Art Tatum
Arthur Tatum Jr. (October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956), universally known as Art Tatum, was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso. He was nearly blind.
Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time.[1] Critic Scott Yanow wrote, "Tatum's quick reflexes and boundless imagination kept his improvisations filled with fresh (and sometimes futuristic) ideas that put him way ahead of his contemporaries ... Art Tatum's recordings still have the ability to scare modern pianists." [2]
Biography
For a musician of such stature, there is very little published information available about Tatum's life. Only one full-length biography of Tatum has been published, Too Marvelous for Words, by James Lester.[3] Lester interviewed many Tatum contemporaries for the book and drew from many articles published about Tatum.[4]
[edit] Early life
Tatum was born in Toledo, Ohio. His father, Arthur Tatum, Sr., was a guitarist and an elder at Grace Presbyterian Church, where his mother played piano.[5] He had two siblings, Karl and Arlene.[6] From infancy he suffered from cataracts of disputed cause which left him blind in one eye and with only very limited vision in the other. A number of surgeries improved his eye condition to a degree but some of the benefits were reversed when he was assaulted in 1930 at age 20.[7]
A child prodigy with perfect pitch, Tatum learned to play by ear, picking out church hymns by the age of three, learning tunes from the radio and copying piano-roll recordings his mother owned.[8] He developed an incredibly fast playing style, without losing accuracy. As a child he was also very sensitive to the piano's intonation and insisted it be tuned often.[9]
In 1925, Tatum moved to the Columbus School for the Blind, where he studied music and learned braille. Subsequently he studied piano with Overton G. Rainey at either the Jefferson School or the Toledo School of Music. Rainey, who was black and visually impaired, likely taught Tatum in the classical tradition, as Rainey did not improvise and discouraged his students from playing jazz.[10] In 1927, Tatum began playing on Toledo radio station WSPD as 'Arthur Tatum, Toledo's Blind Pianist', during interludes in Ellen Kay's shopping chat program and soon had his own program.[11] By the age of 19, Tatum was playing with singer Jon Hendricks, also an Ohioan, at the local Waiters' and Bellmens' Club.[12] As word of Tatum spread, national performers, including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Joe Turner and Fletcher Henderson, passing through Toledo would make it a point to drop in to hear the piano phenom.
Tatum drew inspiration from his contemporaries James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, who exemplified the stride piano style, and from the more 'modern' Earl Hines,[13] six years Tatum's senior. A major event in his meteoric rise to success was his appearance at a cutting contest in 1933 in New York City that included Waller, Johnson and Willie "The Lion" Smith. Standard contest pieces included Johnson's "Harlem Strut" and "Carolina Shout" and Fats Waller's "Handful of Keys." Tatum triumphed with his arrangements of "Tea for Two" and "Tiger Rag", in a performance that was considered to be the last word in stride piano.[14] Tatum's debut was historic because he outplayed the elite competition and heralded the demise of the stride era. He was not challenged further until stride specialist Donald Lambert initiated a half-serious rivalry with him.
Tatum worked in New York at the Onyx Club for a few months and recorded his first four solo sides on the Brunswick label in March, 1933.[6] He returned to Ohio and played around the midwest in the mid-1930s and in 1937 returned to New York where he appeared at clubs and played on national radio programs.[12] The following year he toured England[15], playing for three months at Ciro's Club owned by bandleader Ambrose and in the late 1930s he played in Los Angeles and New York.
Tatum built upon stride and classical piano influences to develop a novel and unique piano style. He introduced a strong, swinging pulse to jazz piano, highlighted with spectacular cadenzas that swept across the entire keyboard. His interpretations of popular songs were exuberant, sophisticated, grandiose and intricate. He sometimes improvised lines that presaged bebop and later jazz genres but generally he did not venture far from the original melodic lines of songs. Jazz soloing in the 1930s had not yet evolved into the free-ranging extended improvisations that flowered in the bebop era of the 1940s and 50's and beyond. But Tatum embellished those melodic lines with an array of signature devices and runs that appeared throughout his repertoire, sometimes too 'repetitiously' in the view of some. As he matured, Tatum became more adventurous in abandoning the melodies and elongating those improvisations. Although Tatum influenced the bebop movement, he did not embrace the bebop style, nor did he fraternize a great deal with its proponents.
Tatum was an innovator in reharmonizing melodies by changing the supporting chord progressions or by altering the root movements of a tune so as to more effectively apply familiar harmonies. Many of his harmonic concepts and larger chord voicings (e.g., 13th chords with various flat or sharp intervals) were well ahead of their time in the 1930s (except for their partial emergence in popular songs of the jazz age) and they would be explored by bebop-era musicians a decade later. He worked some of the upper extensions of chords into his lines, a practice which was further developed by Bud Powell and Charlie Parker, which in turn was an influence on the development of 'modern jazz'. Tatum also pioneered the use of dissonance in jazz piano, as can be heard, for example, on his recording of "Aunt Hagar's Blues",[16] which uses extensive dissonance to achieve a bluesy effect. In addition to using major and minor seconds, dissonance was inherent in the complex chords that Tatum frequently used.
Tatum could also play the blues with authority,[17] but his repertoire was predominantly Broadway and popular standards, whose chord progressions and variety better suited his talents. His approach was prolix, pyrotechnic, dramatic and joyous. His protean style combined stride, jazz, swing, boogie-woogie and classical elements, while the musical ideas flowed in rapid-fire fashion. He was playful, spontaneous and often inserted quotes from other songs into his improvisations.[18] Tatum was not inclined toward understatement or expansive use of space. He seldom played in a simplified way, preferring interpretations that displayed his great technique and clever harmonizations. A handful of critics have complained that Tatum played too many notes or was too ornamental[19] or was even 'unjazzlike'.
From the foundation of stride, Tatum made great leaps forward in technique and harmony and he honed a groundbreaking improvisational style that extended the limits of what was possible in jazz piano. His innovations were to greatly influence later jazz pianists, such as Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson, Billy Taylor, Bill Evans and Chick Corea. One of Tatum's innovations was his extensive use of the pentatonic scale, which may have inspired later pianists to further mine its possibilities as a device for soloing. Herbie Hancock described Tatum's unique tone as "majestic" and devoted some time to unlocking this sound and to noting Tatum's harmonic arsenal.[20]
The sounds that Tatum produced with the piano were also distinctive. It was said that he could make a bad piano sound good. Generally playing at mezzoforte volume, he employed the entire keyboard from deep bass tones to sonorous mid-register chords to sparkling upper register runs. He used the sustain pedal sparingly so that each note was clearly articulated and chords were cleanly sounded. Tatum's harmonic invention produced tonal colors that identified his musical palette. He played with boundless energy and occasionally his speedy and precise delivery produced an almost mechanical effect not unlike the sound of a player piano.
[edit] Technique
Critic Gunther Schuller declared "On one point there is universal agreement: Tatum's awesome technique."[21] That technique was marked by a calm physical demeanor and efficiency. He did not indulge in theatrical physical or facial expression.[22] The effortless gliding of his hands over difficult passages puzzled most who witnessed the phenomenon. He especially mystified other pianists to whom Tatum appeared to be "playing the impossible."[23] Even when playing scintillating runs at astounding velocity, it appeared that his fingers hardly moved. Using self-taught fingering, including an array of two-fingered runs, he executed the pyrotechnics with superb accuracy and timing. His execution was all the more remarkable considering that he drank prodigious amounts of alcohol when performing,[24] yet his recordings are never sloppy. Tatum also displayed supreme independence of the hands and ambidexterity while improvising counterpoint with a command unparalleled in jazz piano. Ira Gitler declared that Tatum's "left hand was the equal of his right." [25] Around 1950 when Bud Powell was opening for Tatum at Birdland (jazz club), Powell reportedly said to Tatum: "Man, I'm going to really show you about tempo and playing fast. Anytime you're ready." Tatum laughed and replied: "Look, you come in here tomorrow, and anything you do with your right hand, I'll do with my left." Powell never took up the challenge.[26]
Tatum played chords with a relatively flat-fingered technique compared to the curvature taught in classical training.[27] Jimmy Rowles said "Most of the stuff he played was clear over my head. There was too much going on — both hands were impossible to believe. You couldn't pick out what he was doing because his fingers were so smooth and soft, and the way he did it — it was like camouflage."[28] When his fastest tracks of "Tiger Rag" are slowed down, they still reveal a coherent, syncopated rhythm.
[edit] After Hours
After regular club dates, Tatum would decamp to after-hours clubs to hang out with other musicians who would play for each other. Biographer James Lester notes that Tatum enjoyed listening to other pianists and preferred to play last when several pianists played. He frequently played for hours on end into the dawn, to the detriment of his marriages.[24] Tatum was said to be more spontaneous and creative in those free-form nocturnal sessions than in his scheduled performances.[24] Evidence of this can be found in the recording entitled "20th Century Piano Genius" which consists of 40 tunes recorded at private parties at the home of Hollywood music director Ray Heindorf in 1950 and 1955. According to the review by Marc Greilsamer, "All of the trademark Tatum elements are here: the grand melodic flourishes, the harmonic magic tricks, the flirtations with various tempos and musical styles. But what also emerges is Tatum's effervescence, his joy, and his humor. He seems to celebrate and mock these timeless melodies all at once."[29]
[edit] Group Work
Tatum tended to work and to record unaccompanied, partly because relatively few musicians could keep pace with his lightning-fast tempos and advanced harmonic vocabulary. Other musicians expressed amazed bewilderment at performing with Tatum. Drummer Jo Jones, who recorded a 1956 trio session with Tatum and bassist Red Callendar is quoted as quipping, "I didn't even play on that session [...] all I did was listen. I mean, what could I add? [...] I felt like setting my damn drums on fire."[30] Buddy DeFranco said that playing with Tatum was "like chasing a train."[25] Tatum said of himself: "A band hampers me."[31]
Tatum did not readily adapt or defer to other musicians in ensemble settings. Early in his career he was required to restrain himself when he worked as accompanist for vocalist Adelaide Hall in 1932-33. Perhaps because Tatum believed there was a limited audience for solo piano, he formed a trio in 1943 with guitarist Tiny Grimes and bassist Slam Stewart, whose perfect pitch enabled him to follow Tatum's excursions. He later recorded with other musicians, including a notable session with the 1944 Esquire Jazz All-Stars, which included Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and other jazz greats, at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. He also recorded memorable group sessions for Norman Granz in the early 1950s.
