Art Tatum

[BlueMiles]

I'm interested in some views on Art Tatum.

Of course, he died fairly young, but not without leaving many recordings and quite a legacy. For a long time I just knew the name. Then I heard some music. I didn't have anything on CD until just a couple of weeks ago--a best of Tatum on Pablo (both solo and in groups). I may be in the minority, but I tend to prefer the group stuff. I would definitley like to get the whole session with Ben Webster.

Art Tatum's place in jazz is secure, but I'm wondering how many diehard fans are out there.

[Pete C]

Until about a year ago he was an artist I could respect and admire without really warming up to, finding his pyrotechnics off-putting at times. Somehow I had a breakthrough and I'm really enjoying his brilliance and his ability to take amazing harmonic twists and turns.

For the longest time the only session I did own was the one with Webster.

I like the group recordings for Granz and the solo recordings, but my least favorite are the trios with guitar & bass.

I think the best example of his solo brilliance is on 20th Century Piano Genius.

[hornplayer]

I grew up listening to Art Tatum. He was my mom's all-time favorite piano player.

His genius is legend. I don't dislike anything I've ever heard. OTOH, I personally favor a more "spare" style.

[John L]

Like Pete, it took me quite a while to warm to him. But now there are times when Tatum is ALL that I want to hear. I can't usually stay with him for more than a little while, however, as listening to Tatum for a long time can be a bit exhausting. In small doses, it can really hit the spot.

[Pete C]

listening to Tatum for a long time can be a bit exhausting. In small doses, it can really hit the spot.

I was just telling Storer that when I saw Martial Solal solo at the Vanguard (with Clint, Donna & my friend Don the Ubiquitous) Don asked me if I was staying for another set and I told him I was so worn out from following him for one set I didn't think I could handle another.

[clinthopson]

I was a fan of Art Tatum from the first timeI heard him.

I still have a lot of 78s of the Tatum trio with the great Tiny Grimes on guitar stored away somewhere in my garage.

The Pablo and Verve catalog is a gold mine.

Jazz Heritage issued a two cd set of solo Tatum that had been recorded at the home of Ray Heindorf in 1955 a year before he died, the title is 20th Century Piano Genius which is no understatement. It's one of my favorite Tatum recordings.


Ask any piano player how they feel about Art Tatum.

[Peterdubya]

I love Art.... there's a great 10 CD set called "Portrait" on the Past Perfect label. it's really inexpensive and a great collectioon

[BlueMiles]

"Ask any piano player how they feel about Art Tatum."

I imagine quite a few would say, "SCARED!"

[BlueMiles]

Past Perfect... I have a 10-CD set of of Lester Young that I think is from that label. What a deal that was!

[walto]

I think he's incredible.

[ran]

When I began my journey into jazz a man named Mike Shea took me by the hand and made sure that I understood that while there are great musicians there is only one Art Tatum.

I would imagine seeing Tatum in a club was much more rewarding then listening to the Granz collections of 3 to 4 minutes songs over and over again. The Group masterpieces are wonderful . My favorites are the ones done with Roy Eldridge.

30 years later Mike Shea's words are still true , there is only one Art Tatum.

I love Art Tatum.

[Pete C]

Like Pete, it took me quite a while to warm to him.

Did you dig Rachmaninov before Tatum?

Like June I generally prefer sparer pianists. Mal Waldron is one of my favorite pianists, and he's perhaps the polar opposite of Tatum, like Satie to Tatum's Liszt (right now I'm listening to Waldron's album of Satie compositions). I wouldn't be surprised if there were entire Waldron albums with fewer notes than one chorus of a Tatum solo.

[ran]

Without getting into the less is more debate. It took someone like Tatum for others to understand that concept. Be that as it may I like space between my notes as well. There's no way I can play like Tatum , so that's my excuse.

[stonemonkts]

Waldron and Tatum are indeed opposites in style, but I would describe Waldron not as spare so much as he likes to stay in one place for stretches and explore a motif...while Tatum barrels forward playing as many runs as he can but never straying from the tune.

[rollhead]

I read a piece once about how Tatum didn't just "improvise" on a piece, he actually deconstructed it and recomposed as he played it. Or something like that. Not sure I understood it, or how that wasn't a form of improvisation, but I was impressed.

Speaking of spare vs. ornate playing styles, i was reading an interview with the famous "spare" player Jimmy Rowles who was asked about his style versus Oscar Peterson's and he said:

"Face it, I don't have his chops."

[BlueMiles]

I'm sure Tatum pretty much defines "chops" in jazz.

