Art Tatum & Ben Webster - The Tatum Group Masterpieces / SHM-CD

A historic meeting between pianist Art Tatum and tenor sax giant Ben Webster - recorded in 1956, but only first issued by Pablo Records in the 70s! At some level, it's clear that Tatum's the star of the sessions - as most tracks start out with that introspective and often complicated approach to the keys that marks his trio and solo work - but Webster always slides in just in time to keep the record from being a standard Tatum outing - blowing with a crisp tone that's beautifully recorded here, and hardly concerned at all with the presence of Red Callender on bass and Bill Douglass on drums - who are much lower in the mix. Titles include 'Night & Day,' 'Where Or When,' 'My Ideal,' 'Gone With The Wind,' and 'All The Things You Are.'