Tatum: An 8-minute Recently Discovered Trio Recording

My three posts on Tatum’s amazing and little-known “avant-garde” side have been widely read. (You can find all my Tatum posts in the Index.) I will tell you right now that this recording of a radio broadcast does not contain those kinds of revelations. Still, it is always big news when more Tatum is discovered. And, the repertory is of interest: It contains “Dark Eyes,” followed by the only known version of “St. Louis Blues” with his trio, including Tiny Grimes on guitar and Slam Stewart on bass. (He did record that blues as a solo piano piece.)

The location of this broadcast is not known. (If anybody recognizes the announcer’s voice at 3:34 and at 8:17, that would help greatly.) We also don’t have an exact date, but we know the possible years because this particular trio was only active in 1943 and 1944. In performance, Art worked most often with guitar and bass—that’s the trio instrumentation popularized by Nat Cole—but the musicians changed over the years. (He played with a greater variety of groups for recordings.)

The original source is a ten-inch diameter 78 r.p.m. disc recorded at someone’s home from a radio broadcast. (Home disc recorders were not common but they were available, before tape made home recording much simpler and more widespread.) So there is a slight gap between the two audio files while the person turned the disc over. (Big thanks are due to James Accardi for doing some work on this audio file!)

So here is “Dark Eyes,” followed by the beginning of “St. Louis Blues,” and after a very slight pause at 4:12, the rest of “St. Louis Blues”:

As you heard, at the very end the host announces “Soft Winds,” a regular part of the trio’s repertory, but only the first second was recorded. Too bad—but it’s great to hear what we do have.

See you soon!

All the best,
Lewis