Tete suite: The Art of Tete Montoliu

A SUPERB ANTHOLOGY OF TETE MONTOLIU VIDEOS WITH GUEST STARS ART BLAKEY, SONNY STITT, HAROLD LAND, AND MANY MORE.

If what I've heard from a Spanish friend is true, then Tete Montoliu could be the only jazz musician who didn't need his ears. The story goes that this blind musician who was also an avid football fan, and listening to the live report of El Clásico had a religious significance for him, was often annoyed by the fact that he had to play gigs during the football match. He, rather ingeniously, came up with a solution: putting an earphone in one of his ears which was not visible to the audience and listening to the live report while playing his gig. But the story becomes very complicated when one considers that the Catalan pianist was also half-deaf!

Myth or fact, he was a pianist of outstanding virtuosity and impeccable technique, as seen on various videos of him from the 1970s and 1980s, some of which presented here.

These nice all-star sessions from Spanish National Television shows him in top form in his heydays with a remarkable array of American visitors. This is a superb homage to one of the most distinctive voices in European jazz.

Ron Carter (b), Art Blakey (d)
Barcelona, April 1981

Oleo

Wynton Marsalis (tp), Bobby Watson (as), Billy Pierce (ts), James Williams (p), Charles Fambrough (b), Art Blakey (d)
Barcelona, April 1981

Billie's Bounce
Brief interview


Tete Montoliu-Ron Carter Duo
Barcelona, April 1981

Old Folks (incomplete, also interrupted by a brief commentary in the middle)

Sonny Stitt (ts), Herbie Lewis (b), Billy Higgins (d)
May 1981

Walkin'
Interview
Commentary by Juan Claudio Cifuentes

Harold Land (ts), John Heard (b), Roy McCurdy (d)
Madrid, October 1983

Speak Low

Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (b), Clyde Lucas (d)
Madrid, 1985

Solar

Eric Peter (b), Peer Wyboris (d)
1970s

Body and Soul

Sonny Stitt (as), Herbie Lewis (b), Billy Higgins (d)
May 1981

Lover Man