Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An all-time classic, November 9, 1998
The entire Art Tatum Masterpieces series is wonderful, but this release, with tenor saxophonist Ben Webster featured, is my favorite. Tatum's jangly, staccato piano solos combine with Webster's fluffy tenor to create an effect that to my taste is more than either musician gets alone. The drive of the piano keeps the arrangements from being overly lush or sappy, as they are on some other Ben Webster albums. And at the same time Ben's sax gives Tatum a more melodic, romantic feel than I hear otherwise. Also, in this release with its alternate takes of "Gone With the Wind" and "Have You Met Miss Jones," you can appreciate the improvisational genius of each musician. This CD can be difficult to find in stores, so it's a treat to come across it here. One of my all-time favorite albums.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Sublime Collaboration, February 9, 2003
When the recording of "All the Things You Are" was first released as part of a compilation in 1957, Nat Hentoff reviewed it for Downbeat. He called this track "...one of the great solos in the history of recorded jazz. For Webster alone on this number, you should buy this record."I agree. This is perhaps the most serendipitous of all of Norman Granz' wonderful pairings of Tatum with great swing instrumentalists.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Too Marvelous for Words, May 18, 2000
Those of you who think that Art Tatum was merely a great jazz soloist are in for a real treat. This is still Tatum, the master improvisor with a technique that could rival Horowitz (no exaggeration). And yet when he combines his own inimitable gifts with the wonderful, breathy sounds and the laid back, behind the beat style of Ben Webster, the result is something rare in music. One needs to hear no more than their rendition of My One and Only Love to realize that this is ensemble playing at its highest level and something that is rarely achieved in any idiom of music. You are left with the feeling that you have not just listened to a great improvisation, but rather eavesdropped on an intimate dialog between two old friends. As James Lester mentions in his biography of Art Tatum, (Too Marvelous for Words, also available through Amazon), "Ben Webster was more than just a fan of Tatum's...he idolized him."
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