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@pajamas
Art Tatum, 1955 solo recordings. He's playing live at what sounds like a private party, maybe a posh do where folks are gathered round the joanna after dinner. That's what it sounds like to me anyways. At times you can hear his cufflinks on the keys.
The piano playing defies belief as per usual for Tatum, but it's lent an added intimacy thanks to the claps and appreciative murmurs of the small audience looking on. I like the fact it's way late in Tatum's career too - by this stage he was a remnant of another era, probably no longer hip. Even though the recording's most certainly captured informally, the quality of it outshines much of his studio work by virtue of improved technology of the day.
Check out "Jitterbug Waltz", "Sittin' and a Rockin'" and "Weep Willow For Me" - but the whole thing's beautiful. A master and genius who raised the bar in jazz, one year before his untimely death, playing for a few people and showing he's still got it in buckets.