In A Sentimental Mood – 1985

Tete Montoliu

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Tete Montoliu (1933-97) was one of the great jazz pianists of his lifetime but, because he spent much of his life in his native Spain and in Europe (although he visited the United States a few times), he tended to be a bit overlooked.

Born blind, Montoliu mastered the swing and bop vocabulary and impressed anyone who heard him including Lionel Hampton (who presented him on a European tour in the late 1950s) and Chick Corea who recorded a two-piano album with him.

Here is Tete Montoliu playing solo piano on Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood,” showing that he deserved to be mentioned in the same paragraph as Oscar Peterson.

-Scott Yanow

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