The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz (77 page)

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Authors: Tom Piazza

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BOOK: The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz
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fantastic 1939 solo tracks on
The Pete Johnson/Earl Hines/Teddy Bunn Blue Note Sessions
(Mosaic MR1-119), "The Father's Getaway" and "Reminiscing at Blue Note," are worth the price of the set.
Hines rarely recorded as a sideman until he broke up his big band and rejoined Louis Armstrong as a member of the All-Stars in 1948; however, the few times he did guest on others' dates were memorable. He plays some extraordinary stuff on five tunes recorded with clarinetist and soprano saxophonist Sidney Bechet in 1940, available on
Sidney Bechet/The Victor Sessions - Master Takes 1932-43
(RCA/Bluebird 2402-2-RB); check out his wild exchanges with Rex Stewart on "Ain't Misbehavin." Hines is also in peak form on some 1944 recordings with Coleman Hawkins, included on the four-CD set
The Complete Coleman Hawkins on Keynote
(Mercury 830 960-2), such as "Blue Moon," ''Just One More Chance," "Thru' for the Night," and four takes of the up-tempo "Father Co-operates," on which Hines gets very abstract as well as digging into his stride bag.
Hines endured a period of relative obscurity for most of the 1950s, but in the 1960s he made a strong comeback, appearing to greatest effect as a solo pianist. Hines's style was most suited to solo work; the unaccompanied setting gave the best spotlight to his unique rhythmic sense (which often resulted in much of his playing sounding like a series of intricate breaks), his awareness of dynamics, and his timbral shading.
Still, over the right background, he could make many of the same points with a rhythm section, which he does on the essential 1965
Earl Hines Live at the Village Vanguard
(Columbia CK 44197), recorded at the New York landmark with Eddie Locke on drums, Gene Ramey on bass, and, on some tracks, the mighty Budd Johnson on tenor and soprano saxophones. Any of Hines's solo recordings that you can find from the 1960s or 1970s are worth owning; two of the best,
Quintessential Recording Session
and
Quintessential Continued
, made for the small Chiaroscuro label, may be re-released before long.
Art Tatum
Ask ten pianists to name the greatest jazz pianist ever and eight will tell you Art Tatum. The other two are wrong. Tatum, who moved to New York from Ohio in 1932, was the most technically awesome pianist who ever played jazz; his understanding of harmony and voice-leading and his rhythmic equilibrium have never been equaled.
Through his style, which combined strong elements of stride as well as techniques evolved by Earl Hines, Tatum gave piano a greatly expanded language with which to treat the popular romantic songs that were the most com-
 
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mon repertoire of the time. Like Hines, he was at his greatest as a solo player; a group situation rarely gave him the elbow room to shape the flow and pace of a performance with his sense of dramatic contrast, of timing and dynamics. Tatum often played the first chorus of a tune out of tempo, speeding up the phrasing then slowing it down, as naturally as breathing, before easing it into a walking pace or jumping into an impossibly fast ride studded with breaks full of his trademark arpeggios and scale passages, played with equal facility in both hands. Tatum took familiar material and invariably transformed it into something new, finding surprising ways of reharmonizing standard tunes - seemingly on the wing, although many of his most famous performances were worked out in advance.
Tatum, as pianist Ellis Marsalis implies in his fine notes to the essential
Art Tatum - Solos 1940
(Decca/MCA MCAD-42327), was not the most blues-oriented of players; to use Albert Murray's terms, his music has less of the percussion and incantation that Murray has located at the center of the blues sensibility. Still, the blues are there, as are the qualities of swing and pulsation that always accompany a jazz performance. Anyone who has any sense at all of what is going on at a keyboard listens to Tatum in awe.
Solos 1940
is one of the best individual Tatum sets available, and it showcases him at his most swinging, with plenty of stride still present in his style (it tended to recede in importance in later years). The stride at the end of "Elegie" may be the most startling in its impact, but it's no more powerful than the stride on tunes like "Get Happy," the rocking "Emaline" (listen to the way he makes a countermelody with the thumb of his left hand for much of the tune), or the apocalyptic "Tiger Rag." There's even a boogie-woogie performance of ''St. Louis Blues" that opens with the same device with which Meade Lux Lewis opens "Honky Tonk Train Blues," then proceeds very much in Lewis's bag. His ballad playing is heard here in such titles as "Moonglow" and "Love Me"; notice that his time is so strong that from the first notes of, say, "Moonglow," a tempo is set that one feels as a pulse whether or not it is being spelled out. These are complete arrangements, with contrast between parts, transitions, changes in mood, and constant variety in texture.
Just as good as
Solos 1940
is
Art Tatum: Classic Early Solos (1934-1937)
(Decca/GRP GRD-607). This set is particularly valuable for several alternate takes of tunes like "Liza" and "After You've Gone" on which you can hear Tatum adjust his approach to his satisfaction, thinking like a composer who hears the entire shape of the performance in his or her head. This set also includes the mind-boggling stride showpiece "The Shout," one of the most exciting and compelling things he ever recorded. Don't miss this.
As Tatum went alone he began to perfect his ballad style into a florid,
 
