CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Piano Starts Here: Live at the Shrine/Zenph Re-Performance

by: Art Tatum

Release Date June 03, 2008
I love Jazz piano and this album is a good union between state of the art acoustical research and celebrated world over pianism.

CD-Charts Position 2
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The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces, Vol. 1

by: Art Tatum

Release Date February 08, 1994
After listening to this CD one can why Art Tatum is considered to be a master of this music. It is incredible to see how he embodies the many different styles of jazz up to the point this record was recorded. This is a wonderful CD.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

The Best of the Pablo Solo Masterpieces

by: Art Tatum

Release Date November 04, 2003
Art Tatum: Simply the greatest jazz pianist of all time. There is no equal to this man's pianistic and musical ability. His "Ain't Misbehvin'" belongs in some special place for the universe to enjoy. Peterson comes close but for sheer pianism...it's Tatum going away.

I just can't imagine anyone will ever come along again who can do what Art Tatum could just sitting down at a keyboard. This album is priceless.

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

20th Century Piano Genius

by: Art Tatum

Release Date July 30, 1996
Art Tatum's virtuosity served his eloquent musical vision which comes across so well on 20th Century Piano Genius.

CD-Charts Position 5
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Piano Starts Here

by: Art Tatum

Release Date February 01, 2008
The jazz novice speaks again: Don't let the superlatives (from these amateur reviewers or some of Tatum's contemporaries) compel you to look for flaws that everyone else must have missed. You're not going to find them. While I'm still not experienced enough to confirm that Tatum was indeed the best jazz pianist that ever lived, I can say that he is the best I have ever heard. Of course he can master the fundamentals of his pieces- most of the greats can. What sets him apart from everyone else I have ever heard are the textured and varied nuances he adds to just about every piece on this album and the breakneck, breath-taking speed at which he does it. Speed, of course, can be cheap- just another trick up a second-rate musician's sleeve to cover his sloppiness ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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The Best of Art Tatum

by: Art Tatum

Release Date October 25, 1990
This is a "must have" cd. Hearing Art Tatum play brings tears to my eyes- Incredible.

CD-Charts Position 7
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Solo Masterpieces, Vol. 2

by: Art Tatum

Release Date February 08, 1994
These sessions were recorded a little more than 50 years ago, near the end of Tatum's life. Perhaps it was mere coincidence that it came at an end of that era in music as well; the shift to rock and roll and rhythm and blues. Many of the songs are much older.

Yet it all holds up so well. This is acoustic piano played by a man who learned it in the cultural glory days of the parlor player piano, the symbol of middle class arrival in its day.

In these recordings, you hear everything about the piano from a man for whom the piano was everything. In Tea For Two, he does what many classical composers have done in writing variations on a simple theme. Only these are performances as well as compositions. There are stories that he could play Tea ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
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The Complete Capitol Recordings

by: Art Tatum

Release Date November 25, 1997
While there is no doubt of this gentleman's talent, he can twinkle the keys faster than anyone I have ever heard, but after the first couple of songs I long for him to SLOW DOWN. Every gem on this album is played at lightning speed, which while impressive, becomes annoying after awhile. If you want to hear someone play all the old standards at triple speed, you will love this collection. I prefer them played at the speed they were written for.

CD-Charts Position 9
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The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Vol. 8

by: Art Tatum, Ben Webster

Release Date July 01, 1991
As a classical pianist, jazz student, and life-long jazz-lover, I was shocked to see anyone talking about "lobbing off" Art Tatum's fingers.

Perhaps, in evaluating the reliability of Brian's "one star" review, it would help readers to know that whenever Art Tatum used to play concerts, Rachmaninoff--who was one of the greatest classical pianists ever--along with many of the classical and jazz masters, would flock to hear this master of masters play.

Tatum should have been up there with them all in the classical world, but the racism of the day prevented that.

Tatum has over and over again been voted favorite jazz pianist by readers and critics alike in poll after poll, including in Downbeat and Metronome magazines. He is a member of the Downbeat Hall ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
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The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces, Vol. 6

by: Art Tatum

Release Date February 08, 1994
Before Norman Granz brought Art Tatum into the studio a half-dozen times in 1955-56 to record what would become known as the "Group Masterpieces," he brought the legendary pianist into the studio nearly a dozen times from 1953-55 to record what would become the eight CD volumes of the "Solo Masterpieces." (By the way, feel free to check out my reviews of Group Masterpieces Volumes 3, 4 & 6, and of the Boxed Set collecting all eight volumes.) Art Tatum is arguably the greatest pianist in the history of jazz, and the world owes a great debt to Mr. Granz for having the insight to document him in such variety and quantity. For those of you who are hesitating because this is a solo jazz recording, don't! Art has a style of playing flurries of notes, so that at any given time it ... Read More: