Artist: Art Tatum
Genre(s):
Jazz
Other
Discography:
Art Tatum Meets Ben Webster
Year: 1956
Tracks: 10
The Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces - 2
Year:
Tracks: 16
20th Century Piano Genius CD2
Year:
Tracks: 1
20th Century Piano Genius CD1
Year:
Tracks: 1
Art Tatum was among the to the highest degree extraordinary of all jazz musicians, a pianist with terrific proficiency world Health Organization could non only recreate laughably speedy lines with both workforce (his 1933 solo variant of "Tiger Rag" sounds as if in that location were three pianists jam unitedly) just was harmonically 30 age ahead of his time; all pianists ingest to consider to a certain extent with Tatum's innovations in ordination to be taken seriously. Able to play stride, get around, and boogie-woogie with swiftness and complexity that could only previously be imagined, Tatum's speedy reflexes and unbounded mental imagery kept his improvisations filled with fresh (and sometimes futuristic) ideas that set up him way in advance of his coevals.
Born closely blind, Tatum gained some formal pianissimo preparation at the Toledo School of Music just was largely self-taught. Although influenced a bit by Fats Waller and the semi-classical pianists of the 1920s, thither is rattling no explanation for where Tatum gained his inspiration and ideas from. He number one played professionally in Toledo in the mid-'20s and had a wireless show during 1929-1930. In 1932 Tatum traveled with isaac Bashevis Singer Adelaide Hall to New York and made his recording debut ensuant Hall (as 1 of two pianists). But for those wHO had never heard him in person, it was his solos of 1933 (including "Tiger Rag") that proclaimed the arriver of a truly major talent. In the 1930s, Tatum spent periods working in Cleveland, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and (in 1938) England. Although he lED a popular trio with guitar player Tiny Grimes (later on Everett Barksdale) and bassist Slam Stewart in the mid-'40s, Tatum spent well-nigh of his life as a solo pianist world Health Organization could forever panic the contention. Some observers criticized him for having overly lots technique (is such a affair possible?), working out and then safekeeping the same arrangements for particular songs, and for victimization likewise many notes, merely those minor reservations wan when compared to Tatum's reworkings of such tunes as "Yesterdays," "Start the Beguine," and even "Humoresque." Although he was non a composer, Tatum's rearrangements of standards made even warhorses level-headed like new compositions.
Art Tatum, wHO recorded for Decca end-to-end the 1930s and Capitol in the late '40s, starred at the Esquire Metropolitan Opera House concert of 1944 and appeared concisely in his only photographic film in 1947, The Fabulous Dorseys (star a jam session on a heated up megrims). He recorded extensively for Norman Granz near the end of his life in the fifties, both solo and with all-star groups; all of the music has been reissued by Pablo on a six-CD box localise. His previous death from azotaemia has not resulted in whatever loss of renown, for Art Tatum's recordings silent deliver the ability to panic modern pianists.
