Art Tatum; G.O.A.T in definition

Art Tatum Jr was an American jazz pianist who was widely known for his musical prowess. His technical ability was second to none. It's easy to see why, on YouTube. His versions of the then, modern songs, are still played to date. Take for instance Tea for Two that has been done by fellow greats including Yuja Wang quite recently.

Tatum, was born on October 13th 1909 to Mildren Hoskins and Arthur Tatum Sr. In a town called Toledo in Ohio. His parents had jobs as a domestic worker and mechanic respectively in the early 1900s. Tatum had sight issues at birth, he was short sighted. His eye sight deteriorated later in life also due an assault in his youthful years. Tatum would begin to play music in church and had a great appreciation for tone, so he insisted that the piano be tuned often.

Tatum drew a lot of inspiration from Fats Waller, James P Johnson, Earl Hines who were great pianists at the time. Tatum got a gig at a Toledo radio station WSPD. Tatum would play on radio then later play at the clubs for hours mostly overnight.

All visiting musicians wanted to see Tatum play when they were in Ohio Toledo area. Word got out fast about his unmatched skills. Adelaide Hall who was a vocalist, heard Tatum play and recruited him to go to New York the centre for performing music and arts in the USA. While there he did recordings and wanted to play at Morgans bar in Harlem where the who is who in Jazz were. Fats Waller happened to be there when he played his arrangement of Tea for two. needless to say a new friendship was birthed.

In 1933, Tatum was 24 and got a son with Marnett Jackson. The young boy was called Orlando, He went on to join the military. Around that time, the US stocks fell and in 1929 The wall street stock markets crashed due to several factors, this was a time known as the great depression. This probably almost felt like 2020 during the covid pandemic. Many people lost their incomes and many families felt the impact all over the world. However, at this time Tatum was occupied playing in Cleveland, NewYork and making recordings that seemed to excite the already depressed nation. Life was good for the pianist. He would enjoy free beers and drinks at the venues he played and this gave him a diabetes issue. He wouldnt quit since his music and lifestyle was dear to him. In the coming years he travelled across America to an excited audience. He travelled mostly by train due to his fears of travelling by air.

Tatum was a success. making between $300 to $750 a week, which has an equivalent purchasing value of about $5,079 to $12,699 today.

Art Tatum was able to use dissonances and consonances particularly well in his playing. He borrowed the rag time stride technique and as well as various techniques to come up with his own virtuous style of playing. He could us Bitonality in his music (2 keys at the same time) By 1938 he had the most extreme jazz interpretations of the time. His influences span to Debussy and Ravel. He incorporated flat sevenths, ninths, thirteens, tenths, and more. His runs would run a whole 8 bars/measures long. with vast rhythmic accessories on his left without distorting the melody. Pianist Keith Jarret criticized Tatum for having played too many notes.Clarinetist Buddy de Franco said keeping up with Tatum was like chasing a train. Tatum did not have any theatrical movement and was a relatively calm pianist. Almost effortless even in the difficult passages. He was so good he would pull up stuck keys mid performance without loosing a beat.

He helped younger generations extensively explore new chord structures and styles. He as well made bebop famous in the 1940s. It is said he made Bobby Short, Oscar Peterson and others question their playing abilities.

Art Tatum inspired both Classical and Jazz pianists. Rachmaninoff once said, "we'd be in trouble if this man decided to play classical music."