Art Tatum: Complete Pablo Solo Recordings

[ghost of miles]

I think Lon has mentioned listening to this collection recently, and I just took the plunge and got it last week. I've listened to only the first two CDs so far, but if you like Tatum at all, you should pick this up. For years I was a bit wary of it, having fallen prey to a couple of critical articles that argued that it was simply too much Tatum & intimated that he had called it in to some extent. Well, he certainly doesn't sound to me as if he's calling in--he's simply working through a rather large canon of American popular song that he's spent a lifetime playing. And, as Benny Green advises in the liner notes, it's best not to try to listen to it all at once. Since opening it I've listened to 1 CD a day (or night), which seems about right. In one sense, the "too much Tatum" charge is right--he's simply doing so much & offering up so much compelling harmonic beauty that it certainly doesn't behoove you to take it all in in one or two days. (I'll skip the cliched "fine-culinary-fare" analogy here.) Today I especially enjoyed his version of Ellington's "Just a-Sittin' and a-Rockin'" on disc 2.

When I first started listening to jazz piano, I quickly became a champion of Bud Powell. I heard Tatum later and at first thought him overly ornate, too many flourishes, etc. I didn't even make the (now) obvious connection that Powell was coming out of Tatum, that in some ways he was refining and expanding part of Tatum's musical vision. In any event, if you can find it for a decent price, do yourself a favor and pick up the Pablo Solo box.

[jazzbo]

Yes I have to recommend this set as well.

I take small sips of it, not even whole discs. And I marvel all the time at the man's supreme command and artistry.

This piano music hits you on so many nerve centers at once. It has incredible swing and drive. It stimulates intellectually. It also is very emotionally expressive and moving.

I have hit the stop button after a track or two and gone "wow" to myself more often with this set than with any other set in this century.

[Swinger]

I can only listen to this box set in small doses as well.When I bought the set a few months ago, I listened to its first 3 cds straight through.After having listened the third cd I was wondering what I had heard in the last 3 hours.I could only remember some of his rapid solos here and there.I can also remember smiling in some occasions and wondering "how in hell Art could play that song so beautifully?"

It's a very overwhelming box set.Trying to listen through those 7 cds in one session is a challenge, a MAJOR one!

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Can anyone shed light on the fact that the Arnold Laubich discography of Tatum shows material from the January 19, 1955 session (I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues & If You Hadn't Gone Away) as having been issued? They are not on the Pablo CD set I own.

There is a 4:05 take of the second title (from the December 28, 1953 session) but Laubich accounts for that.

Laubich also shows material not included in the Group box as having been issued (a 6:11 take of Makin' Whoopee from the Benny Carter June 25, 1954 date).

Is Laubich somehow mistaken? If someone has pre-Pablo issues and would like me to supply numbers, I'd be glad to.

Mike

[king ubu]

Can't help with you inquiries, Mike, but I'll soon have some more for your Barron discography...

On topic: an awesome set! Some may remember that last year when I was on vacation, I had both Pablo Tatum boxes with me, as well as the Capitol and Verve 2CD sets. And that was my first real exposure to Tatum, and -wow- I was astonished!

I was able to make it through maybe 2CDs a day, half a CD at the time or so. The solo masterpieces might be considered the holy grail of jazz piano, or whatever. Certainly one of the most impressing achievements made in jazz!

ubu