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highly ornamented approach, in which his technique itself sometimes seemed to determine the shape of the performance. The 1949 solos collected on
Art Tatum - The Complete Capitol Recordings, Volume 1
(Capitol Jazz CDP 7 92866) and
Volume 2
(Capitol Jazz CDP 7 92867) show this aspect of his style at its peak in a program of standards such as "You Took Advantage of Me," "Nice Work If You Can Get It," I Cover the Waterfront," and "Dancing in the Dark.'' Tatum's hands, by this point, were even more independent than Earl Hines's; you can hear throughout this set how Tatum will begin a careening, skittering run in his right hand, continuing it down the keyboard with his left, as his right proceeds to block out against-the-beat chords or contrary-motion arpeggios. These two discs also include some performances by his trio, with guitarist Everett Barksdale and bassist Slam Stewart, which are generally less interesting than the solo tracks.
One of the best Tatum sets ever recorded is available, but perhaps hard to find, as
20th Century Piano Genius
(EmArcy 826 129-1; no CD). The two-record set, also available on cassette, originally issued on 20th Century Fox Records, was recorded at a private party in Beverly Hills in 1955 and features Tatum at his most relaxed and inventive. It also has a strong feeling of presence, stemming perhaps from the reaction of the guests and the snatches of conversation but also from Tatum's willingness to vary the routine and take breathtaking, high-wire chances even on his most familiar material. Tatum plays all kinds of games with the harmonies of tunes like "Sweet Lorraine," "Someone to Watch Over Me," and "I'll Never Be the Same"; the set will reward whatever level of musical knowledge you bring to it. Dan Morgenstern once wrote that listening to Tatum in depth temporarily spoils one for other pianists; this is the kind of playing that will do it. Listen closely and be amazed. The liner notes by Felicity Howlett are outstanding.
Five tunes from the EmArcy set found their way onto a grab-bag Tatum album issued by the Smithsonian, entitled
Pieces of Eight
(Smithsonian Collection R029). Despite the duplication, the Smithsonian set is worth having for some fine 1939 performances and some nice mid-1940s tracks, including two fascinating back-to-back takes of "Hallelujah." The album's one trio track, "Exactly Like You," contains, as Howlett's excellent liner notes point out, a rare passage of boplike eighth-notes from the pianist's right hand. For a glimpse of Tatum in an unaccustomed role (at least on recordings), check out
Joe Turner Volume 1: I've Been to Kansas City
(Decca/MCA MCAD 42351), on which Tatum backs up the blues singer on six cuts, including the rocking "Corrine, Corrina" and the eerie "Lonesome Graveyard."
The greatest source of Tatum piano is the epic series of solo recordings he made for Verve in the 1950s (later reissued on Pablo). They are available as
The
 
