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JazzWax
April 25, 2009 1:53 PM

Check out this jazz blog by journalist and jazz fanatic, Marc Myers. He's got a ton of entries on a huge amount of jazz recordings, in addition to fantastic interviews, like this one of clarinetist, Buddy DeFranco:

JazzWax: Do you remember the Art Tatum session?

Buddy DeFranco: Oh sure. That was quite an experience. From the time I was a young boy, my father had brought home 78-rpm recordings of Tatum. The first time I had heard them, I was amazed. From that point on, I was an Art Tatum fan. I consider him a genius. In the jazz era, Art Tatum and Charlie Parker would be my only two picks on the genius level. All the other good players were highly talented and great and all that. But Bird and Tatum were at the genius level.

JW: What impressed you most?

BDF: How Art weaved in and out of chord progressions and keys. It was amazing. The other thing about the date was that Art chose keys that were different from the ones the songs were written in originally. That was a tricky thing. On top of that, I had kind of pretty bad cold.

JW: Let me get this straight: You were anxious, Tatum changed the keys on songs he sprang on you at the session, and you were under the weather?

BDF: Yes, I was so ill on that date I had to sit down in a chair for practically the entire session.

That's just one fascinating part of the very comprehensive interview. Another section has this invaluable gem:

JW: As you're playing with Art, did you get the feeling he was not just playing but challenging and provoking you?

BDF: Oh yes. Art loved that game. At the time, he went at me with both barrels [laughs]. It wasn't a nasty thing. It was a game. An enjoyable game. It also allowed us to get into the music thoroughly.

JW: Was it tricky anticipating what Tatum would do next?

BDF:I wouldn't let any time elapse without knowing where he was exactly in a song and what he was doing. You had to listen to everything. Otherwise you were at risk of losing your place.

JW: Was Tatum testing you, seeing if you could handle one thing or another?

BDF: Throughout the whole session. Sometimes he would put his left hand on his lap and play just with his right hand while looking at me and grinning, as if to say, "How about this?"

JW: What is Art doing technically that's most challenging?

BDF: The chord progressions. He had a way of using great musical devices. They were so accurate that they didn't sound like devices. His progressions sounded like they absolutely flowed. They were very normal to him. It was difficult to catch onto that -- his way of playing progressions through the song.

JW: How so?

BDF: Art had two or three sets of chords for the same tune. His fingering might be different, or he'd use completely different, alternate chords.

JW: For example?

BDF: For instance he'd have four or five different ways of playing a C-7 chord. Both of us, and Nelson Riddle and Tommy Gumina, an accordion player I worked with, were involved in polychordal devices when playing jazz. For instance, if we had a C-7 chord for any basic thing we were playing, you would have your choice of five different alternate triads superimposed on that one chord. So you could weave in an out of those triads. Tatum had that down. It was absolutely amazing how he did it and how natural he sounded. It was complete and natural.

Marc's blog is a wonderful resource for any jazz fanatic or jazz beginner. Let's hope he keeps up the great work and publishes as many interviews of these dying jazz giants as possible!

p.s. Here's an interview of Marc detailing his history and love of the music:


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