UNDER appreciated...right?
Dorothy Donegan - One of the few contemporaries of Tatum that had comparable chops...really! She was also a fantastic entertainer with an extraordinary ability to mimic jazz vocalists of various eras. Check out any of her concert recordings and make sure your mouth is taped shut.
Phineas Newborn - Nobody, NOBODY has ever eclipsed Mr. Newborn's pianism. Speed, articulation, phrasing, swing are all non pareil. Criminally underappreciated.
BTW: Thelonious labored in relative obscurity until he was 40 years old because listeners weren't prepared for him. His musical contemporaries knew he was their Mozart...or Beethoven, but it took Jazz fans a long time to catch up. We're still catching up!
Dorothy Donegan - One of the few contemporaries of Tatum that had comparable chops...really! She was also a fantastic entertainer with an extraordinary ability to mimic jazz vocalists of various eras. Check out any of her concert recordings and make sure your mouth is taped shut.
Phineas Newborn - Nobody, NOBODY has ever eclipsed Mr. Newborn's pianism. Speed, articulation, phrasing, swing are all non pareil. Criminally underappreciated.
BTW: Thelonious labored in relative obscurity until he was 40 years old because listeners weren't prepared for him. His musical contemporaries knew he was their Mozart...or Beethoven, but it took Jazz fans a long time to catch up. We're still catching up!