Customer Reviews

The Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces

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These recordings are remarkable. Art Tatum's mastery of many styles is awe inspiring. I remember my father, who was a pianist, saying that he wanted to cut his hands off every time he heard Art Tatum. Mr. Tatum is one of those rare artist who truly transcends his instrument. It seems like he can do anything he wants to, and he wants to do a lot. I would like to warn prospective buyers, though. These recordings are not the kind that you can just put on as background music (although why anyone does that I'm not sure). This music DEMANDS your attention. It is very dense and the musical references fly fast and furious. Sometimes I think that the music would improve with some simplification, but then I listen a few more times and I get more out of it. This is not for the faint of ear.

The history of jazz piano after Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton -Earl Hines, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Al Haig, Herbie Nichols, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Cecil Taylor, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Keith Jarrett- is an orphan without Art Tatum. Tatum was the greatest piano player jazz ever produced.

His weakness for sentimental standards became immaterial in the light of his phenomenal technique and seemingly infinite capacity for intricate improvisation. He would explore all the imaginable ramifications of a simple idea with flamboyance, and then delicately embellish them with elaborate ornaments. The sheer density of his notes led cynics to regard his playing as excessive and the result of an overdeveloped formula, and sceptics to doubt everything they were told until they saw him perform.

Tatum's first recording of "Tiger Rag" in 1933 completely subverted the song's original rhythmic structure, introduced new harmonies, and built complex ornaments around the melody... at twice the original tempo. Stéphane Grapelli heard the song in France in the year of its release and asked who the "pianists" were; the record dealer told him "Art" and "Tintin". Toscanini was once an hour late to his own performance in New York because he was stupefied listening to Tatum in a club.

Tatum was a gregarious introvert and an alcoholic. He spent almost all his time in the company of others, playing in small clubs until the early hours of the morning. Norman Granz had the insight in the early fifties to record Tatum in a series of group settings and on his own. The seven discs that make up the Pablo solo recordings contain some of the most astonishing piano playing anyone is ever likely to hear. And some of the most beautiful.

Arthur Tatum, 1910-1956, was far and away the most talented, visionary pianist of his time, possessor of a fabled technique that allowed him to use both hands independently of each other, a beautiful touch that brought out the most lovely tone from any piano he played. Pianists as diverse in background and musical styles as Earl Hines, Fats Waller, Vladimir Horowitz and Josef Hoffmann admired his technique. But Tatum himself was always bitter about the fact that a player of his prodigious gifts had to "waste his talent" playing jazz. He wanted more than anything else in the world to be a top classical pianist.

Unfortunately, such doors were closed to him in his lifetime, but Tatum made up for his lack of opportunity by honing his improvisatory talent, an awesome natural gift that he raised to the level of high art. He was often cited as the greatest improvising pianist since the days of Thalberg and Liszt, in the 19th century. The down side was that, in order to achieve any sort of popularity, Tatum had to confine his prodigious gift to the popular songs of his day, rather than create his own music.

The results of this odd fusion are heard in this massive collection, spanning three years and some 12 hours of music. It is the greatest testament to a musical genius within the jazz idiom ever attempted, or accomplished, in the entire history of the music. And if at times the basic material seems inferior or of a lesser quality, Tatum redeems it by fractioning the time, rewriting the harmonic base, and then improvising baroque fantasies above it. Listening to such a rich feast of complex improvisation, however, is a strain on the mind of even the most informed and sensitive listener. Six or seven tracks at a time is about the limit one can listen to before becoming somewhat overloaded, but with such a rich feast here that is not a problem.

Norman Granz, the jazz promoter who created the circus-like "Jazz at the Philharmonic" concerts, was the original producer for these albums, which first appeared on his own Clef label and then were sold to Verve (which became Pablo). He is to be commended for spending a great deal of his own money on extensive recording sessions with Tatum over a four-year period (1953-56) that certainly could not have sold that many copies to the general public at that time. This set, like many classical albums, was built to sell slowly over a long period of years, not quickly and then forgotten. It has certainly done so, and in my opinion this set will still be selling 100 years from now. Genius is genius. I can't think of any single classical performer whose complete recordings I would want to own (though Toscanini comes close at about 80%), but Tatum and Django Reinhardt's recordings are awesome souvenirs of brilliant musical minds that moved even the greatest of the great.

It is the bible of piano jazz playing. The effect of Tatum is lasting and stunning. You cannot listen to all seven discs in a concentrated manner for it is too dense in start. He is playing a song in different ways simultaneously as if he is testing the ideal way of presenting it. The recordings of Tatum documented here are the peak of his evolutionary career. Although his style stayed almost the same in its basics you could listen to his early radio transcriptions of the thirties and then to this final fifties notes and understand how the same old tunes developed and became in a few years a perfect sonatas improvised in a surprisingly gracious new interpretations and with unsurpassed virtuosity. Tatum took all that was in jazz piano playing of his time and combined it with his classical wisdom. The result is something so unique that till this day he is considered the most inspiring and revolutionary between jazz pianists (beside Cecil Taylor). Musical genius is tangible in every second of this set.

I discovered the Art Tatum solo piano sessions while a DJ in college 20 years ago, and I've been playing them pretty much constantly since. After all this time I still hear new things in these recordings, and I still marvel at how Tatum makes the most technically impossible passages sound both natural and beautiful. I am about to buy my third copy of this series, because I carry them around and play them so much some of the discs get lost.

I truly believe that Art Tatum is one of the few musicians that people will still be listening to 100 years from now.

This 7 CD box set contains the fruits of the legendary Art Tatum's mammoth recording sessions for Norman Granz' label in the early/mid 1950's. Granz certainly did the world a favor by offering Tatum great artistic freedom (no restrictions on repertoire or playing time) on this extended project. As a result, the listener is privy to what are Tatum's greatest studio performances- relaxed, joyful and endlessly fascinating examples of Tatum's peerless, exploratory excursions in the standards and show tunes from the "golden era" of song.

Anyone who has listened with any intent to Art Tatum will agree his gift was never (contrary to certain myopic critics) primarily located in his (undoubtedly dazzling) displays of overt virtuosity (lightning-fast scales and arpeggios). Rather, Tatum's genius is found through his brilliant command of harmony, in which chords of lavish complexity are superimposed (layered) on the basic outline of a song's structure. Added to this is Tatum's incredible rhythmic control, allowing him to wander a long way off in the modulatory hinterlands and return home with supreme accuracy in a spot which the listener can recognize. As a side note, it seems obvious that those who know the great standards (lyrics as well as melodies) will reap the greater enjoyment, with a fuller appreciation for the contextual aspect of Tatum's art. Finally, there is his luxuriantly rich sound (akin to the sonority achieved by classical pianists of the 'Russian School'), exquisite taste as an arranger and a playful sense of humor (heard through numerous allusions and quotations).

In response to some professional critics (All Music Guide) who have remarked on the supposed monotony of performances (i.e., too many medium/slow tempo pieces) and a general lack of excitement, I must register protest in the strongest possible terms. There are more than enough fast pieces in this collection, which just happen to be more musically satisfying than Tatum's legendary 'Tiger Rag' (1934). If skeptical, check out one of the individual volumes prior to further investment: I would particularly recommend Vol. 8, which offers a perfect balance of ballads ( eg, 'In a Sentimental Mood' and 'You Go to My Head' ) and scintillating fast-tempo tunes ( eg, 'Blue Skies' and 'Caravan' ). The final four tunes on Vol 8 are from one of Tatum's last live performances (Hollywood Bowl, 1956?). But truthfully, any one of the 8 individual volumes would be sufficient illustration of my point- the *whole* box set is wonderful. One final note of commendation: the tunes in this box set (but *not* the individual volumes) are presented in chronological order, so the listener can follow Art Tatum on the exact journey he took through these staggeringly brilliant performances.

Hopefully, this collection (now sadly out of print in box format) will be re-mastered in the near future. Without question, it deserves the highest possible recommendation.

A friend, whose wife is a church pianist, gave me this wonderful set for Christmas many years ago, and I've been eternally grateful ever since. My first reaction to Tatum, long ago, was the same as several reviewers here -- far too many notes, too much technique. Indeed, I voiced that opinion to a former girlfriend who admired Tatum and told me in no uncertain terms that I needed to do a lot more listening. She was right, of course, and I was very wrong.

