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RE: Seriously?

Posted by Analog Scott (A) on August 23, 2012 at 10:06:38

In Reply to: RE: Seriously? posted by josh358 on August 23, 2012 at 07:39:45:

"I'm familiar with Tatum's other versions of "Tea for Two." The one for which I posted the URL is just the one that happened to come up when I did a Google search for Chris."

Sorry but this is sounding like back peddling to me. if you were familiar with the different arrangements why on earth would not check to make sure you were posting a link to the relevant arrangement?

"Yuja Wang's rhythms are wrong,"

No they are not "wrong." They are quite right and on a technical level they have a distinct edge over Art Tatum's own rhythms which are still quite tight by any normal measure. technically speaking you are going to be hard pressed to find anyone with better rhythm than Yuja Wang. And once again it would appear that rhythm is being confused with tempo. And in the world of jazz it is just plain ignorant to make claims about tempos being "right" or "wrong." You will find much wider variances in tempos chosen for jazz standards that are all highly critically acclaimed than the difference between these two interpretations.


"and where they aren't wrong, they're unsophisticated."

That is utter nonsense.Dare I say the sophistication of Yuja wang's phrasings is clearly lost on you. It's one thing to not like her choices but to call them unsophisticated or non existent kills your own credibility.

"My initial reaction was that she thinks she's playing some kind of waltz."

Then you kill your own credibility and dance on it's grave. If slowing down the tempo a bit on this arrangement of Tea for Two has you confusing the piece for a waltz there is nothing more to talk about.

"After that, that she misses the subtleties of Tatum's rhythmic inflections.'

No she doesn't miss them. She brings her own inflections into the performance. that makes it her own interpretation. were you really expecting her to do a carbon copy? Now that would be as un-jazz like a choice as could possibly be made. And apparently you don't seem to be hearing the unique inflections of rhythm that Yuja Wang injects into the piece. It's really hard to accept your comment on the lack of sophistication in those choices when it appears you don't even recognize them as existing at all.

"What you apparently hear as "rhythmic issues" are Tatum's characteristic syncopations."

Nope. Not even close. In actuality Art Tatum's rhythms are very tight. but if you insist on comparing them to Yuja Wang's they fall short. But I am not comparing rhythmic aberrations with artistic choices in phrasings.


"A lesser pianist can't hope to imitate those, or Tatum's technique."

Only a lessor artist would even want to. It would have been a waste of time for Yuja Wang to have attempted to imitate Tatum's interpretation. In what world do real artists attempt to imitate other artists' interpretations? Of course Yuja Wang didn't imitate Art Tatum's interpretation. That isn't what real artists do.

"You can't judge these interpretations, either Wang's or Tatum's, with a classical ear. They aren't classical works. Perhaps the best way to describe her performance is to say she speakers jazz as a second language. Her performance is classically accented, a phonemic approximation in the manner of a non-native speaker,"

Now you are starting to get somewhere. Yes she does bring some classical sensibilities to the piece along with her distinctive touch. But it is jazz. many artists have brought outside influences to jazz in their interpretations. That is the nature of jazz. It is not wrong on a technical level nor on an artistic level to bring one's own musical sensibilities to their interpretation of a jazz standard. Is Latin jazz invalid because of the Latin influences? Is Stan Getz a hack for bringing Bossa Nova stylings into his interpretations?


"and it doesn't work"

For you. It doesn't work for you. And you are placing some really odd limitations on the scope and nature of interpretations for that particular arrangement of a jazz standard. Limitations that now appear to be narrowed down to either being an exact imitation or being wrong.

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Kimber Kable

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