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Art Tatum
51,992 listeners (480,703 plays)
jazz, piano, jazz piano, swing, instrumental
Arthur Tatum, Jr. (1909-10-13 – 1956-11-05) was a famous American jazz pianist known for his virtuosic playing and creative improvisation.
Tatum drew inspiration from his contemporaries James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, and had a great influence on other famous jazz pianists, such as Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Chick Corea, and Oscar Peterson. Saxophonist Charlie Parker took his first job in New York as a diswasher where Tatum played, just for the experience of hearing Tatum’s harmonic inventions.
Tatum was widely recognized among his colleagues as the most gifted jazz pianist alive, some going so far as to say he was one of the greatest pianists of any genre. Such classical luminaries as Horowitz and Rachmaninov greatly admired his technique. Unusually for a jazz musician, Tatum rarely abandoned the original melodic lines of the songs he played, preferring innovative reharmonization (changing the chord progressions that supported the melodies). He also had a penchant for filling spaces within melodies with his trademark runs and other embellishments, which some critics considered gratuitous and “unjazzlike.”
Tatum was legally blind, although he had limited vision in one eye.
Tatum drew inspiration from his contemporaries James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, and had a great influence on other famous jazz pianists, such as Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Chick Corea, and Oscar Peterson. Saxophonist Charlie Parker took his first job in New York as a diswasher where Tatum played, just for the experience of hearing Tatum’s harmonic inventions.
Tatum was widely recognized among his colleagues as the most gifted jazz pianist alive, some going so far as to say he was one of the greatest pianists of any genre. Such classical luminaries as Horowitz and Rachmaninov greatly admired his technique. Unusually for a jazz musician, Tatum rarely abandoned the original melodic lines of the songs he played, preferring innovative reharmonization (changing the chord progressions that supported the melodies). He also had a penchant for filling spaces within melodies with his trademark runs and other embellishments, which some critics considered gratuitous and “unjazzlike.”
Tatum was legally blind, although he had limited vision in one eye.
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Top Tracks
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Moonglow
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Tiger Rag
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Tea for Two
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Sweet Lorraine
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Willow Weep for Me
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Humoresque
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Someone to Watch Over Me
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Body And Soul
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St. Louis Blues
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Sophisticated Lady
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Lullaby of the Leaves
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Begin The Beguine
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Gone With the Wind
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September Song
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Aunt Hagar's Blues
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Top Albums
Shoutbox
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Dardan-H wrote:
'Elegy' is undescribable, what a virtuosity
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avivamagnolia wrote:
Art Tatum is an icon - and was an iconic jazz pianist, one of the giants of jazz piano. His playing was prebop, and only presaged bebop, yet it was innovative, virtuosic, full of reharmonizations and sweeping cadenzas. Some felt his playing was overbearingly ornate; others liked the baroque quality of Tatum's piano just fine, calling him the god of piano and other honorifics. ~Aviva Gabriel
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avivamagnolia wrote:
The Tatum? What's The Tatum, you ask? // Well, it has a little something to do with Tatum's technical dexterity on the piano keys. Read this: // 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. // Source: Tristan Jehan, Creating Music by Listening, Chapter 3: Music
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SYL2Oh wrote:
An exceptional virtuosity announces new aesthetic postwar.
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Hengine wrote:
Clearly a man possessed of skills decidedly uncommon yet instantly appreciable. Been listening to a lot of Monk recently; then I scrobble one Art Tatum track via my recommendations and now I'm sitting here thinking.... YEAH!
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8m2stereo wrote:
.. he was one of conlon nancarrows influences, if you like this be sure to explore his dazzeling journeys for mechanical player pianos ..
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SYL2Oh wrote:
Bird Dishwashing and learns music listening Art Tatum playing the piano at the restaurant. I tried to do the same thing in my kitchen but nothing, I still have no rhythm :-(
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GotrekNephythys wrote:
Insane!!
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VonHermanz wrote:
This man is a genius.
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DanielHenry wrote:
Dude's out of his mind ;_;
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greenwatch wrote:
love it!
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dbk_blix wrote:
˘˘ yes, i started listening him active for few days.. he's great..
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Eglantinetje wrote:
He's such a good pianist! Glad I discovered him!
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Parisblues wrote:
what's the true story ? so I declare : francis carter made I'm in the mood for love with me not art tatum (from Joe Turner : the pianists in my life by Johnny Simmen)
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Soapywater wrote:
his videos on youtube are heaps cool
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GameMasterLV wrote:
What John Coltrane was for sax and Miles Davis for trumpet, Tatum is for jazz piano.
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Peronthious wrote:
In the words of the late Frank Zappa - Jazz is not dead; it just smells funny.
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TeaAndOranges wrote:
I agree. It's an incredible shame more people don't listen to Jazz. It's the roots of much of the music that is being listened to today, and yet it's not given much of a chance -- at least in my social circles.
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25dollars wrote:
oh shut up. jazz shoutboxes ARE underrated. i left horace silver's first shout thing. and thats a terrible shame
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Ramez05 wrote:
and your a fag
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Recent Activity
- andygibb tagged Art Tatum with ‘jazz’. yesterday morning
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- Ainurel tagged Art Tatum with ‘tumultenoir’. last month
Groups (15)
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Jazz Brasil
352 members
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Jazz Piano
1,267 members
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Blue Note Records
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Swing
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CCCP
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