[edit] Repertoire
Tatum's repertoire consisted mainly of music from the Great American Songbook -- Tin Pan Alley, Broadway and other popular music of the 20's, 30's and 40's. He played his own arrangements of a few classical piano pieces as well, most famously Dvořák's Humoresque no. 7. Although Tatum was not a composer, his versions of popular numbers were so original as to border on composition.
[edit] Emulators
Mainstream jazz piano has gone in a different direction than that pioneered by Tatum. Nevertheless, transcriptions of Tatum are popular and are often practiced assiduously.[32] But perhaps because his playing was so difficult to copy, only a handful of musicians — such as Oscar Peterson, Johnny Costa, Johnny Guarnieri, Adam Makowicz, Luther G. Williams, Steven Mayer and Christopher Jordan — have attempted to seriously emulate or challenge Tatum. Although Bud Powell was of the bebop movement, his prolific and exciting style showed Tatum influence. Phineas Newborn's playing, such as his recording of "Willow Weep For Me", is closely modeled on Tatum.
[edit] Recordings
Tatum recorded commercially from 1932 until near his death. Although recording opportunities were somewhat intermittent for most of his career due to his solo style, he left copious recordings.[33] He recorded for Decca (1934–41), Capitol (1949, 1952) and for the labels associated with Norman Granz (1953–56). Tatum demonstrated remarkable memory when he recorded 68 solo tracks for Norman Granz in two days, all but three of the tracks in one take. He also recorded a series of group recordings for Granz with, among others, Ben Webster, Jo Jones, Buddy DeFranco, Benny Carter, Harry Sweets Edison , Roy Eldridge and Lionel Hampton.
Although only a small amount of film showing Tatum playing exists today, several minutes of professionally-shot archival footage can be found in Martin Scorsese's documentary The Blues. Tatum appeared in the 1947 movie The Fabulous Dorseys, first playing a solo and then accompanying Dorsey's band in an impromptu song.
Tatum appeared on Steve Allen's Tonight Show in the early 1950s, and on other television shows from this era. Unfortunately, all of the kinescopes of the Allen shows, which were stored in a warehouse along with other now defunct shows, were thrown into a local rubbish dump to make room for new studios. However, the soundtracks were recorded off-air by Tatum enthusiasts at the time, and many are included in Storyville Records extensive series of rare Tatum recordings.
Tatum is portrayed briefly (by actor Johnny O'Neill) in Ray, a 2004 biopic about R&B artist Ray Charles. When Charles enters a nightclub he remarks "Are my ears deceiving me or is that Art Tatum?" O'Neill captures Tatum's cool and collected presence at the keyboard.
Art Tatum died at Queen of Angels Medical Center in Los Angeles, California from the complications of uremia (as a result of kidney failure). He was originally interred at Angelus Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles, but was moved to the Great Mausoleum of Glendale's Forest Lawn Cemetery in 1991. He was survived by his wife, Geraldine Tatum.
[edit] Legacy and tributes
Tatum posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989.
Numerous stories exist about other musicians' respect for Tatum. Perhaps the most famous is the story that Tatum walked into a club where Fats Waller was playing, Waller stepped away from the piano bench to make way for Tatum, announcing, "I only play the piano, but tonight God is in the house."[34] Fats Waller's son confirmed the statement. [35]
Charlie Parker (who helped develop bebop) was highly influenced by Tatum. When newly arrived in New York, Parker briefly worked as a dishwasher in a Manhattan restaurant where Tatum was performing and often listened to the legendary pianist. Parker once said “I wish I could play like Tatum’s right hand!”
