Piano Starts Here: Live at the Shrine Zenph Re-Performance

Hay people, can you believe what 'one' person can do with 'two' hands? I think there's no match to tatum... and not only because of his technique, it's the music he plays; am i right or not?

Purist will inevitably snear, but those who know and love Tatum's style will instantly recognize the musician who is responsible for the music radiating from this superbly-produced album. I have long regreted that the recording technology of Tatum's day could not do justice to the intricate and dynamic performances witnessed by the lucky few who were priviledged to hear him in the flesh. It is both startling and gratifying to suddenly find oneself in the living presence of the Master, enveloped in his music very much has he was when he was playing it. As someone who has worked with MIDI technology for over 20 years, and appreciates the difficulty of translating complex audio events into MIDI data, I am flabergasted at what Zenph Studios has accomplished here: technology totally at the service of Art!

The songs in this album are made of solid gold. There is nothing better! This album desrves more than just five stars. It is truely astonishing how Art Tatum can play; before listening to him, I never had imagined someone could play with such intricate detail. Each of his songs brings a feeling of excitment, of happyness, of peace, or fear. Art Tatum's music is like langugage, conveying various attidues and feelings to us. His music puts pictures in our minds from our past and from our imagination. His music is more than music; its a source - a source where we can receive different attitudes. To me, Art Tatum's music can be magical.

I was at this concert at the Shrine and I find the technology incredible. It was amazing to see this machine re-emote Art Tatum's musicianship and creativity.

As a long-time fan of Art Tatum, the pieces on this album are old friends, which I can always count on to amaze me and put me in a good mood. I've listened to some of them hundreds of times, and thought I knew almost every detail, but playing this updated version, I feel like I'm restoring a painting. I keep dragging the slider back and listening to excerpts over again to see what delightful details will be revealed. I’m somewhat desensitized to the hiss/crackle/pops in historic recordings, but playing an older noisy copy side-by-side with this pristine version, the difference in listening experience is astonishing. The "Redbook Stereo" tracks sound amazing on speakers, and the "Binaural Stereo" versions give us the chance to put on headphones and hear the tracks as if we were Tatum sitting at the keyboard at the time of the recording – high notes come from the right side of the piano, low notes from the left. Any doubts I had that music as intricate as this could be perfectly "re-performed” vanished within a few seconds of my launching "Tiger Rag". All of Tatum's genius is in this new recording, with a level of clarity no one has heard since his last live performance. Bravo!