Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. He was noted for the complexity and speed of his performances, which set a new standard for jazz piano virtuosity.
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 dishwasher where Tatum played, just for the experience of hearing Tatum's harmonic inventions.
Tatum identified Fats Waller as his main influence, but according to pianist Teddy Wilson and saxophonist Eddie Barefield, "Art Tatum's favorite jazz piano player was Earl Hines. He used to buy all of Earl's records and would improvise on them. He'd play the record but he'd improvise over what Earl was doing ..... 'course, when you heard Art play you didn't hear nothing of anybody but Art. But he got his ideas from Earl's style of playing – but Earl never knew that."
A major event in his meteoric rise to success was his appearance at a cutting contest in 1933 at Morgan's bar 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. James P. Johnson, reminiscing about Tatum's debut afterward, simply said, "When Tatum played Tea For Two that night I guess that was the first time I ever heard it really played." 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 first around Toledo and Cleveland and then later in New York at the Onyx Club for a few months; he recorded his first four solo sides on the Brunswick label in March, 1933. He returned to Ohio and played around the American midwest - Toledo, Cleveland, Detroit, Saint Louis and Chicago - in the mid-1930s and played on the Fleischman Hour radio program hosted by Rudy Vallee in 1935. He also played stints at the Three Deuces in Chicago and in Los Angeles he played at The Trocadero, the Paramount and the Club Alabam. In 1937 he returned to New York where he appeared at clubs and played on national radio programs. The following year he embarked on the Queen Mary for England where he toured, playing for three months at Ciro's Club owned by bandleader Ambrose. In the late 1930s he returned to play and record in Los Angeles and New York.
In 1941, Tatum recorded two sessions for Decca Records with singer Big Joe Turner, the first of which included "Wee Wee Baby Blues", which attained national popularity. Two years later Tatum won Esquire Magazine's first jazz popularity poll. Perhaps believing there was a limited audience for solo piano, Tatum formed a trio in 1943 with guitarist Tiny Grimes and bassist Slam Stewart, whose perfect pitch enabled him to follow Tatum's excursions. Tatum recorded exclusively with the trio for almost two years, but abandoned the trio format in 1945 and returned to solo piano work. Although Tatum was idolized by many jazz musicians, his popularity faded in the mid to late forties with the advent of bebop - a movement which Tatum did not embrace.
The last two years of his life, Tatum regularly played at Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit, including his final public performance in April 1956. Earlier, Tatum had personally selected and purchased for Clarence Baker the Steinway piano at Baker's, finding it in a New York showroom, and shipping it to Detroit.
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 Vladimir Horowitz and Sergei 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."
Lady
Art Tatum Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's terribly sad but true,
All dressed up, no place to go
Each evening I'm awfully blue.
I must win some handsome guy
Can't go on like this,
I could blossom out I know,
Oh, sweet and lovely lady, be good
Oh, lady, be good to me
I am so awfully misunderstood
So lady, be good to me
Oh, please have some pity
I'm all-alone in this big city
I tell you I'm just a lonesome babe in the wood,
So lady be good to me.
Oh, please have some pity
I'm all alone in this big city
I tell you I'm just a lonesome babe in the wood,
So lady be good to me.
Oh lady be good to me.
The lyrics to Art Tatum's song Oh! Lady Be Good tell a tale of loneliness and yearning for love. The singer is dressed up and ready to go out each night, but has no place to go and is left feeling blue. The lyrics convey a sense of desperation, as if the singer's happiness depends on finding a partner. With lines like "I must win some handsome guy" and "I could blossom out I know, with somebody just like you," the singer is begging for the affection of someone who can make their life complete. The song ends with a plea for pity and a repeated request for the lady to be good to the singer.
The lyrics to "Oh! Lady Be Good" were written by Ira Gershwin and the music was composed by his brother, George Gershwin. It was first performed in the 1924 musical "Lady, Be Good!" and was a hit for many artists, including Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Goodman.
Line by Line Meaning
Listen to my tale of woe,
Please hear me out as I tell you my sad story,
It's terribly sad but true,
As unbelievable as it may seem, my story is true and very sad,
All dressed up, no place to go
I am ready to go out, but I have nowhere to go to,
Each evening I'm awfully blue.
Every night I feel extremely sad and unhappy,
I must win some handsome guy
I need to find a good-looking man who will be attracted to me,
Can't go on like this,
I cannot keep living like this,
I could blossom out I know,
I have the potential to become a better version of myself,
With somebody just like you. So
You seem like the perfect person to be with,
Oh, sweet and lovely lady, be good
Please be kind and caring to me, sweet lady,
Oh, lady, be good to me
Please show me kindness and compassion,
I am so awfully misunderstood
People often fail to understand me and my feelings,
So lady, be good to me
Please treat me well and with understanding,
Oh, please have some pity
Please take pity on me and my situation,
I'm all-alone in this big city
I feel lonely and isolated in this large city,
I tell you I'm just a lonesome babe in the wood,
I am just a lonely person who needs someone to help me out,
So lady be good to me.
Please be my savior in this difficult time.
Oh lady be good to me.
I implore you to be kind and look after me.
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Peter Smernoff
The best jazz pianist of all time---and anyone who calls Tatum's embellishments "gratuitous" simply doesn't understand his unique genius.
Reuben
💯
Pinkie Eldred
There are very good jazz pianist , there are great , there are phenomenal, there are unbelievable, …… then there is Art Tatum
Kostas Tzouve
The God of piano as always.
TGP
It was Cziffra, and the others..
coolawesomeepicman
If I could say anything about how Tatum really was, he was selfish. Never meant to play to anyone and only to himself, he never cared for fame as much as he played the piano and that might crown him the best ever.
Pinkie Eldred
OMG!