When Oscar Peterson was still a young boy, his father played him a recording of Art Tatum performing "Tiger Rag". Once the young Peterson was finally persuaded that it was performed by a single person, Peterson was so intimidated that he did not touch the piano for weeks.[36] Interviewing Oscar Peterson in 1962, Les Tompkins asked "Is there one musician you regard as the greatest?" Peterson replied "I’m an Art Tatum–ite. If you speak of pianists, the most complete pianist that we have known and possibly will know, from what I’ve heard to date, is Art Tatum."[37] "Musically speaking, he was and is my musical God, and I feel honored to remain one of his humbly devoted disciples."[38]
"Here's something new .... " pianist Hank Jones remembers thinking when he first heard Art Tatum on radio in 1935, " .... they have devised this trick to make people believe that one man is playing the piano, when I know at least three people are playing."[39]
The jazz pianist and educator Kenny Barron commented that "I have every record [Tatum] ever made — and I try never to listen to them … If I did, I'd throw up my hands and give up!"[40] Jean Cocteau dubbed Tatum "a crazed Chopin." Count Basie called him the eighth wonder of the world. Dave Brubeck observed, "I don't think there's any more chance of another Tatum turning up than another Mozart."[41]
Dizzy Gillespie said "First you speak of Art Tatum, then take a long deep breath, and you speak of the other pianists."[42]
The elegant pianist Teddy Wilson observed, "Maybe this will explain Art Tatum. If you put a piano in a room, just a bare piano. Then you get all the finest jazz pianists in the world and let them play in the presence of Art Tatum. Then let Art Tatum play ... everyone there will sound like an amateur."[42]
Other luminaries of the day including Vladimir Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein, Leopold Godowsky and George Gershwin marveled at Tatum's genius.[24]
Classical composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff said "he has better technique than any other living pianist, and may be the greatest ever."[citation needed]
Jazz critic Leonard Feather has called Tatum "the greatest soloist in jazz history, regardless of instrument."[42]
In 1993, an MIT student invented a term that is now in common usage in the field of computational musicology: The Tatum. It means "the smallest perceptual time unit in music."[43]
The Toledo Jazz Society presents an annual event dedicated to Tatum entitled the Art Tatum Jazz Heritage Festival.[44]
Zenph Studios, a software company focused on precisely understanding how musicians perform, recorded a new album of Tatum’s playing with Sony Masterworks in 2007. They created re-performances of Tatum’s first four commercial tracks, from March 21, 1933, and the nine tracks from the April 2, 1949 live concert at L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium. Sony recorded these anew in the same venue, in front of a live audience. These 13 tracks are on the album, “Piano Starts Here: Live from The Shrine,” which was recorded in high-resolution surround-sound and in binaural, as well as regular stereo. The binaural recording, when heard in headphones, let you hear what Tatum may have heard as he played on stage, with the piano spatially in front (bass on the left, treble on the right) and the live audience clearly downstage on the righthand side.[45] Zenph’s re-performances have been performed live in numerous venues, including the Toronto Jazz Festival [46] and New York’s Apollo Theater. Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson requested a live presentation, which he heard in an emotional re-performance in his home in March 2007.
Tatum's work was used and referenced heavily in the WB TV series Everwood (2002-2006), with some actual sound recordings used and compositions being performed in concerts by Ephram Brown (portrayed by Gregory Smith) in select episodes. James Earl Jones' character Will Cleveland introduced these works to young Ephram, who was an aspiring pianist, in the second season episode "Three Miners From Everwood".
For his 2008 album “Act Your Age,” Gordon Goodwin wrote a new big band arrangement to accompany Zenph’s re-performance of “Yesterdays,” and the track was recognized with a Grammy Nomination for Best Instrumental Arrangement.[47]
Discography
- Footnotes to Jazz, Vol. 2: Jazz Rehearsal, II- Art Tatum Trio, Folkways Records, 1952
- Makin' Whoopee, Verve, 1954
- The Greatest Piano Hits of Them All, Verve, 1954
- Genius Of Keyboard 1954–56, Giants Of Jazz
- Still More of the Greatest Piano Hits of Them All, Verve, 1955
- More of the Greatest Piano Hits of All Time, Verve, 1955
- The Art Tatum-Ben Webster Quartet, Verve, 1956, reissued as The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Volume Eight, Pablo, 1975
- The Essential Art Tatum, Verve, 1956
- Masterpieces, Leonard Feather Series MCA2-4019, MCA, 1973
- God is in the House , Onyx, 1973 [re-released on High Note, 1998]
- Piano Starts Here, Columbia, 1987
- The Complete Capitol Recordings, Vol. 1, Capitol, 1989
- The Complete Capitol Recordings, Vol. 2, Capitol, 1989
- Solos 1940, Decca/MCA, 1989
- The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Vol. 6, Pablo, 1990
- The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Vol. 7, Pablo, 1990
- The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Vol. 4, Pablo, 1990
- The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Vol. 2, Pablo, 1990
- The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Vol. 3, Pablo, 1990
