Art Tatum - Blue Skies - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Art Tatum - New York-Los Angeles [COMPACT DISCS] date 07/30/2002

Three CDs. Jewels in the Treasure Box The 1953 Chicago Blue Note Jazz Club Recordings is a previously unissued collection of recordings from jazz icon and virtuosic pianist, Art Tatum, captured live at the Blue Note jazz club in Chicago in March of 1953 with guitarist Everett Barksdale and bassist Slam Stewart. These recordings were transferred from the original tape reels and mastered for LP and CD by engineer Matthew Lutthans (who also worked on Resonance's Grammy-nominated 2019 Nat King Cole Hittin' the Ramp). Containing a whopping nearly 3 hours of never-before-heard Art Tatum captured in an intimate setting at the height of his powers with his longtime trio.

Challenge Me Foolish is an almost lost album of µ-Ziq material circa 1998-99, an era that saw Mike Paradinas Royal Astronomy on the now defunct Virgin subsidiary Hut records, and also tour with Bjork.It's an era of his music that's definitely worth re-exploring, in which Mike went against the grain by producing music that was baroque, melodic and whimsical, while the IDM movement he was lumped with made instrumental music that was often neurotic and complicated. His taste for melody and dreamy beauty above roughness and intricacy confused people who were hanging on too tightly to the rules. He even brought in Japanese vocalist Kazumi, adding an extra human touch.InchChallenge Me FoolishInch is something of a companion to the Royal Astronomy record; arguably even better given the fresh ears selecting the material. It's imbued with a confident sense of pastoral colour, and a gentle optimism, utilising bells, studied orchestral arrangements and airy synthesisers that sit the album somewhere between, Jean Jacques Perrey (the French electronic composer whose whimsy was always balanced with serious innovation and chops) and the colourful, optimistic soundtracks of Joe Hisaishi. There's a strange sense of the old and new throughout, the sentimental and utopia, with nary a hint of darkness. Even when the album dips into the hyperkinetic rhythms of jungle, the melodies and mood still retain a sense of gentle warmth. Dive into peak time Paradinas.01 Inclement02 Undone03 Challenge Me Foolish (ft. Kazumi)04 Bassbins05 Robin Hood Gate06 Perhaps07 Durian (ft. Kazumi)08 Ceiling09 Lexicon (ft. Kazumi)10 Perfame11 Playbox12 Sad Inlay (ft. Kazumi)13 Peek Freans14 DoDaDu (ft. Kazumi)