Piano Starts Here: Live at the Shrine - Zenph [Hybrid SACD - DSD]

Art Tatum | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 3, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD
• Label: Sony Classics
• ASIN: B0017R1E5K
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,566 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Art Tatum, Piano Starts Here: Live at the Shrine/Zenph Re-Performance

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars God is in the house, again!, July 10, 2008

By 

Brian (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Piano Starts Here: Live at the Shrine - Zenph (Audio CD)

The original "Piano Starts Here" album has been my favorite for many years, or rather - decades. It was plagued by tape hiss, cracking, flat tuning due to stretching of the original master and so on. Every time I'd listen to it I was wondering how wonderful it must've been to hear Art Tatum live, without all these problems of an old recording. But then, I was grateful that anything was preserved at all. Those recordings were 70 years old after all.

And then Zenph studio did the impossible: they managed to extract all the information from the original recording, way beyond capabilities of today's MIDI standard, and then re-performed it at the place where the original performance took place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. I had the pleasure to be there and listen to the master live! What an experience that was... one can only wish for more of the same.

So now, the old used and abused "Piano starts here" in my collection is replaced by the new recording of the true Jazz Master and I just can't get enough of it. The muddy sound of the original recording which was most offensive in fast passages in "Tiger Rag" and "Tatum-Pole Boogie", is now replaced by perfect clarity and sheer brilliance that will bring true joy of Tatum improvisations to the listener.

If you are having reservations due to technology used to produce this recording, think no more: this album is for purists, it has no traces of technology in it, it is simply Art Tatum at his best. Finally, Art Tatum gets the treatment he deserves.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Amazing Zenph Studios Has Done It Again!, June 4, 2008

By 

J. B. Mc "Musicophile" (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Piano Starts Here: Live at the Shrine - Zenph (Audio CD)

Zenph Studios, who dazzled me with their Glenn Gould re-performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations has somehow managed to raise the bar. I have just purchased two more of ART TATUM: PIANO STARTS HERE to give as gifts.

I cannot be more blown away by the artistry and magic of Art Tatum. Zenph with this Sony/BMG release has uncovered nuance and wizardry that has been lost to time. This CD, especially the binaural headphone version, allows the listener to experience Tatum's playing as HE heard it.

Extraordinary talent deserves an extrodinary CD like this one. Thanks Zenph Studios and Sony BMG. Tatum lives agin!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DO NOT MISS THIS!!! CLICK ON THE ORDER BUTTON, NOW!!!, July 5, 2008

By 

R. J. Gonzalez "gonzostick" (Napa, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Piano Starts Here: Live at the Shrine - Zenph (Audio CD)

It is no great secret that the brilliant recordings of the late, great Art Tatum are not of the best audio quality. This Zenph recreation of Tatum goes a long way to rectifying that problem. This is one of the most delightful and best-sounding piano SACDs I own.

Just get a copy, open it wide on the system and let it roll through the house...

If you know Tatum, you will be in piano heaven. Absolutely amazing stuff!

BUY IT NOW!!!!