- The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Vol. 1, Pablo, 1990
- Art Tatum at His Piano, Vol. 1, Crescendo, 1990
- The Complete Pablo Group Masterpieces, Pablo, 1990
- Classic Early Solos (1934–37), Decca Records, 1991
- The Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces, Pablo, 1991
- The Best of Art Tatum, Pablo, 1992
- Standards, Black Lion, 1992
- The V-Discs, Black Lion, 1992
- The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces, Vol. 1, Pablo, 1992
- The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces, Vol. 3, Pablo, 1992
- The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces, Vol. 4, Pablo, 1992
- The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces, Vol. 5, Pablo, 1992
- The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces, Vol. 6, Pablo, 1992
- The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces, Vol. 7, Pablo, 1992
- The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces, Vol. 8, Pablo, 1992
- I Got Rhythm: Art Tatum, Vol. 3 (1935–44), Decca Records, 1993
- Fine Art & Dandy, Drive Archive, 1994
- The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces, Vol. 2, Pablo, 1994
- Marvelous Art, Star Line Records, 1994
- House Party, Star Line Records, 1994
- Masters of Jazz, Vol. 8, Storyville (Denmark), 1994
- California Melodies, Memphis Archives, 1994
- 1934–40, Jazz Chronological Classics, 1994
- 1932–44 (3 CD Box Set), Jazz Chronological Classics, 1995
- The Rococo Piano of Art Tatum, Pearl Flapper, 1995
- I Know That You Know, Jazz Club Records, 1995
- Piano Solo Private Sessions October 1952, New York, Musidisc (France), 1995
- The Art of Tatum, ASV Living Era, 1995
- Trio Days, Le Jazz, 1995
- 1933–44, Best of Jazz (France), 1995
- 1940–44, Jazz Chronological Classics, 1995
- Vol. 16-Masterpieces, Jazz Archives Masterpieces, 1996
- 20th Century Piano Genius (20th Century/Verve, 1996
- Body & Soul,Jazz Hour (Netherlands), 1996
- Solos (1937) and Classic Piano, Forlane, 1996
- Complete Capitol Recordings, Blue Note, 1997
- Memories Of You (3 CD Set) Black Lion, 1997
- On The Sunny Side Topaz Jazz, 1997
- 1944, Giants Of Jazz, 1998
- Standard Sessions (2 CD Set), Music & Arts, 1996 & 2002/Storyville 1999
- Art Tatum - Ben Webster: The Album (Essential Jazz Classics) 2009
THE DOZENS: ART TATUM AT 100 by Ted Gioia
Art Tatum would be celebrating his 100th birthday this week. His death at age 47 back in 1956 is now a distant event, and only a small and shrinking number of fans are still around to testify what it was like to hear this prepossessing artist in person. Yet for all the talk of progress and modernity, Tatum hardly sounds old-fashioned nowadays, and much of his keyboard vocabulary remains unassimilated by today’s crop of players. I am not just talking about Tatum’s much-vaunted technical command of the piano. His way of working the changes was almost as difficult to imitate as those top-to-bottom piano runs at breakneck speed, and you could listen to a thousand jazz bands and not hear a single one that can replicate his magnificent way of slicing and dicing the progressions.
Critics have often complained about Tatum’s baroque sensibility. But pianists have usually jumped to his defense. When Leonard Feather was compiling his Encyclopedia of Jazz in the mid-1950s, he polled a number of musicians about the players they themselves most admired on their respective instruments. More than two-thirds of the pianists surveyed put Tatum at the top of the list. Gene Lees conducted a similar poll thirty years later, and again Tatum dominated the results.
I’m not sure whether this artist is still widely heard by jazz fans today—the old scratchy pre-high-fidelity recordings may not satisfy the aural fixations of the new millennium. But I am certain that the keyboardists are still paying close attention. After all, no one has yet stepped forward to take Tatum’s place, and in any imaginary cutting contest the smart money must inevitably back the fellow from Toledo who, even with a century under his belt, looks pretty formidable against all comers.
Art Tatum: Sophisticated Lady (1933)
CD
Piano Starts Here (Columbia 501655)
Buy Track Musicians:
Art Tatum (piano).
Composed by Duke Ellington, Irving Mills & Mitchell Parish
.
Recorded: New York, March 21, 1933
Only five weeks after Duke Ellington recorded his version of this now popular standard, Art Tatum features it at the session that produced his debut solo 78s. Tatum is clearly attracted by the four-chords-to-a-bar hook that Ellington employs in the second and fourth measures of the main theme. Tatum adds further ornamentation to this part of the song—but it's like too much frosting on the cake. Tatum's technique is (as always) impressive, and even three-quarters of a century later remains the benchmark against which all jazz keyboard virtuosos are measured. But the master's music is sometimes haunted by a mechanical quality—like a player piano on steroids—and this early performance has more flash than flesh. Not enough sophistication to this lady for our taste. Tatum's later recording of this same composition as part of Norman Granz's Solo Masterpieces project is more nuanced, and a far superior performance. Even so, one needs to bow to an artist who is playing with this much confidence and dexterity at his debut leader date.
Reviewer: Ted Gioia
Art Tatum: Sweet Georgia Brown
CD
God is in the House (High Note HCD 7030)
Buy Track Musicians:
Art Tatum (piano),
Ebenezer Paul (bass), Frankie Newon (trumpet)
.
