Art Tatum's Finest Hour

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Art Tatum may well have been the most technically gifted pianist of the 20th century in any form of music, improvising high-speed, perfectly articulated variations of astonishing complexity that have inspired and daunted jazz pianists since he first recorded in 1933. He had an uncanny ability to retain a tune's melodic outline amid layers of runs and shifting rhythms, all the while extending the harmonic language of jazz.

This CD provides samples of Tatum's art from 1934 to 1955, just a year before his death, but it concentrates on two periods. The first 10 tracks are piano solos from 1934 to 1940, demonstrating Tatum's joyous virtuosity and kinetic swing on period songs like "Get Happy" and jazz tunes like "Tiger Rag" and "Rosetta," the latter composed by his original inspiration, Earl Hines. Fats Waller's "Stormy Weather" reveals Tatum's sensitive side. His group skills appear on "Wee Baby Blues," with blues shouter Joe Turner, and a brilliant trio rendition of "I Got Rhythm," with guitarist Tiny Grimes and bassist Slam Stewart. The final seven tracks were recorded at parties at the home of Ray Heindorf, six in 1950 and one in 1955. They're very well recorded--Heindorf was the musical director of Warner Bros. Pictures--and they give Tatum a chance to stretch out in comfortable surroundings. "Tea for Two/Honeysuckle Rose" is more free-association synthesis than medley, and "Jitterbug Waltz," alternating graceful, bluesy, melody with scintillating runs, is a tour de force by even the standards Tatum himself established. --Stuart Broomer

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