Miracles

At 42, I am old enough to have used eight track tape, cassettes, 45's, l.p.'s, reel to reel tape, and occasionally, 78's. Call it trite, but I have, however, fallen head over heels in love with my Ipod Nano, for one reason. I can now blissfully drift off to sleep, attending a cocktail party in Beverly Hills in 1955. And besides being in bed next to my lovely wife, that's a nice alternative, because it's a cocktail party Art Tatum was booked to play, and was recorded playing. I owned the lp of this recording, "20th Century Piano Genius", and it's probably the greatest record made by the greatest jazz pianist who ever lived. You do the math on that one.

You can hear the clinking of glasses, the murmured requests to, and replies by Art Tatum-and in a beautiful recording, the fantastic improvisations of Art Tatum. The guests literally gasp and laugh in amazement and pleasure when he peels off a cascading torrent of notes, returning from the bridge to the chorus of "Moon Song" (a Tatum favorite-he often played and recorded it, but never better than here).

This is a dense record. There are worlds here. But for pure unalloyed listening pleasure, this is the place to go. And so, when the weight of the world keeps me awake, I belly up to the piano, join the cocktail clinking crowd, and via the miracle of mp3 and the Ipod-blissfully listen to the miracle that was Art Taum.

You should too.