Composed by Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard & Kenneth Casey
.
Recorded: Live at Monroe's Uptown House, New York, September 16, 1941
Jerry Newman was a student at Columbia University with a passion for jazz and—even more important!—a portable disk-cutting recording machine that he brought to some of the most exciting jazz events of the early 1940s. His archive of amateur recordings is a treasure trove of historically important material, but his documentation of pianist Art Tatum's work in casual after hours sessions is a revelation. André Hodeir and other critics have accused this pianist of playing elaborate set pieces rather than improvising, and true many of Tatum's recordings reveal the rote delivery of set arrangements. Yet the artist captured here is a different one entirely. After hearing this music for the first time, New Yorker critic Whitney Balliett concluded that there must have been "two Tatums": "one was the virtuoso who moved with consummate ease through a world owned and run by whites, and the other was the secret genius who went uptown after his regular hours and played unbelievable music for his own pleasure in black clubs for black audiences."
Balliett thought that Tatum might have been parodying the beboppers in the opening passages of "Sweet Georgia Brown," yet it is just as likely that Tatum was simply showing that he knew more tricks than the new cats on the scene. Based on the amused laughter from the audience, I assume that some bop player had been playing the piano shortly before Tatum took over the keys. But even more ear-shattering is a passage at the 2:10 mark that can be only described as a taste of Free Jazz, circa 1941. Trumpeter Frankie Newton tries vainly to follow Tatum's solo, but Art doesn't make it easy. He throws out substitute harmonies from another dimension, sometimes four to a bar, and even reprises his avant-garde bag in the background. There is plenty more here worth hearing—indeed, a whole alternative piano vocabulary that you won't encounter on the better known Norman Granz recordings of this artist. At more than seven minutes, "Sweet Georgia Brown" ranks as one of Tatum's longest recorded performances, but it still seems all too brief.
Reviewer: Ted Gioia
Art Tatum: Élégie
CD
Decca Presents Art Tatum: Solos (1940) (Decca-MCA 42327)
Buy Track Musicians:
Art Tatum (piano).
Composed by Jules Massenet
.
Recorded: Los Angeles, February 22, 1940
This was the side of Tatum that drove his critics mad. Instead of trying to raise jazz composition to the next level, he was out there "ragging the classics" like the old stride players. And not even the serious classics. The numbers he favored, such as "Élégie" and "Humoresque," are more often played by clumsy piano students than real concert hall artists. But Tatum snubbed his nose at the highbrows, adding flourish after flourish in his grandiloquent reworkings of middlebrow parlor favorites.
Respect "Élégie" you must, however, since no one has ever topped this way of one-upping the virtuoso tradition of the classical world from an outside perspective. Tatum at age thirty was a monster at the keys, and his dynamics, tone control, and clarity of execution are little short of stunning here. The performance itself may be more a game than a serious attempt to grapple with the potential of jazz, yet even games have their masters and moments of profundity. If you want to understand Tatum, you need to sample this side of his multifaceted musical persona.
Reviewer: Ted Gioia
Art Tatum & Ben Webster: My Ideal
CD
The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Vol. 8 (Pablo 2405431)
Buy Track Recorded: Los Angeles, CA, Sept. 11, 1956
Many superlatives have been lavished on the so-called "Tatum Group Masterpieces"—Norman Granz's mid-1950s recordings of the pianist in a range of jazz combos featuring many of the leading players of the Swing Era. Yet much of this work strikes me as the musical equivalent of an abattoir tour. Too many of these guest artists decide that they will match Tatum's speed and technique with their own best virtuoso devices, and the result is all too predictable. Not only can the pianist play faster and wilder, but he often refuses to wait for his own solo to prove it. His comping takes over the performance, leaving the rest of the band rattled and the listener dismayed. Tatum may walk away with the bloody victory, but at the expense of group chemistry and cohesion.
But Ben Webster knew how to deal with this situation. He refuses to play Tatum's game, but sets his own ground rules from the start. The pianist takes the opening melody statement, but when Webster enters he plays the melody again, and his rendition is gorgeous, full of the whispering and lingering tones that were the tenorist's calling cards. His solo is more of the same, and gets deep inside the inner meaning of the song—the lyrics are a bittersweet pledge of love to an imagined ideal partner who may never appear, or might possibly be waiting around the corner. I was so moved when I first heard this recording, years ago, that I learned the words and music of the song and added it to my repertoire.
Tatum came to every session with plenty of ammunition, but Webster has effectively disarmed him. The saxophonist has established a level of emotional honesty that forces the pianist into a completely different frame of mind. Strange to say, Art Tatum comes across more introspective and subdued here than on any of the other group sessions, and reveals aspects of his own musical personality that rarely surfaced on record. His comping stays in the background—never a given with this artist—and when it's time for his own improv, Tatum plays with a light swing that seems almost Nat-King-Cole-ish. This is not a characteristic performance by the pianist, but it is, nonetheless, one of his finest.
