Donald Lambert - Bells in your head for two weeks

Jim Maher (collaborator with Alec Wilder on American Popular Song) is quoted in James Lester's Too Marvellous For Words: The Life & Genius Of Art Tatum (Oxford University Press, 1994), remembering about the ragtime and stride pianists of the late 1920s and early 1930s:

"I can remember going out to New Jersey to hear Donald Lambert with either Lennie Kunstadt of maybe Rudi Blesh. You'd ask for something, say "Twelfth Street Rag", and instead Donald would launch into "The Bells Of St. Mary's" and he'd go on and on through one variation after another. (...) Sometimes I think about Art Tatum and Eubie Blake and Donald Lambert, and the common thread of their virtuosity. But that was an essential part of the ragtime tradition -pure showmanship and entertainment. They really loved to enthrall you. Oh my God, Donald Lambert could do "The Bells Of St. Mary's" until you'd have bells in your head for two weeks."

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En Too Marvellous For Words: The Life & Genius Of Art Tatum (Oxford University Press, 1994), James Lester cita a Jim Maher (que colaboró con Alec Wilder en American Popular Song) recordando a los pianistas de ragtime y stride de los años 20 y primeros años 30:

"Recuerdo ir a New Jersey a escuchar a Donald Lambert con Lennie Kunstadt o quizás con Rudi Blesh. Pedías algún tema, por ejemplo "Twelfth Street Rag", y en vez de tocarlo, Lambert se lanzaba con "The Bells Of St. Mary's" y seguía interpretando variación tras variación. (..) A veces pienso en Art Tatum, en Eubie Blake y en Donald Lambert, y en el nexo común de su virtuosismo. Pero esa era una parte esencial de la tradición del ragtime: pura teatralidad y diversión. Realmente les encantaba cautivarte. Dios mío, Donald Lambert era capaz de tocar "The Bells Of St. Mary's" hasta que te resonaran las campanas en la cabeza durante dos semanas".