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."
Over The Rainbow
Art Tatum Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream,
Really do come true.
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me.
High above the chimney tops,
That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
There's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream,
Really do come true.
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops,
High above the chimney tops,
That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?
The song "Over the Rainbow" is a beautiful piece about a place far away from where the singer is right now, yet he still yearns to go there. Through the lyrics, we are transported to a land beyond the clouds and over the rainbow where the skies never get cloudy, and all dreams come true. The song paints a vivid picture of a utopian world. In the second verse, the singer notes that he will someday wish upon a star and wake up in this magical place where troubles disappear, and everything melts like lemon drops high up above the chimney tops.
"Over the Rainbow" is a song that speaks to the human condition. It resonates with anyone who has ever felt like they wanted to escape from their present state of being. The lyrics of the song remind us that there is always a place out there that we can go to, where everything will be okay. The song has become a symbol of hope and optimism, inspiring many people to look beyond their limitations and strive for a better tomorrow.
Line by Line Meaning
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
There is a place in the sky that is far beyond reach.
There's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby.
I have heard of a magical land that may only exist in dreams.
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
The sky in this magical land is a clear blue color.
And the dreams that you dare to dream,
The dreams that you choose to dream, no matter how impossible, can become a reality.
Really do come true.
You can make your dreams come true in this magical land.
Someday I'll wish upon a star
I will have faith in my dreams and believe that they can come true.
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me.
I will live in a place where troubles and worries do not exist.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops,
A place of peace and serenity where problems disappear like melted lemon drops.
High above the chimney tops,
A place where I can rise above the mundane and ordinary.
That's where you'll find me.
This magical land is where I will be happy and at peace.
Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly
In this magical land, even the birds are free and happy.
Birds fly over the rainbow
The birds are a symbol of freedom and hope that fly over this magical land.
Why then, oh why can't I?
Why can't I be free and happy like the birds in this magical land?
If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow
The fact that the birds are happy and free beyond the rainbow gives me hope and reassurance.
Why, oh why can't I?
Why can't I find that same happiness and freedom in my own life?
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Yip Harburg, Harold Arlen
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Shooshie128
I've had the privilege to work with several of the world's great pianists, and to a person they each have amazing skills outside the piano. Often it's memory, enhanced hearing, and exceedingly rational debating abilities. Exceptional musicians are exceptional human beings. Geniuses.
What concerns me is that so many people are willing to say that Tatum was the one and only greatest when they never met him or heard him play live. It's as if you must be willing to say that he's the only one, or you don't pass the test as a musical listener. That's awfully small. When you've worked around some of the truly greats, you realize there's not so terribly much difference between them, except that some are more well known. Once you've left technical challenges in the rear-view mirror, all that lies ahead of you is what you can pull out of your mind. Your body will render it on the instrument, whatever it is. So the kings among kings are those with unimaginably brilliant musical ideas. It's not about who can "play the best." It's about hearing the musical minds of the greats.
Art Tatum was undeniably one of the kings among kings, and on the short list, at that. If you're lucky enough to know another Art Tatum or two, you realize that it's a big world out there. There is no single giant. This does not diminish Tatum in any way. This amplifies the human species. It's in our genes to be great. Those fortunate enough to get the whole package, and the circumstances that permit it to grow and nurture it to full maturity, are the ones who teach me — a craftsman sometimes mistaken for genius by those who do not know the difference — that there really is such a thing as pure genius, and it's incredible to be in their presence, to hear that genius flowing through their nerve and sinew, and to feel humility without contempt, to know the blinding presence of godlike creation that seeks to enlighten, not to judge. I should hope that each dear listener would come away similarly humbled. Let me put it another way: the more you know, the more earth shattering is the humility.
Forgive the extra length, but a quote from TS Eliot is appropriate:
"... Do not let me hear
Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,
Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,
Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God.
The only wisdom we can hope to acquire
Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless."
You can figure out the rest.
Shooshie128
Addressing many of the comments already posted, I wish to strike some balance into the arguments presented. Art Tatum is definitely one of the most amazing musicians ever to have lived. That is not debatable. Johann Sebastian Bach is also one of the greatest (not debatable), and some would say THE greatest (a serious contender, anyway). Likewise L. van Beethoven was one of the greats, and was perhaps Tatum's equal in improvisation, if you adjust for differences of style. Nobody of his day would dare even attempt to unseat him, for they would be rendered into a pulverized mush by the master. That sounds a lot like what we hear of those who would attempt to play for Art Tatum, who would then take what they did and embarrass them with it.