Reviewer: Ted Gioia
The Esquire All Stars: I Got Rhythm
CD
Esquire All Stars: At the Met, Volume 2 (Arpeggio Jazz)
Buy Track Recorded: Metropolitan Opera House, New York, January 18, 1944
The time was January 1944, and the first bebop band (led by Dizzy Gillespie) had just been hired on 52nd Street. Meanwhile the masters of the old school were assembled at the Metropolitan Opera House, blissfully ignorant of the cataclysmic changes that would transform the jazz world over the next several years.
But let's forget the coming revolution for a moment, and instead enjoy the world that was about to end. The greatest soloists of early 20th-century jazz are assembled on a single stage, and engage in some gentlemanly one-upmanship on the most familiar jam session chord changes of the day, courtesy of George Gershwin. Everybody has a chance to shine, but I especially like Eldridge (who seems inspired by his chance to go toe-to-toe with Louis Armstrong), the drumming of Sid Catlett, who energizes the whole proceedings, and the lead-off soloist on the track, the underappreciated Red Norvo. And what a delight hearing Art Tatum, pulled out of the solo and trio settings where he could run roughshod over his accompanists and forced to adjust to a roomful of talents—and egos—as large as his own. If I could bring back one rhythm section from the era for a command fantasy performance, it might very well be this Tatum-Catlett-Pettiford unit.
I am reminded here of the claims of ardent medievalists, who will tell you that the waning of the Middle Ages was a time in which many great things came to fruition, and that the Renaissance spoiled much of the beauty of what went before. You could make a similar case for this final flowering of Swing Era majesty, put on display at this historic concert. Soon these same players would be considered passé, but you would never guess it by listening to this performance, which represents a type of perfection that bop and free and all the other later styles can never dispel. They got rhythm.
Reviewer: Ted Gioia
Art Tatum: Someone to Watch Over Me
CD
The Complete Capitol Recordings of Art Tatum (Capitol 7243 8 21325 2 3)
Buy Track Musicians:
Art Tatum (piano).
Composed by George & Ira Gershwin .
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Recorded: Los Angeles, July 13 & 25, 1949
It's hard for me to pick between this studio version of the Gershwin standard and the live recording Tatum made of the same song a few weeks earlier at the Shrine Auditorium. The bottom line: both are dramatic, pull-out-all-the-stops performances. Just shy of his 40th birthday, this pianist was playing as well as at any stage in his career. His speed and clarity are the benchmarks by which future jazz keyboard virtuosos will be measured. The opening rubato intro is so crammed full of pyrotechnics that you can hardly imagine what Tatum will do to top it. But at the 1-minute mark he settles into a medium tempo Harlem stride that looks back to his own musical roots and shows that, in the Age of Bop, you could still top the youngsters with some old-school pianism. No wonder that the composer of this song, George Gershwin himself, counted himself among Tatum's admirers.
Reviewer: Ted Gioia
Art Tatum: Willow Weep for Me (live 1949)
Track
Willow Weep for Me (live 1949)
CD
Piano Starts Here (Columbia 501655)
Buy Track Musicians:
Art Tatum (piano).
Composed by Ann Ronell
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Recorded: Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, April 2, 1949
Erroll Garner and Art Tatum at Birdland, 1952
Photo by Marcel Fleiss
Tatum's April 2, 1949 live recording at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles is a must-have CD for fans of jazz piano. He plays at top form, and seems invigorated by the move from smoky jazz clubs to the concert hall setting. "Willow Weep for Me" was one of his favorite songs -- at least a half-dozen recordings of Tatum playing it survive from the late 1940s and 1950s -- but he never delivered a better version than in this setting. Every last detail is perfect, from the rich harmonies of his classic intro, through the racecourse stride, all the way to the dramatic conclusion. Tatum owns this song, and any pianist who wants to tackle a solo version must operate in the expansive willow tree shadow of this memorable performance.
Reviewer: Ted Gioia
Art Tatum & Roy Eldridge: Night and Day
CD
The Tatum Group Masterpieces Vol. 2 (Pablo 2045-425)
Buy Track Recorded: Los Angeles, March 29, 1955
Art Tatum had performed with Roy Eldridge back in 1944 at a famous concert by the Esquire All-Stars, but their paths rarely crossed afterwards until Norman Granz brought them into the studio a decade later as part of the producer's "Group Masters" project. The idea of matching Tatum with top-notch horn players sounded fine in theory, but with some exceptions, found the pianist playing over rather than with his colleagues. Yet his outing on "Night and Day" with trumpeter Roy Eldridge coheres better than one might expect. Eldridge was no stranger to battles on the bandstand, but here he focuses on sheer swing rather than try to match Tatum note-for-note. Simmons and Stoller are energized by his presence, and create a more supple pulse than one usually finds on the Granz-Tatum projects. The pianist is hardly chastened by this change of affairs, and continues to throw out his baroque runs and elaborate reconfigurations, but even he is infused with the groove. This may not quite match the impromptu give-and-take that Tatum achieved after hours in casual jams, but it comes closer than most of his studio sessions to capturing that ambiance.
