According to his biographer James Lester, it was around the time of this recording that Tatum heard from his doctor that he was fatally ill, with the kidney complaint that killed him just over three years later.

There’s no hint here of a man on borrowed time, and indeed Tatum had yet to embark on the remarkable series of solo and small group recordings for Norman Granz that he made during the final three years of his life. This latest discovery by the indefatigable Zev Feldman catches Tatum’s regular working trio on the road, as it had been for the previous two years or so. Slam Stewart had worked with the pianist in the 1940s, and knew exactly how to fit with Tatum, his arco solos across the 37 of the 39 tracks here being as good as any he ever recorded.

There had earlier been other guitar players in the trio, but here Everett Barksdale works alongside Tatum with the same aplomb as his predecessor Tiny Grimes, his solos working up a head of steam over Tatum’s (sometimes dazzlingly busy) accompaniments. Dashing tempi hold no terrors for this group, whether it’s a hell-for-leather ‘Sunny Side of the Street’, one of the fastest ‘Soft Winds’ I’ve ever heard, or a well-worn jam session vehicle such as ‘Flyin’ Home.’ Of course audiences wanted to hear this fleet-fingered player at his impressive best and this Chicago crowd are never disappointed.

But the barnstorming numbers are balanced by ballads, and more introspective fare. Perhaps the best moment is when Tatum asks the crowd for silence as he plays a solo, and while they shush one another he launches into a virtuoso series of cadenzas introducing ‘Someone To Watch Over Me’, which settles into a medium tempo version, punctuated by his characteristic runs, some of which reharmonise on the go, but, as well as returning to the original key and tempo, hold today’s listeners on the edge of our seats, just as they did for the crowd in Chicago all those years ago. And he keeps us there with a return exploration of his 1940 solo Decca version of Massenet’s ‘Elegie’, but this time, after the semi-classical introduction, its extended stride centrepiece is even more breathtaking.