Those who attempt to compare jazz and classical and find one superior over the other inevitably miss the point. You have to consider the styles of their eras. Bach was old fashioned in his own time, but was such a master that he commanded all-out respect, no matter who you were. Even so, he pointed the way to eventual romanticism and modernism in many of his works, and was probably influenced by his kids to try new things. He improvised an 8 voice fugue, then took it home and worked out the extended collection we now call "The Art of the Fugue." So, yes, classical music — as WRITTEN — is usually more worked out. But classical composers are often known for their improvisatory skills. The general public doesn't usually hear this. There isn't currently an outlet for it, so it's mainly the composer's/performer's friends and family who hear them cutting loose. Trust me, there are some immense talents out there, classical AND jazz, for whom technique has long since been forgotten, and rendering anything on the keyboard presents no problem of any sort. They all blur the lines between composing and performing.
That said, it's a bit of a misnomer to say that musicians are composing in the classical sense when improvising. For example, when Art Tatum played a song, it was first of all a song, known to all, composed by someone else. It was more like he played others' songs in the style of Art Tatum, and that style consisted of many bass lines, riffs and licks that Tatum had worked out over his lifetime. Yes, it was a fabulous vocabulary of such things, and he could modify them at will, but if you listen to 30 songs by Art Tatum, you will hear some of those licks at least 30 times, and some of them you hear many times per song. You can say the same is true for almost any composer; it's what makes one recognizable after just a few phrases. But composers who write with a pen work over a broad variety of styles in an attempt to keep wringing out interesting and unique bits from the 12 notes we have available in Western music, along with the pretty narrow set of rules of modulation and progression — which tend to be the same rules whether the style is jazz, classical, country, rock, or pop. It's easier to make a longer work, more like a novel compared to a short story or poem, unique when you have the time to think about it and the luxury of editing it. Jazz composers would not argue with that, but spontaneous improvisation leads to other kinds of uniqueness having more to do with ways of incorporating one's vocabulary of licks and progressions. Real-time flow of ideas, as it were.
All these performers are operating at the limits of human capabilities. It's easy to tell when one stands out among the rest, for they seem blessed with limitless capabilities, though if you listen to them again and again, you soon realize that even they have limits, repeating themselves often; they've just pushed it to a new level. That's what Bach did. So did Beethoven and Liszt. And the tradition continues with Art Tatum, though one wouldn't stop there. Oscar Peterson, while humble and self-deprecating, is perhaps more inventive and musical than Tatum, BECAUSE he could stand on Tatum's already tall shoulders. And now you've got Hiromi standing atop Liszt AND Tatum, and Peterson and Jarrett, and everyone else who came before her. I'm not saying she's Tatum's equal; just that she has him to draw upon, along with Liszt and others. Music keeps evolving, and as it does, styles get mixed, technique gets advanced, and we continue to be dazzled.
Don't disrespect those who perform works by others, and who do not improvise a solo. They do something remarkable, too. They sightread written music as nobody else can, learning the most difficult works in days or weeks, making musical sense of clusters of notes that appear meaningless to lesser musicians. Without them, you would not know how Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Liszt, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, and others can sound. At some point you really have to specialize. I've heard people who do both the classical repertory and jazz very well, but I've never heard Art Tatum and Art Rubinstein rolled up in the same person. You have to make a choice along the line and say "this is what I'm going to do to the best of my ability." Respect that choice. Don't diss them because they didn't make the choice you might have made if you had their talent. Remember, it's still remarkable talent pushing the limits of human ability.
Enjoy all forms of music, and recognize the outstanding talents of each style. Performing music is extremely competitive — more so than Olympic events — but listening does not have to be. As a listener you can enjoy them all. After a certain level, let's call it the 90th percentile, performers or composers are no longer "better than" or "worse than" their peers; only different. Learn to hear that, and the whole world of music will be wonderful throughout your entire lifetime.
ltravail
This piece is like a panoramic survey of the history of piano playing...from the 19th century European virtuoso tradition up to the latest developments in American jazz up to Tatum's time...and beyond...all fitted so imaginatively and efficiently into the space of 3-minute recording! It is no exaggeration in the slightest to call this piece the greatest solo piano performance ever recorded...in any idiom!
ericandsarahsmom1000
You can hear in Oscar Peterson's playing how heavily influenced he was by this superb pianist, Art Tatum.
Lois Wilcken
My dad was a pianist who never played more than weekend gigs. (Also an auto mechanic.) He always said Tatum is the best. He was right.
Steven Patrick
This man has been over looked by the music world and forgotten. In truth, he was better than most, if not the best. Help spread the word about Art Tatum.
Andrew Asante( Nana Kwasi)
Art Tatum has never been forgotten and never been overlooked by any jazz musician! Check your facts. He's been the best up till date.
ewalltom
Ask anyone who knows jazz piano who's the goat, and they'll say Art Tatum with no hesitation.
Kenneth
Brother Steven..he was a genius
Julien Gaudfroy
Forgetten by whom ? Cardi B fans ? Yeah I wouldn't worry too much about those ones.
Aaron
@Julien Gaudfroy What's a cardi b?
SfrattoEsecutivo
One day Oscar Peterson told Andre' Previn: ... 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. Musically speaking, he was and still is my musical God, and I feel honored to remain one of his humbly devoted disciples.