[Dixielandjazz] Tatum - new releases

[John Farrell]

Before the current Tatum thread withers on the vine, his admirers on the
list might like to know that Storyville are currently issuing some
previously unreleased Tatum material in a multi-volume CD set. Unfortunately
the CDs are appearing piecemeal, volume 4 being the latest offering.
Listmate Jerry Brown carries them, contact him at jazzjerry at aol.com  Believe
me, you will not be disappointed.

John Farrell
stridepiano at tesco.net
http://homepages.tesco.net/~stridepiano/midifiles.htm

----- Original Message -----
From: <Nickdragos at cs.com>
To: <JimDBB at aol.com>; <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2003 5:53 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Art Tatum


> Listmates,
>
> Regardless of personal opinions on Art Tatum, a truly fine summation is
> included in James Lester's bio of Tatum, "Too Marvelous For Words: The
Life &
> Genius Of Art Tatum" {Oxford University Press, hardcover ISBN
0-19-5-8365-2, 1994}.
>
> (this is actually on an un-numbered following the main body of the
biography
> & before the notes & index):
>
> "The English pianist Alan Clare was once intrigued with a workman who was
> carrying out some remodeling inside his house. Clare was playing some
recordings,
> and he began to notice that the workman was whistling along with whatever
> music he put on - Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, it didn't seem to matter. Even
if he
> hadn't heard it before he had the natural musical ability to follow a
melody
> closely and almost automatically. Clare decided to give him a real test
and dug
> up his recording of Art Tatum doing "Tea For Two", with the
ground-breaking
> chord changes Tatum introduced into the tune. The workman never lost a
beat nor
> did he lay out for a bar or two to figure out what was going on. He
tracked
> Tatum flawlessly through all the changes, and when the record ended, he
spoke
> for the first time. He glanced at Clare and with classic English
understatement
> said, "Tricky f****r, ain't he?"
>
>
>
> I must admit my own personal admiration of Tatum runs deep; when I was 9
> years old, and in the midst of several years of piano lessons, I heard
Tatum's
> 1949 Capitol solo recording of "Willow Weep For Me".....
>
> So much for my continuing lessons..........
>
>
> Cheers from Sacramento, California
> Nick Dragos
> NickDragos at cs.com