Jazz Articles about Art Tatum

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Art Tatum: Piano Grand Master

by Mike Perciaccante
November 2, 2003

Featuring 99 tracks in total, the Piano Grand Master box set is the finest Art Tatum collection ever assembled. UK-based Proper Records has delivered an appropriately titled four-disc set which presents itself as a career retrospective, but actually spans only Tatum's prime years (1932-1951). The only essential recordings missing from this set are the mid-'50s material done for Norman Granz. For those interested in the Granz works, those sides have previously been reissued by Pablo on a six-CD box. This ...

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Art Tatum: The Best of the Complete Pablo Group Masterpieces

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
October 20, 2003

These 12 recently remastered tracks were culled from the Complete Pablo Group Masterpieces, a six-CD set of Art Tatum playing with assorted all-star groups from 1954-56. Since Tatum played solo for most of his career, these are rare gems which provide fodder for the endless debate over whether Tatum could, in fact, play well with others.

Scott Yanow, in his characteristically informative liners, suggests that most musicians were simply scared to death to share the bandstand with the ...