Art Tatum - Complete Original American Decca Recordings (2002)

Tracklist

Disc: 1

1. Tiger Rag
2. Strange as It Seems
3. I'll Never Be the Same
4. You Gave Me Everything But Love
5. This Time, It's Love
6. Tea for Two
7. St. Louis Blues
8. Tiger Rag
9. Sophisticated Lady
10. Moonglow
11. Emaline
12. Love Me
13. Cocktails for Two
14. After You've Gone
15. Stardust
16. III Wind
17. Shout
18. Strange as It Seems
19. I'll Never Be the Same
20. You Gave Me Everything But Love
21. This Time, It's Love

Disc: 2

1. Beautiful Love
2. Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)
3. I Would Do Anything for You
4. When a Man Loves a Woman
5. After You've Gone
6. I Ain't Got Nobody
7. Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)
8. (Take Me Back to My) Boots and Saddle
9. Body and Soul
10. With Plenty of Money and You (Oh! Baby What I Couldn't Do)
11. What Will I Tell My Heart?
12. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
13. Gone With the Wind
14. Stormy Weather
15. Chloe
16. Sheik of Araby
17. Beautiful Love
18. When a Woman Loves a Man
19. Body and Soul
20. With Plenty of Money and You (Oh! Baby What I Couldn't Do)
21. Chloe

Disc: 3

1. Tea for Two
2. Deep Purple
3. Elegie
4. Humoresque
5. Sweet Lorraine
6. Get Happy
7. Lullaby of the Leaves
8. Tiger Rag
9. Sweet Emalina, My Gal
10. Emaline
11. Moonglow
12. Love Me
13. Cocktails for Two
14. St. Louis Blues
15. Begin the Beguine
16. Rosetta
17. (Back Home Again In) Indiana
18. Deep Purple
19. Sweet Emalina, My Gal

Disc: 4

1. Wee Baby Blues
2. Stompin' at the Savoy
3. Last Goodbye Blues
4. Battery Bounce
5. Lucille
6. Rock Me Mama
7. Corrina, Corrina
8. Lonesome Graveyard Blues
9. I Got Rhythm
10. Cocktails for Two
11. I Ain't Got Nobody
12. After You've Gone
13. Moonglow
14. Deep Purple
15. I Would Do Anything for You
16. Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)
17. Tea for Two
18. Honeysuckle Rose
19. Lucille
20. Lonesome Graveyard Blues

Recording Date:August 5, 1932 - January 5, 1944

Collectors of recordings by piano great Art Tatum are frustrated by the many haphazard, poorly documented, and often incomplete collections of his work; this four-CD set by the English label Definitive attempts to collect all of his known recordings for Decca, but there are a few surprising twists. Tatum recorded many of his piano solos with several different takes, so as many as 23 alternate takes remain unissued (and are most likely either lost or unusable) according to Tatum discographer Arnold Laubich. But this is made up by the fact that all of his sessions with singer Adelaide Hall for Brunswick (including four previously unissued alternate takes, one of whose existence was not previously known) and every song he waxed with blues singer Joe Turner are present. Tatum's virtuoso performances -- especially his solos of "Tiger Rag," "Elegie," and "Body and Soul" -- are still amazing many decades after they were first released. The 24-bit sound of this compilation is richer than the earlier MCA and GRP CD reissues, so the release of this thorough collection may cause more than a few Tatum fans to trade up. The only drawback to this highly recommended reissue is its rather pedestrian liner notes.~Ken Dryden