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Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces
(Pablo 7 PACD-4404-2), a seven-CD boxed set, also available volume by volume in eight individual CD packages. This is the Tatum Grand Tour - hours and hours of standards played without the time restrictions of 78-rpm records (from which the Decca and Capitol material is taken), giving the most comprehensive view available of Tatum's genius. He has more time to develop his themes and ideas, and he revisits a number of tunes he recorded earlier in more compact versions. If you can afford the set and you love piano, buy it. Otherwise, any of the individual discs will only whet your appetite for the others.
The Complete Pablo Group Masterpieces
(Pablo 6 PACD-4401-2), a six-CD companion set, also available as eight individual CDs, contains the results of all the group recordings Tatum made with various guest stars in the 1950S for Verve (again, as reissued by Pablo). Tatum, as noted, was not always as satisfying in a group context as he was solo, and only the confirmed Tatum freak will want this entire box. But all Tatum fans, and jazz fans in general, would be well advised to pick up
Art Tatum: The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Volume 2
(Pablo PACD-2405-425-2), on which Tatum is paired with trumpeter Roy Eldridge, and, especially,
Volume 8
(Pablo PACD-2405-431-2), the classic matchup with tenor saxophonist Ben Webster.
Teddy Wilson
Of the dominant piano stylists of the 1930s, Teddy Wilson is in some ways the easiest to overlook. He didn't have Hines's percussive extroversion or Tatum's supernatural technique or Fats Waller's overwhelming, riff-based swing. What he did have was exquisite, perfect taste, a brilliant melodic imagination, a subtle harmonic sense, and a peerless ability to accompany (especially vocalists) and to function as part of a group.
Perhaps because of this, there isn't a lot of Wilson available under his own name; to find most of his best work today, one buys recordings by Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Benny Goodman, and others. Herewith is a survey of where to find Wilson at his best.
Probably the most Wilson per minute can be found on the late-1930s recordings of the Benny Goodman trio and quartet, with Wilson, vibist Lionel Hampton, and drummer Gene Krupa. Wilson can be heard throughout, even when not soloing; because the trio consisted only of clarinet, piano, and drums, Wilson had a big responsibility for maintaining the harmonic base of the music while also providing variety in the ensemble texture, answering and extending Goodman's melodies (later, Hampton's vibes would distribute the work load a bit). Wilson evolved a way of using his left hand to make the
 
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fullest possible sound in this group, which lacked a bass player: he often played in a manner that suggested stride (a succession of tenths one right after the other) but that had more than a trace of Hines's and Tatum's broken runs and arpeggios. When he did solo, Wilson displayed a great talent for inventing melodies in single-note right-hand lines; these lines were the equal in melodic invention of what almost any saxophonist or trumpeter was playing at the time.
The Goodman sets
Trio and Quartet Sessions, Volume 1: After You've Gone
(RCA/Bluebird 5631-2-RB) and
Avalon - The Small Bands, Volume 2, 1937-1939
(RCA/Bluebird 2273-2-RB) present the trio and quartet in their studio recordings, doing the standards and swing specialties that made them a regular feature of Goodman's act-"China Boy," "Moonglow," "Stompin' at the Savoy,'' and others.
Volume 2
has only eight tracks by the original quartet and trio; on the rest of the album, various drummers come and go (including the wonderful Dave Tough), and John Kirby's bass is added for several tracks.
Volume 1
is the original two groups all the way. An interesting track for stride fans is the quartet's translation of Fats Waller's stride showpiece "Handful of Keys" on
Volume 2
; here you can hear Wilson's "walking tenths" approach especially clearly, as well as the degree of respect he had for Waller. Although it is all but useless to single out tracks because of their uniform high quality, the trio sides present Wilson in a less diluted context. But throughout, Wilson's work is, to me, the highlight of the small groups' performances. Given the demands of the bassless ensemble (as well as Goodman's reputation as a harsh taskmaster), he is the operative definiton of grace under pressure.
The trio and quartet both have fantastic moments on
Benny Goodman Live at Carnegie Hall
(Columbia G2K 40244), the famous 1938 concert performance; "China Boy" (trio) and "Dizzy Spells" (quartet), both taken at a breakneck tempo, show what the groups were capable of when they got a chance to stretch out. A 1963 reunion of the quartet, available as
Together Again!
(RCA/Bluebird 6283-2-RB), is fairly disappointing, although Goodman sounds like he's having fun; Wilson, for the most part, seems to be only going through the motions.
During the 1930s Wilson was hired to lead a series of small-band recording dates, using the best musicians available from the top big bands (black and white), for the Brunswick company; quite a few of these are available today, usually under the names of the more famous performers who were guests. One of these guests was Billie Holiday; the series of recordings she made as vocalist with Wilson-led small bands in the mid-1930s stand as perhaps her greatest work and certainly rank with the best jazz ever recorded. All nine volumes of Columbia's
The Quintessential Billie Holiday
contain excellent Wil-

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