[Pete C]

while Tatum barrels forward playing as many runs as he can but never straying from the changes.

Fixed, without irony. All Tatum does is stray from the "tune."

[stonemonkts]

Yes, you stated correctly what I had in mind. I struggle with expressing what I hear into words.

[Uli]

I struggle with expressing what I hear into words.

Most of us do when God is in the house.

[Mike Schwartz]

A Tatum fan from the first time I heard him.

I own the Pablo solo box set on LP.
When listening to this, I think good advice is to tackle it in limited doses.

As for critcism of Tatum's style, let's not forget that he was blind.

Rather than picking up his hands to reposition them on the keyboard, his lack of sight may be taken into account as a possible necessity that he would run the keyboard, unlike practically anyone else, and thank goodness for that!

[Pete C]

Rather than picking up his hands to reposition them on the keyboard, his lack of sight may be taken into account as a possible necessity that he would run the keyboard, unlike practically anyone else, and thank goodness for that!

Is that something you've read or is it conjecture? There are plenty of blind pianists.

[stereojack]

What I love about Tatum is how quickly his mind works, and how his fingers can pretty much execute anything he thinks up, often dazzling harmonic variations.

[Mike Schwartz]

Is that something you've read or is it conjecture? There are plenty of blind pianists.

Part conjecture...part from discussions/interviews and the like going back decades that I cannot recall sources.

I love Herman Foster and would enjoy seeing him from time to time.
He didn't play like Tatum, but when I saw him it was clear what kinds of personal adjustments he made in order to play the way he did that were part product of being blind.

It made sense to me that similar limtations may have been part of Tatum's pianistic makeup as well.

[walto]

What I love about Tatum is how quickly his mind works, and how his fingers can pretty much execute anything he thinks up, often dazzling harmonic variations.

Exactly.

[S.Eden]

Tatum baffled my mind the first time I heard him and continues to do so to this day. I'm a Dolphy acolyte, don't get me wrong, but I think describing a musician's flow of ideas as "volcanic" should've rightly first applied to Tatum.

The things he did playing the piano have blown me away so many different times. His control of dynamics was amazing, how he could suddenly break a frenetic stride with soft, elegant chords and build back into another mammoth run. When he would switch to doing block chords with his right and lighting fast lines with his left in a solo and back to "normal" without missing a beat. When he would start a run with his right hand and finish it down at the bottom with his left. So many of those things no other piano players would even have a mind to do.

The sides with Grimes and Slam Stewart are amazing, that had to have been one helluva working group. Tatum's best work as a one-off collaborative effort, for me, were in the trio with Hamp and Rich for the Group masterpieces. Tatum and Hamp going at it (with Rich furiously pushing them along) on songs like "Makin' Whoopee", "How High The Moon" and "This Can't Be Love" are some of the greatest battles I've ever heard. I honestly never appreciated just how far ahead of his time Hamp was until I heard those sides.

By the way, does anyone know if Grimes originated that conga-like "popping" against the guitar that Herb Ellis became so famous for in the Oscar Peterson trio?

[Pete C]

[S.Eden]

Those clips are fantastic.

[ran]

Pete , thank you man , those clips are awesome. It never occurs to me to look for that stuff on you tube.

I just got back from having cocktails with a good friend of mine , Herman Jackson , a really good piano player from Detroit. I mentioned this thread to him and he just threw up his hands and said " What can you say about Art Tatum , there's him and then there's the rest of us ".

[Dr Dave]

When I was a kid, "20th Century Piano Genius," which was, if memory serves, a double album recorded live at a private party, was played at our house with some regularity. I don't know how it got into my parents' collection, which was heavy on Glenn Miller, Stan Kenton, and Glen Gray. But it did, and I remember at first his top-speed runs gave me a kind of sonic vertigo; "precipitous" is the word that comes to mind. Kind of amazing to think he was probably loaded the whole time.

[BlueMiles]

I've been able to get all of the Group Masterpieces from my library system. What a wealth of material. There's so much to enjoy--the jamming sextet session, the intiamte trio session, Ben Webster's great ballad sytling, lots of fine work from Lionel Hampton, and on on on. I really love the session with Benny Carter--a musician I have not heard enough. And Buddy DeFranco was virtually an unkonwn to me, but he is fine form here. Perhaps best of all is the quartet session with Roy Eldridge. I have never heard Roy sound so relaxed and soulful.

While Tatum was really considered in his element as a solo player, he is more than worth hearing here. Still, I confess that for now I'm focusing more on the amazing assortment of swing players.