also in good shape during his second (and last) appearance at Reindorf. Heindorf recorded these private concerts, complete with background noises and conversations from Tatum and the people present.

Tatum mainly played a program of well-known jazz standards such as Tenderly , Over the Rainbow , In a Sentimental Mood and Begin the Beguine ; Sometimes it went seamlessly from one song to the next, as in 1955 in Tea for Two and Honeysuckle Rose .

Track list

Art Tatum (Vogue Room, NYC, 1948)
Photograph by William P. Gottlieb .
  • Art Tatum: 20th Century Piano Genius (EmArcy 826-129-1, Verve Records - 531 763-2)
CD 1
  1. Just Like a Butterfly (That's Caught in the Rain) ( Mort Dixon / Harry Woods ) 2:41
  2. Tenderly (Walter Gross / Jack Lawrence) 4:06
  3. I Cover the Waterfront ( John W. Green / Edward Heyman ) 4:15
  4. Body and Soul (John W. Green, Frank Eyton) 3:35
  5. Someone to Watch Over Me ( George Gershwin ) 3:13
  6. In a Sentimental Mood ( Duke Ellington / Manny Kurtz ) 3:18
  7. Yesterdays ( Jerome David Kern / Otto Harbach ) 3:11
  8. Willow Weeps for Me ( Ann Ronell ) 3:44
  9. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams ( Harry Barris / Ted Koehler / Billy Moll) 3:13
  10. Makin 'Whoopee (incomplete) ( Walter Donaldson / Gus Kahn ) 1:31
  11. Memories of You ( Andy Razaf / Eubie Blake ) 3:56
  12. September Song ( Kurt Weill / Maxwell Anderson ) 3:24
  13. Begin the Beguine ( Cole Porter ) 2:59
  14. I'll Never Be the Same ( Matty Malneck / Frank Signorelli / Gus Kahn) 2:48
  15. Over the Rainbow ( Harold Arlen / EY Harburg ) 3:10
  16. Love for Sale (Porter) 2:52
  17. My Heart Stood Still ( Richard Rodgers / Lorenz Hart ) 4:31
  18. Sweet Lorraine (Cliff Burwell / Mitchell Parish) 3:45
  19. Louise (incomplete) ( Leo Robin / Richard A. Whiting ) 3:43
CD 2
  1. Don't Blame Me ( Jimmy McHugh / Dorothy Fields ) 3:31
  2. There Will Never Be Another You ( Harry Warren / Mack Gordon ) 3:40
  3. Without a Song ( Vincent Youmans / Billy Rose / Edward Eliscu ) 2:35
  4. Moon Song ( Sam Coslow / Arthur Johnston ) 3:51
  5. You Took Advantage of Me ( Rodgers and Hart ) 3:30
  6. Little Man, You've Had a Busy Day (Al Hoffman / Maurice Sigler / Mabel Wayne) 4:44
  7. Danny Boy ( Frederic Weatherly ) 3:16
  8. Some Other Spring (Arthur Herzog, Jr./ Irene Kitchings ) 3:37
  9. Love for Sale (Porter) 2:44
  10. Mighty Like a Rose ( Frank Lebby Stanton / Ethelbert Nevin ) 4:50
  11. Sweet Lorraine (Cliff Burwell / Mitchell Parish) 2:35
  12. Someone to Watch Over Me (Gershwin) 4:01
  13. Mine (Gershwin / Gershwin) 3:56
  14. Too Marvelous for Words ( Richard Whiting / Johnny Mercer ) 2:34
  15. Jitterbug Waltz ( Fats Waller / Richard Maltby Jr.) 4:07
  16. Mr. Freddie Blues ( Pete Johnson ) 3:09
  17. Body and Soul (Green, Eyton) 3:43
  18. Yesterdays (Jerome Kern / Otto Harbach) 3:37
  19. Tea for Two / Honeysuckle Rose ( Vincent Youmans / Irving Caesar - Waller / Razaaf) 4:10
  20. Would You Like to Take a Walk? / After You've Gone ( Harry Warren / Mort Dixon / Billy Rose - Turner Layton / Henry Creamer ) 5:10

Reception and effect

Amiri Baraka particularly emphasizes Tatum's interpretation of the titles Begin the Beguine, Some to Watch Over me, Body and Soul, Love for Sale and Too Marvelous for Words and describes Tatum's play at Heindorf's parties as “great American music, enriched by the completeness and that Awareness of a specific Pan-American and Afro-American expression transformed into high art . "

According to Michael Ullman, every title of these recordings contains "passages that no other pianist could have thought up or even imitated"; For Martin Williams it is so compelling because Tatum knows exactly what he has to do or what can be discovered in jazz with the harmony systems originating from Europe. Too Marvelous for Words is "the greatest single performance by Tatum that we fortunately have".

The liner notes of James Lester's album also include a recording of a discussion by three pianists, Hank Jones , Adam Makowicz and Lou Stein . There Hank Jones remembers the first time he heard Tatum on the radio and thought it was a trick to make people believe that one man is playing this piano when I know that at least three people are playing it . The classically trained Makowicz was also surprised by his first Tatum listening experience: It's hard to describe in words, but it was like music from heaven, angels' music. Even in his most relaxed moments of these recordings, let Tatum never forget that he was a virtuoso, not even in Mr. Freddie Blues .

Richard Cook and Brian Morton award the Heindorf recordings in their Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD with the highest rating of four stars; According to the authors, the sound quality is better than Tatum's regular sessions at that time. The pianist has lost none of his strength through play; you can hear the precision and accuracy of Tatum's runs, his erratic touch and talent to play off the cuff . In Yesterdays , for example , you can see how he thinks, creates and moves so quickly that you can understand the incredible fame that surrounds him. With its informality, the album is "not a bad place to start listening to Tatum."

Even Stanley Dance praised in his review of the album in Jazz Times , the high sound quality of the live recording, despite the occasional party noise. Experience over two hours of Tatum's solo play on a good grand piano. In his program, which consists mainly of standards, it is a pleasure to experience how often the composers' melodies emerge singing, amidst the remarkable harmonies and brilliant runs.

Even Scott Yanow finds that Tatum was in the recordings in good shape; the album was through and through a highly entertaining and engaging set of standards, including some notable moments.

The Billboard magazine called 20th Century Genius is a challenging album for Both artist and listener, and one did sacrifices airplay in the name of artistic exploration.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Discographic information at Discogs
  2. ↑ John L. Fell, Terkild Vinding, Rutgers University. Institute of Jazz Studies: Stride !: Fats, Jimmy, Lion, Lamb, and all the other ticklers. 1999, p. 177
  3. ↑ a b c James Lester: Too Marvelous for Words: The Life and Genius of Art Tatum , New York Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 215
  4. ^ In the original: American popular music enhanced through the completeness and consciousness of a Pan-American and Afro-American specific expression, transformed to “High Art” .
  5. ↑ Amiri Baraka: Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music .
  6. ↑ See Cook / Morton, Penguin Guide, 2006. p. 1265 (8th edition).
  7. ^ Review of the album (1997) in JazzTimes
  8. ↑ Review of Scott Yanow's album at Allmusic (English)
  9. ^ Billboard November 9, 1996, p. 67