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."
Tea for Two
Art Tatum Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Darling this place is a lover's oasis where life's weary chase is unknown.
Far from the cry of the city, where flowers pretty caress the streams,
Cozy to hide in, to love side-by-side in. Don't let it abide in my dreams.
Picture you upon my knee, just tea for two and two for tea,
Just me for you and you for me, alone!
Nobody near us, to see us or hear us,
We won't have it known, dear, that we have a telephone, dear.
Day will break and you'll awake and start to bake
A sugar cake for me to take for all the boys to see.
We will raise a family, a boy for you, a girl for me,
Oh, can't you see how happy life would be?
You are revealing a plan so appealing I can't help but falling for you,
Darling, I planned it
Can't you understand it is yours to command it, so do.
All of your schemes I'm admiring, they're worth desiring but can't you see,
I'd like to wait there for some future date dear
It won't be too late, dear, for me.
Picture you upon my knee, just tea for two and two for tea,
Just me for you and you for me, alone!
Nobody near us, to see us or hear us,
No friends or relations on weekend vacations,
We won't have it known, dear, that we have a telephone, dear.
Day will break and you'll awake and start to bake
A sugar cake for me to take for all the boys to see.
We will raise a family, a boy for you, a girl for me,
Oh, can't you see how happy life would be?
The lyrics of "Tea for Two" depict a desire for a simple and intimate life with a loved one. The first verse speaks of the discontentment with rented homes and the desire to create one's own place of comfort. The second verse paints a picture of two people enjoying tea and each other's company in a private setting, away from the hustle and bustle of city life. The desire for privacy is emphasized by the line, "No friends or relations on weekend vacations, we won't have it known, dear, that we have a telephone, dear."
The chorus repeats the idea of just having each other's company, without any interruptions or outside influences. The lines "Nobody near us, to see us or hear us" and "Just me for you and you for me, alone!" emphasize this desire for privacy, which is further emphasized in the third verse. The third verse expresses a desire to wait for the right time to start a family, and to live a simple and happy life together.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm discontented with homes that are rented so I have invented my own.
I am unhappy with living in rentals, so I decided to create my own perfect home.
Darling this place is a lover's oasis where life's weary chase is unknown.
My dear, this home is a peaceful haven for lovers, where the stress of life is unknown.
Far from the cry of the city, where flowers pretty caress the streams,
This home is located away from the noise of the city, where beautiful flowers grow near the streams.
Cozy to hide in, to love side-by-side in. Don't let it abide in my dreams.
It's a cozy place to hide and to love each other without any disturbance. It's not just a dream, make it happen.
Picture you upon my knee, just tea for two and two for tea,
I imagine you sitting on my lap, having a cup of tea for two, just you and me.
Just me for you and you for me, alone!
We are alone, just the two of us. Nobody else to bother.
Nobody near us, to see us or hear us,
There is no one around to see or hear us. It's just the two of us.
No friends or relations on weekend vacations,
We will not have any friends or family members visit us on weekends.
We won't have it known, dear, that we have a telephone, dear.
We will keep our telephone a secret, so that nobody can disturb us.
Day will break and you'll awake and start to bake. A sugar cake for me to take for all the boys to see.
When the day breaks, you will wake up and start baking a sugar cake for me to take to my friends.
We will raise a family, a boy for you, a girl for me, Oh, can't you see how happy life would be?
We will start a family and have a son and a daughter. Can't you imagine how happy our life would be?
You are revealing a plan so appealing I can't help but falling for you,
You are presenting such an attractive plan that I cannot help but fall for you.
Darling, I planned it, Can't you understand it is yours to command it, so do.
My love, I already made this plan for you. Now it's up to you to make it happen.
All of your schemes I'm admiring, they're worth desiring but can't you see,
I admire all of your ideas, and they are desirable, but can't you see.
I'd like to wait there for some future date dear, It won't be too late, dear, for me.
I want to wait for this to happen in the future, and it will not be too late for me.
Lyrics © Budde Music Publishing GmbH, BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Capitol CMG Publishing, Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust Ave, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Irving Caesar, Vincent Youmans
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@andrewbarrett1537
Compare Mr. Tatum's brilliant arrangement here with the COMPOSER Vincent Youmans, playing "Tea for Two" as part of his "No, No Nanette" medley (that was the title of the Broadway show in which this, and many other tunes, were introduced in 1924). Mr. Youmans recorded this for the American Piano Co. in about 1924 for their popular "Ampico" brand reproducing pianos.
We hear it played back on an Ampico in good order (not TOP condition, but playing alright with very noticeable dynamics and close to in tune).
The holes at the far left and right edges of the paper / tracker bar activate the Ampico's automatic expression system, making the bass and treble of the piano louder and softer on command as programmed by the arrangers of the master roll in the factory (which in turn was based closely upon what Mr. Youmans himself played on their recording piano).
I cannot get over how gorgeous and years-ahead-of-their-time the chord voicings are in this 1924 roll... but then again, all the 'hippest' popular, salon, jazz etc pianists of the day were starting to go to these more forward-looking chords and start using them in more advanced ways (i. e. 'catching up' to where classical music had already gone with Brahms, Franck, Faure, Delius etc. etc. although of course his usage is generally much simpler than many of these composers).
Vincent Youmans was supposed to be an 'ear playing' pianist who, at least originally, could only play in one key, Gb major, and not read or write music. If this is true, by the time he made this roll he was certainly able to modulate and play in other keys, and his command of harmony is remarkable for an 'ear player'. I'm not discounting this story, as the 1910s/20s were littered with remarkable 'ear players' who managed to successfully hold down a career in popular music despite not being able to read (although, a great many of them DID eventually learn to read music, by necessity if for no other reason). I liken this to the many great rock guitarists of their day, who could not (or cannot) read or write music, but have an uncanny musical ear and grasp of harmony and musical aesthetics. If he still couldn't read by the time he made this roll (of his own compositions), that is a major accomplishment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUR4mmBbBuQ
@douwemusic
Art Tatum improvised this while blind and Shostakovich apparently orchestrated the tune in 30 minutes as part of a bet. Those two deserve all the tea
@markhughes7927
Douwe Ziel
Yes! They had it together!
@sneddypie
of course shostakovich did that
@ujjwalmishra8962
Art and Shostakovich met ?
@erwinschrodinger2546
Save some of the tea for the composer of the composer of the music, Vincent Youmans. Also, I love the the lyrics, by Irving Caesar. If these two had not composed it for the musical No, No, Nanette! it would not have been available to improvise around or orchestrate on.
@erwinschrodinger2546
Save some of the tea for the composer of the composer of the music, Vincent Youmans. Also, I love the the lyrics, by Irving Caesar. If these two had not composed it for the musical No, No, Nanette! it would not have been available to improvise around or orchestrate on.
@northernbohemianrealist1412
Art Tatum: The best two pianists to ever walk the earth.
@hezekiahdaggett2179
Northern Bohemian Realist lol
@sneddypie
best jazz pianist to ever to ever live, i agree
@mmoedge3465
@The Classical Nerd of Classical What about Bill Evans?