Search - Art Tatum :: Live 1944-1945, Vol. 2

Rare Tatum

B. D. Tutt | London, UK. | 09/20/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This 77 minute long CD is Volume Two of Storyville's eight volume series of Tatum rarities drawn from radio and television broadcasts and private recordings.The recordings themselves are from a range of sources, including private live recordings, radio broadcasts and US Armed Forces Radio Service broadcasts. Four tracks are trios, two find Tatum with Murray McEachern and the AFRS Orchestra, and the remainder are solos, some with bass support. Tatum's showpiece arrangement of "Humoresque" crops up twice, once in an extended rendition. Tracks 16 - 21 are fine V Disc performances, with some spoken introductions by Tatum. For my money, the best performance is the wittily dissonant solo reading of "Ain't Misbehavin'", from a 1945 NBC Mildred Bailey show.The sound quality is variable, but perfectly acceptable. In fact some of these tracks are far clearer than some contemporaneous studio recordings. Good notes by Mike Hennessy are especially effective in emphasising Tatum's skill as an extrapolator of sometimes unlikely quotes.As with the previous volume, this would not be a first choice CD for newcomers to Tatum. However, afficionados will relish this important release of fascinating Tatum obscurities, a valuable addition to the better known studio recordings."