Billboard : 07/08/1957
Score of 76

One of the last packages cut by Tatum before his death, and a set worthy of one of the true giants in jazz. Tho Red Callender and Jo Jones ably support the sprightly 88’er, there’s little doubt that Tatum leads all the way. Blue Lou and Isn’t It Romantic are must listening, and excellent demo tracks for dealers and DJs alike.

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Cashbox : 06/29/1957

Verve, which under the Clef label produced an 11 volume Genius Of Art Tatum series, has a single LP issue featuring the late keyboard artist in 10 sides as he is backed by Jo Jones (drummer) and Red Callender (bass). The Tatum brilliance is heard delightfully on a mostly evergreen bill (Isn’t It Romanic, Just One Of Those Things) playing with unhurried ease, or flashy attacks. Excellent examples of the jazz keyboard master.

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Miami Herald
Fred Sherman : 09/15/1957

The small son around the house wanted to know why I as being so enthusiastic about the LP spinning on the turntable. What’s so much better about this piano player, he asked. He couldn’t understand how it could be different. Didn’t everybody hit the same keys when playing the same song?

It came close to a case of disownment. The piano player was Art Tatum and the album was called Presenting the Art Tatum Trio, one of the final recording sessions by the man who died last year at 46. Jo Jones on drums and bassist Red Callender make it a trio, but it’s not like the old trio work when Slam Stewart worked with Tatum. On many of the 10 numbers you will have to make an effort to hear bass and drums. Jones offers a beautiful brush beat on More Than You Know. Callender shines on a Tatum piece he calls Trio Blues.

Callender sums it up in the album notes when he writes: “This man was the greatest jazz instrumentalist of all time. I mean the greatest.”

This is a wonderful album. If you don’t know Tatum, you’re going to be struck by the mass of music he gets out of the piano. At the record stores you will find an important series of albums called The Genius of Art Tatum. I think there are 10 now.

It was in 1954 that Norman Granz started Tatum recording 150 songs for what he hoped would be the definitive library. I’m sure you’ll find your “our song” on one of the albums. Hear Tatum play it and you’ll buy the album.

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San Francisco Chronicle
Ralph J. Gleason : 06/16/1957

Red Callender and Jo Jones accompany the master of jazz piano on this, one of his last LPs. It is a gem well worth a place in anyone’s collection, not only because it is superbly recorded Tatum, but because it is superb Tatum. As far as I am concerned, Trio Blues, which has echoes of Lewis and Yancey and the boogie woogie boys, oddly enough, is one of Tatum’s greatest performances and his work on the ballads here, such as Isn’t It Romantic and Some Other Spring is inspired.

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St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Charles Menees : 06/16/1957

Ten sides cut by pianist Art Tatum shortly before his death last year are contained in Presenting the Art Tatum Trio. With Tatum are two other jazz stalwarts, drummer Jo Jones and bassist Red Callender. Tatum plays with his customary firm yet feathery touch, runs arpeggios at lightning speed, at times overpowers with technique. But one has to stand firm in admiration of his great feeling for jazz. One of the selections, Trio Blues, was improvised on the spot at the recording session. Other titles include Just One of Those Things, If, and I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plans.

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Down Beat : 08/08/1957
Don Gold : 5 stars

There is little to be said here, concerning Tatum‘s remarkable ability. It’s been said many times before. As Callender notes, “There’s been a lot of fine pianists, but only Tatum could make the piano say quite as much, and seemingly with so little effort.”

This LP was the product of one of Tatum’s last recording sessions and becomes another volume in the Tatum literature Norman Granz thoughtfully has provided. All the Tatum mastery is indicated here: the technical command, the astute sense of time, the melodic concepts, the communicative approach to the instrument, and the rare ability to play powerfully without turning the piano into another instrument.

Among the tunes included are a technically exhilarating Things, a driving Lou, and a directly stated, grasped-by-the roots Blues. The backing by Callender and Jones is inspired, to say the least. This is a historically significant LP and a part of the musical life of one of jazz’ most illustrious figures.

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Liner Notes by Unknown

On this album, one of the last cut by Art Tatum, his incomparable piano was abetted by George “Red” Callender, the bassist, and Jo Jones, the drummer. How did it feel for a musician to play in the same trio with the virtuoso Tatum? The question was put squarely to Red Callender, himself one of the more highly regarded jazzmen on the West Coast, one accustomed, moreover, to playing with other topflight musicians of all schools and persuasions of jazz.

“To play with Art Tatum? Well, it was a ball, of course,” Callender began. “I suppose I felt as any musician did about playing with Art – the mere fact that he asked for me, expressly, to be a part of his trio for the date was a great honor, a fine compliment. Let me tell you about Art Tatum. This man was the greatest jazz instrumentalist of all time. I mean that greatest, bar none. I mean simply that Art Tatum played more piano than anyone else played any other instrument. There’s been a lot of fine pianists, but only Tatum could make the piano say quite as much, and seemingly with so little effort.

“Art was a meticulous, unbending perfectionist. He liked playing alone and he also liked playing with other people – but the others had to keep up with him. With Art there was very little margin for error. Nothing annoyed him more than a note or a change that wasn’t just right. You might say that as a jazz artist he was overpowering to anyone playing with him. You never thought of taking a solo, for instance, because – let’s face it, would could you play? Not that Art would deliberately cut you, but what he played was just so naturally brilliant there was nothing left to say…”

How did the trio prepare for this recording date? “Art was a meticulous artist, as I said,” Callender went on. “We would have a conference just before starting to play and that’s when the decisions would be made regarding what notes and changes we’d play. It was like a guide, though, and not an absolute blueprint. So what followed once we started to play was that you might call planned improvisation.” Callender also had a comment to pass along concerning the drummer in the trio. “Jo Jones,” he said, “plays drums as though he invented the instrument.”

About the album itself, there are a number of standards, including two by Cole Porter – Just One of Those Things from “Jubilee” (1935) and Love for Sale from “The New Yorkers” (1929) – a Rodgers–Hart evergreen entitled Isn’t It Romantic from “Love Me Tonight” (1932) and Vincent Youmans‘ More Than You Know from “Great Day” (1929), to list a few of them. The Trio Blues by Art Tatum was improvised on the spot at the recording session.

Throughout, of course, the spectacular wizardry of Art Tatum is paramount, at once subtle and commanding, with the firm yet feathery touch which gave his sound such an identifiable quality. The backing he receives from bassist Callender and drummer Jones is tasteful and complete, giving the trio a strong sense of unity.

Art Tatum was born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1910, beginning his musical studies at 13 as a violinist. Soon he switched to the piano and it wasn’t long before he was playing in clubs and on the air, earning a widespread reputation which lasted, expanding even into legend until his death in 1956.

Jo Jones, born in Chicago in 1910, first made his mark with the Count Basie band in the late 30s and late 40s – the mid-40s being occupied by Army service. It was Jones, master of the subtle cymbal, who started the notion of mainstreaming the four beats on his cymbal, leaving his bass drum foot free for special accents.

Red Callender, born in Richmond, VA, in 1918, started his musical studies on the trumpet, touring through a number of other instruments deciding on the bass. By 1937 he was with Lous Armstrong and later joined the Nat “King” Cole trio, followed by stints with Lester Young and Erroll Garner. For the last six years Callender has been recording in Los Angeles, earning a reputation as a topflight addition to any unit.