The Great Musical Genius of the 20th Century

Art Tatum was born in Toledo, Ohio, United States on the 13th of October 1909 to Mildred Hoskins and Arthur Tatum, Sr. Tatum. Art Tatum grew up in a musical family where his father played the guitar and his mother, the piano. As a child, he suffered from cataracts which left him blind in one eye, with reduced vision in his other eye, leaving him legally blind. Despite being blind in one eye and only partially sighted in the other he became arguably the greatest jazz piano player who ever lived.

As a three-year-old, he began picking out hymns and tunes he heard on the radio easily with his perfect pitch, on the family piano. Although he had some formal training at the Toledo School of Music, he was largely self-taught. His teacher recognized his talents and tried steering him towards a career as a classical concert pianist but Tatum was more interested in the music of Fats Waller, which would strongly influence his own music. In 1932, singer Adelaide Hall heard Tatum play piano and brought him to New York as her accompanist. One year later he made his first recordings, among which was the blazingly fast and dextrous “Tiger Rag”. This piece featuring breakneck tempos, rippling left-hand and right-hand cascades, and crashing bass notes, had every pianist in the country amazed by Tatum’s virtuosity. Although Tatum recorded commercially from 1932 until near his death, the predominantly solo nature of his playing meant that recording opportunities were somewhat intermittent. Tatum’s musical style consists of stride elements, use of pentatonic scales, independent (often contrasting) use of right and left hands, complex harmonic substitutions and loose vs. strict pulse.

Unfortunately, Art Tatum passed away in Los Angeles, California from the complications of uraemia (as a result of kidney failure), having indulged in excessive beer drinking since his teenage years. With his passing, Tatum would have a great influence on later jazz pianists, such as Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Lennie Tristano, Chick Corea, and especially the notable jazz virtuoso Oscar Peterson. Transcriptions of Tatum are popular and are often practiced but because his playing was so difficult to copy, only a handful of musicians—such as Oscar Peterson have attempted to seriously emulate or challenge Tatum. Some of Tatum’s jazz scores like Tea For Two have made it into the hands of classical concert pianists like Yuja Wang. Tatum also influenced players of other instruments. Tenor great Coleman Hawkins was impressed by the fast lines of Tatum’s piano playing and reportedly used it as an incentive to further develop his own virtuosity. Alto saxophone player Charlie Parker, the initiator of bebop, was also influenced by Tatum. Nearly seventy years after his death, Art Tatum remains the model for unparalleled virtuosity and prowess on the piano.

Listen to some Art Tatum recordings below:

Sources cited:

(1) https://www.britannica.com/biography/Art-Tatum

(2) https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Art_Tatum

(3) https://legacy.npr.org/programs/jazzprofiles/archive/tatum.html

(4) https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/art-tatum

(5) https://www.sunsigns.org/famousbirthdays/d/profile/art-tatum

(6)https://www.radioswissjazz.ch/en/music-database/musician/36506436eab7cbaca449f5f64c3b931096693/biography