Reviewer: Ted Gioia
Art Tatum: Have You Met Miss Jones?
CD
Solo Masterpieces, Vol. 1 (Pablo PACD-2405-432-2)
Buy Track Musicians:
Art Tatum (piano).
Composed by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart
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Recorded: Recorded between 1953 and 1955
Has Art Tatum met Miss Jones? By the end of this five-minute track, Art has taken her uptown, downtown, out back, and round the block twice. He can even tell you if she has any sisters at home, and describe that birthmark behind her knee. Yes, he knows Miss Jones, and relates every detail in this keyboard jaunt. Here are all the Tatum trademarks: the effortless stride, the rapid-fire runs played with machine-like clarity, the modulations into the stratosphere and back, the "Look, Ma, three hands!" pyrotechnics. All well and good. But, after this, there isn't much left of Miss Jones for the next pianist.
Reviewer: Ted Gioia
Art Tatum: I Cover the Waterfront
CD
The Complete Capitol Recordings of Art Tatum (Capitol 7243 8 21325 2 3)
Buy Track Musicians:
Art Tatum (piano).
Composed by Johnny Green & Edward Heyman
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Recorded: Los Angeles, July 13 & 25, 1949
Art Tatum covers the whole keyboard, as well as the waterfront, on this bravura ballad. The late 1940s were a fertile period for Tatum. He was at the peak of his abilities and had a seemingly endless variety of piano tricks up his sleeves. He follows his usual formula here, playing the opening chorus out of tempo, then slipping into a steady stride at the midpoint of his journey. But even if his approach is tried and true, the song never gets boring when Tatum is running the show. I especially like the harmonic games he plays here, with passing chords and substitute changes to beat the band. Well, there was no band to beat, since the band beat it when they saw Tatum walk into the studio. But Tatum alone is band enough for me any day.
Reviewer: Ted Gioia
Art Tatum: Sophisticated Lady (Solo Masterpieces version)
CD
Solo Masterpieces, Vol. 1 (Pablo PACD-2405-432-2)
Buy Track Musicians:
Art Tatum (piano).
Composed by Duke Ellington, Irving Mills & Mitchell Parish
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Recorded: Recorded between 1953 and 1955
Art Tatum recorded this same piece at his first commercial session back in 1933, but this updated performance shows how much he had matured during the intervening two decades. No he doesn't play any faster than he did back in the Great Depression -- he was already at the Einsteinian limits of keyboard speed from his first appearance on the scene. But his rhythmic approach on the later version is much freer, and his harmonic inventions even more inspired. He starts with an out-of-tempo melody statement, but soon is pulling out all his patented tricks -- two-handed acrobatics, heavy stride, bluesy asides, dipsy-doodle runs, and those thick chords that sound like twelve or thirteen fingers are spread out on the keyboard. A very sophisticated lady.
Reviewer: Ted Gioia
Art Tatum (performance recreated by Zenph Studios): I Know That You Know
CD
Piano Starts Here: Live at the Shrine (Sony Classical)
Buy Track Musicians:
Art Tatum (piano),
Performance recreates Tatum’s live recording made on April 2, 1949 in this same location with Zenph Studio’s “re-performance” technology
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Composed by Otto Harbach, Anne Caldwell O’Dea and Vincent Youmans
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Recorded: Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, September 23, 2007
Fats Waller once famously introduced Art Tatum with these oft-quoted words: "I just play the piano, but God is in the house tonight." Well, this performance concocted by the tech wizards at Zenph Studios must qualify as the artificial intelligence equivalent of God. Richard Dawkins will be happy about that, but jazz fans have even more reason to celebrate. This recording takes Tatum's brilliant 1949 concert at Shrine Auditorium, with its murky sound quality, and recreates it with Zenph's proprietary and controversial technology in a crystal-clear modern digital version.
Purists have carped about this (don't they always?), but I find it hard to understand how any jazz lover can listen to this music and not be exhilarated. I have cherished the original Tatum performance since my high school years, but now I can hear nuances and aspects of this familiar track that were lost until now. "I Know That You Know" is impressive even by Tatum's high standards. This must be one of the fastest solo piano outings in the history of jazz, and there are points where the pulse reaches a defibrillator-charged 400 beats per minute. Even the uninitiated will be awestruck by the dexterity required, but I am just as impressed by the harmonic movement in the half-time section, and the odd displacement of the left-hand accents in the opening melody statement. This is Tatum the trickster at his trickiest, and anyone who is blasé about Zenph's miracle-making or the music presented here gets sent off for six months hard labor at Czerny and Hanon before they are allowed a second listen.
Reviewer: Ted Gioia
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