Loose Cuts
Decca Presents Art Tatum in an Album of Piano Solos
Tatum’s extraordinary technique overwhelmed fellow jazz musicians and made classical virtuosi take notice. On this album he brings that command to Dvořák’s “Humoresque” and Massenet’s “Élégie”. Reviewing “Humoresque” in 1941, a Melody Maker critic began with the declaration, “It has always been one of my firmest convictions that classics should not be called upon to do duty as jazz”, only to concede that Tatum had made him waver.
Hear both
The classical side carries the source works these cuts came from. The jazz side carries the cuts themselves. Each player holds what is available, and they need not match.
Spotify’s player is here for convenience; the cuts remain listed below for everyone.
The cuts
The classical-derived cuts from this record, each with the classical work it came from.
- ElegieMassenet: Élégie (Mélodie), from Dix pièces de genre, Op. 10 No. 5
- HumoresqueDvořák: Humoresque in G flat major, Op. 101 No. 7