As always Bret, thank you for sharing these interviews. And thank you Sonny for tackling a difficult question with honesty, as well, of course, for all the beautiful music.
I have heard so many of your interviews with Sonny,and now having read Aiden Levy's incredible biography, I feel that seeing and hearing Sonny is like a visit with an old friend. So glad that as of today(1/18/24) Sonny is still with us.
Parker's band on the same bill with Tatum's group ... don't think he meant they were actually playing in the same group if that is what you were thinking
I think what Sonny was getting at when he talked about music moving away from melody, was rhythm. Most pop songs are an interesting bass line where the singers just sort of "talk" the words, By that, I don't mean rap music...I mean that tunes have about 5 notes in them but they're animated with complex rhythms. Sonny is brilliant at this too. Pop music is just catching up to where non-western cultures have been for centuries!
I heard that Peterson and Tatum were great friends but Peterson never played around Art after he heard Tatum play because he felt embarrassed by his own playing. The thing is, Tatum died in 1959 and never became as famous as Peterson.
*ABSOLUTELY he's a SAINT* All the *CHILDREN of ISRAEL* are not only *SAINTS but also gods* *"Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."* Psalm 50: 5 kjv1611 *"I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High"* Psalm 82: 6 kjv1611. *(Facts)*
I wonder if Sonny could elaborate further now that he’s had some tine to sit on the collective we moving away from melody towards something else. It would seem to be a chicken/egg scenario. Is there less interest in melody now because the songwriters aren’t at the same level of craftsmanship, or could it be that the rise of technology has somehow obscured melody in favor of all the splicing, sampling and layering that is the flavor of the day. Personally, I think beauty in art is less prized in these times, which in turn is a direct mirror of a US society in sharp decline.
Love what you do, Brett. I’ve been to the Schomburg and looked at the Sonny archives. What a treasure that stuff is. Anyone reading his writing on any subject, but especially his craft, one would see they’re dealing a person who is highly in charge and supremely inquisitive. It takes a brilliant mind to do what he does. Incidentally, I now live near him in upstate New York. I hope he’s getting by okay and has people who care for him around to help out? All the best to you and keep up the great work! Lance Goler
youknow tatum was perfect pitch so i don't think he would have really gone about play on a bad (if you mean outta tune) piano. to each his own man, just like rollins said, everything is not a competition
There are bootlegs (amateur recordings made in the audience during a gig) from the 1940s which show Tatum playing on funky old out-of-tune pianos. Check the album 'God Is In The House'.
Tatum was a superfluously annoying - sorry - piano player and that's all he was. Horowitz was humble and deliberately blind. There's a difference between pyrotechnic virtuosity and classical greatness ffs...