Art Tatum was simply magnificent by any standard, and this collection is arguably his finest work. While his music is thoroughly decorated by his prodigious technique, every note fits, and every performance is also fueled by his wonderful imagination. The result not only makes sense, it is exhilerating! Any pianist who ever played would probably consider their career a success had he or she managed to create even one of these performances. Tatum improvised dozens of them over the course of one very long evening, then did it again with several dozen more the next day.

The music is "the Great American Songbook," many of the tunes neglected gems.

Fats Waller, the greatest stride pianist of his era, famously once stopped playing in an after-hours club when he spied Tatum, a sight which un-nerved this larger-than-life megalomaniac; and he said "Ladies and gentleman, I play piano, but tonight God is in the house." Dizzy Gillespie, the most harmonically and rhythmically advanced musician of his generation, once said something like, "You've got Tatum here (raised his hand high) and then all other pianists here (lowers his hand considerably)." Ray Charles, confronted once again by the tag "The Genius" laid upon him by journalists, said the phrase should be reserved for Art Tatum. Listen to this marathon of solo piano sessions recorded at the end of his life, and you cannot help but agree.

Norman Granz, famous '50's jazz impressario and founder of Verve Records, felt Tatum had been ill-served by recording since his career began in the mid '30's; so he booked studio time in Tatum's hometown of LA, and held what he later described as several days of concerts performed for an audience of one, and said it was the most profound musical experience of his life (this from a man who recorded Armstrong, Billie Holdiday,Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzie, and many, many other jazz luminaries).

Tatum was a lone wolf, typically playing club dates for a living, then moving on to after-hours joints where he would play till dawn. Like Cecil Taylor, one has the sense that all this man did was play piano. His repertoire consisted of the Great American Songbook, and he found within those songs harmonic riches structures he could bust open and decorate with roccoco embellishments, rhythmic tight-rope walking, and deconstructive hi-jinks that presaged both the younger be-boppers and the 88-key holocausts of Cecil Taylor (only those two men seem to work there way through a number hitting every note imaginable on the piano).

There is absolutely no question that no jazz pianist before or after displayed this kind of supernatural facility. Some may say "Too many notes..." I am consistently floored by every bar he played and every minute of this mammoth set. Benny Green's somewhat florid liner notes hit one thing dead-on; he compares Tatum to James Joyce, in that Joyce subsumed all earlier story-telling modes, while pointing forward to the future. Tatum had the powerful left hand of the great stride pianists, the powerful right-hand of Earl Hines' "trumpet-style" piano, and the lust for chromatic chord substitution that prefigured the Bop revolution. Finally, his rhythmic slipperiness, that suspence when you think the seven contrasting time-signatures he's introducing simultaneously are going to result in Tatum's getting lost, and then he resolves it on a dime, are an eerie pre-figuration of the jazz avant-garde of the sixties.

Here Norman Granz sat down the dying pianist and asked him to play every song he knew, all 100+, in stereo long-player format. Tatum obliged, and the world is a better place for it. These recordings are certainly among the Top Ten in importance in the history of jazz, right up there with Armstong's Hot 5's and 7's, Kind of Blue, This Is Our Music, A Love Supreme, Ellington's Blanton/Webster recordings, Parker's Savoys and Dials. Tatum was a School of One, he was too huge and too great to have disciples or imitators (people say Oscar Peterson, but I don't hear it, that's not even a DePalma/Hitchcock relationship...)Someone, and I can't remember who, once said Tatum's contribution to jazz was this: after him, you could not NOT be a virtuoso. He set the bar very high indeed.

I own all 8 Pablo Solo Masterpiece CDs and consider them to contain the standard against which all other Tatum recordings should be measured. The setting, recording, pacing, arrangements, playing; everything about those is absolutely priceless, pristine & perfect.

Tatum's playing is delightful, masterful, humorous, bittersweet, and ultimately, romantically triumphant. Most importantly, his ideas are brilliant; pure genius. Always.

I will always be grateful to Norman Granz for having the foresite to invite Tatum to the studio, turn on the tape recorder and simply let Art play.

hearing Art Tatum ringing up the keyboard is a must have.this set captures his genius& displays his many different styles of playing.he is one of the greatest instrumentalist in any field of music ever.