Beskrivelse
This music, previously unreleased, was recorded during four live broadcast sessions in New York City at Cafe Society, Birdland and The Bandbox between 1951 and 1953. Two of the numbers are piano solos, the rest are in trio format with Everett Barksdale on guitar and Slam Stewart on bass. The repertoire consists of popular tunes and jazz standards of the day. Art Tatum was a genius, his piano playing is incompararble. He is one of the greatest American musicians of all time - in any genre. Keeping up with Art Tatum's intricate style was a great challenge for his side-men. In this respect, guiarist Everett Barksdale was possibly the most successful of all Tatum's side-men in finding Tatum's wavelength. The juxtapositions of musical ideas, rhymes, rhythms and syntax fly by so quickly that they are practically impossible to grasp and digest all at once - therefore this CD deserves to be heard again and again in order to apprreciate it fully. Tatum's endless musical ideas prevented him from ever playing a tune the same way twice - just try listening to the three versions of Tenderly on this CD!