Volume 6

The music on this 71-minute CD (18 tunes) with Art Tatum is previously unreleased.The music was recorded during four live broadcast sessions in New York City –at Cafe Society, Birdland and the Bandbox – between 1951-1953. Sixteen of the numbers are in trio format with Everett Barksdale on guitar and Slam Stewart on bass; the last two numbers are piano solos by Art Tatum. The repertoire performed consists of popular tunes and jazz standards of the day. Art Tatum was a genius; his piano-playing is incomparable; he is one of the greatest American musicians of all time – in any genre. Keeping up with Art Tatum’s intricate style was a great challenge for his side-men; in this respect, guitarist Everett Barksdale was possibly the most successful of all Tatum’s side-men in finding Tatum’s wave-length.The juxtapositions of musical ideas, rhymes, rhythms and syntax fly by so quickly that they are practically impossible to grasp and digest all at once – therefore this CD deserves to be heard again and again in order to appreciate it fully. Tatum’s endless musical ideas prevented him from ever playing a tune the same way twice: just try listening to the three versions of ”Tenderly” on this CD!