On Demand
Tatum's Ghost in the Machine
Digital technology is enabling jazz pianist Art Tatum, who died in 1956, to "perform" again. His music is the subject of a new show at the Apollo Theater as well as a new CD on Sony BMG. John Q. Walker, the founder and president of the Raleigh, N.C.-based Zenph Studios, talks about the digital-era player piano that’s at the heart of this.
Our blog: John Schaefer on the marvel of Zenph's technology
Weigh in: Do you appreciate the sonic improvement of old recordings or do you prefer the scratchy old versions?
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You guys were absolutely amazing! It is such a shame that people started leaving during the final masterpiece. Good luck to you all. Look forward to hearing more in the future.
I don't know if I can forgive Liz Phair for turning into Avril Lavign. How can she just switch back to her "DIY" self without having to account for her actions?
On the radio the Zenph versions of Glenn Gould and Art Tatum did sound a bit sterile and mechanized to me. I don't think you can change the instrument and get an authentic result from this sort of process. There is a feedback loop between the instrument and the performer, and even if you can match the mechanical nuances of the original performance, a different instrument will respond in different ways to the same mechanical input, and a performer would play a different instrument differently.
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