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."
St. Louis Blues
Art Tatum Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I hate to see that evening sun go down
Cause my baby, he's gone left this town
Feelin' tomorrow like I feel today
If I'm feelin' tomorrow like I feel today
I'll pack my truck and make my give-a-way
Pulls that man around by her, if it wasn't for her and her
That man I love would have gone nowhere, nowhere
I got the St. Louis blues, blues as I can be
That man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea
Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me
I love my baby like a school boy loves his pie
Like a Kentucky colonel loves his mint 'n rye
I love my man till the day I die
The lyrics to Art Tatum's song, St. Louis Blues, paint a picture of heartbreak and loss. The singer starts off by expressing their disappointment at the sun setting and the day ending because it means their lover has left town. Their heart is heavy as they contemplate the future and whether they will still feel this sense of despair tomorrow as they do today. They even consider leaving town themselves if things do not change.
The song takes a turn when the singer introduces the character of a St. Louis woman with a diamond ring. She is controlling and domineering, and is the reason why the man the singer loves has gone away. The singer feels helpless and defeated because they believe their love should have been enough to keep their partner by their side. The chorus of the song repeats the haunting line "I got the St. Louis blues, blues as I can be," emphasizing the depth of the singer's sadness and pain. The song ends with the singer reaffirming their love for their partner, despite the heartbreak they have endured.
Line by Line Meaning
I hate to see that evening sun go down
I feel terrible when the evening sun sets and darkness creeps in
Cause my baby, he's gone left this town
My lover has left me, and nothing is going well
Feelin' tomorrow like I feel today
I'm emotionally drained and feel tomorrow will be the same
I'll pack my truck and make my give-a-way
I'll leave this place and start over again
St. Louis woman with her diamond ring
A wealthy woman from St. Louis with a diamond ring on her finger
Pulls that man around by her, if it wasn't for her and her
The woman is controlling the man's every move and the man can't escape her grasp
That man I love would have gone nowhere, nowhere
I fear my man is lost forever under the influence of this woman
I got the St. Louis blues, blues as I can be
I'm down and out, feeling hopeless and gloomy
That man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea
My lover is cold-hearted and unmoved by my feelings
Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me
If he cared for me, he wouldn't have left me alone like this
I love my baby like a school boy loves his pie
I adore my lover with a pure, innocent passion
Like a Kentucky colonel loves his mint 'n rye
I love him deeply and sincerely, like a Southerner loves his whiskey
I love my man till the day I die
I'll continue to love and cherish my lover until the end of my life
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave
Written by: Handy, John Dankworth
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@jroc2201
I think this the best blues tune ever written, the more you play it, the more you learn
@ronhaynes6465
"God is in the house!"
@titicolet11
fabuleux !!!!
@najponkjazz9111
What can you say about Art? I`ve got this cd from my dear friend Joe Stercl....killer piano playing....wow!!!!
@coolawesomeepicman4513
I just imagine a jug of liquor on the piano with big 3 x’s. Meanwhile he’s just playing aggressively and calmly at the same time
@diplamatikjuan3595
The only pianist who could intimidate Oscar Peterson
@factcheck1149
Dilamatic Juan, I see what you mean, both have very similar kinds of styles in some genres. Only problem is, Art Tatum came before Oscar Peterson. Art Tatum's career was at its end when Oscar Peterson started to shine.
@diplamatikjuan3595
@@factcheck1149 I meant that literally though. I remember one interview where Oscar said he was starting to feel himself as a pianist in his early days and then his father played him a record of Art Tatum and then Oscar felt depressed and wanted to quit because he thought he'd never be THAT good.
@factcheck1149
@@diplamatikjuan3595 I get it! Ha Ha! Art Tatum can be quite intimidating to a budding pianist - but to Peterson, a budding genius, that depression pushed him to rise above Tatum (IMHO). Agreed, Tatum was the trailblazer, and Peterson stood on Tatum's shoulders, so to speak.
@diplamatikjuan3595
@@factcheck1149 Agreed. I heard Oscar Peterson when I was a teenager, but unfortunately my depression didn't end up with me becoming a jazz piano deity like OP :)