Art Tatum

• Born: October 13, 1909
• Birthplace: Toledo, Ohio
• Died: November 5, 1956
• Place of death: Los Angeles, California

American jazz pianist and composer

Although almost completely blind, Tatum was a master of arpeggios and shifting harmonies and rhythms that helped to chart the direction of jazz.

The Life

Art Tatum’s parents had some musical attainments, but not exceptional ones. Tatum had cataracts in his eyes from birth, and several operations did not save his sight. Diseases, including measles at the age of three, may also have contributed to his condition. Tatum studied at the Jefferson School in Toledo, where he learned to read Braille and to play the violin and piano. At age fifteen he enrolled in a school for the blind in Columbus, and around 1925 he spent some time at the Toledo School of Music. His first musical experience was at church, but he did study classical music, and he had one capable piano teacher named Overton Rainey.

Tatum formed a band of his own in 1926, and he worked at nightclubs in Toledo for the next several years. In 1932 and 1933 he was an accompanist, but for most of his career he was a brilliant soloist. He was married twice, and he died in 1956 of uremia, caused by liver failure, at the age of forty-seven.

The Music

Much of Tatum’s early performing was done in clubs in Toledo, Cleveland, New York City, and Chicago. In 1936 he was selected to accompany the great black singer Adelaide Hall, a position that he held for eighteen months. By 1938 he was able to perform in Europe. Although he did play with orchestras and chamber groups, he enjoyed the freedom of being a jazz soloist, and he excelled at it.

Concerts in London. In March of 1938, Tatum traveled to England. He found the experience of playing in clubs fulfilling, since London audiences at Ciro’s and at the Paradise Club listened intently to his music, instead of regarding his playing as background, the way American audiences did. He played such songs as George Gershwin’s “Liza” and Harold Arlen’s “Stormy Weather,” and he performed for the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Humoresque. In a series of recording sessions in February of 1940, Tatum produced some of his best performances, including Peter De Rose’s “Deep Purple,” Clifford Burwell’s “Sweet Lorraine,” Harold Arlen’s “Get Happy,” and Sam Coswell’s “Cocktails for Two.” Tatum also included, from the light classical music which he enjoyed playing, a portion of Antonín Dvořák’s Humoresque (1894). It should be noted that Tatum recorded many of these numbers at other times, but the 1940 recordings are generally regarded as outstanding.

“Willow Weep for Me” and “Aunt Hagar’s Blues.” Tatum made about three hundred recordings, most of the best ones in the 1940’s. In 1949 he made two masterful performances. One was Ann Ronell’s “Willow Weep for Me,” where he subordinated the floridities of his style to a respectful attention to the reiterations of the song. When he came to a double-time section of the song, however, he doubled the double-time. He finished with a chimelike figure. In “Aunt Hagar’s Blues,” he gave each chorus of the song its own character instead of displaying his great array of musical ideas to flow into each. Tatum’s enormous skill and dexterity made restraining his effects an important aspect of his development. In this song, as in “Willow Weep for Me,” Tatum interpolated another number, in this case a W. C. Handy song called “Black Coffee.” This was one of Tatum’s most controversial traits, but here it worked unexpectedly and perfectly.

“Mine” and “Too Marvelous for Words.” These songs were performed at a private recording session at the home of Warner Bros. music director Ray Heindorf in 1950. “Mine” was a Gershwin song that Tatum had never played before and never recorded again. The unanimous opinion of critics is that “Too Marvelous for Words,” composed by Richard Whiting, was his best performance on that occasion. James Lester chose this as the title of his biography of Tatum.

“Someone to Watch Over Me.” Although by 1955 Tatum was suffering from uremia, a disorder of the blood system associated with a severe kidney disease, he went back to Heindorf’s house for another session. He played in succession Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me” and Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood,” which have similar opening phrases. In the first he interpolated Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home” and in the second Foster’s “Old Folks at Home.” The Gershwin song, which is usually played as a tender ballad, was presented stormily, but he changed to a sentimental mood appropriate to Ellington’s song.

Musical Legacy

Tatum’s blindness did not deter him, and he had one prominent physical advantage: large hands that could span a great length of piano keys. Tatum enjoyed his freedom, and he worked outside the standard techniques of stride piano. He limited his interest in ensemble playing, although he did on occasion play successfully with some of the jazz greats. He was often called “God,” for his pianistic talent that seemed beyond ordinary human proportions.

Tatum’s playing was too difficult to encourage much imitation, Oscar Peterson being the most skilled jazz pianist to imitate him. In addition, Tatum was generous in helping young performers. One of the most notable was Teddy Wilson, whom he invited to stand behind him and watch as he played. He would even slow down his usual pace so that Wilson could better follow his movements.

Bibliography

Giddins, Gary. Visions of Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. This book has only a few pages on Tatum, but it includes much information on the Heindorf recordings.

Gioia, Ted. The Imperfect Art: Reflections on Jazz and Modern Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Gioa has one valuable chapter on Tatum.

Green, Benny. The Reluctant Art: Five Studies in the Growth of Jazz. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 1991. This book places Tatum in the development of the jazz idiom.

Lester, James. Too Marvelous for Words: The Life and Genius of Art Tatum. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Although there are many aspects of Tatum’s early life that the author was not able to clarify, this book offers a well-written account of the pianist.

Schuller, Gunther. The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930-1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Schuller illustrates many Tatum passages and discusses Tatum’s relationship to Teddy Wilson.

Principal Recordings

albums:Battle of Jazz, Vol. 2, 1941; Art Tatum Concert, 1949; At Shrine Auditorium, 1949; In Private, 1949; Art Tatum, 1950; Tatum Piano, 1950; Makin’ Whoopee, 1954 (with Benny Carter and Louis Bellson); More of the Greatest Piano of Them All, 1954; Tatum-Carter-Bellson, 1954 (with Carter and Bellson); The Three Giants, 1954 (with Carter and Bellson); The Art Tatum-Roy Eldridge-Alvin Stoller Trio, 1955; The Incomparable Music of Art Tatum, 1955; Quartet, 1955 (with Ben Webster); Still More of the Greatest Piano of Them All, 1955; Art Tatum-Ben Webster Quartet, 1956; The Art Tatum-Buddy DeFranco Quartet, 1956; The Art Tatum Trio, 1956 (with Red Callender and Jo Jones); Presenting the Art Tatum Trio, 1956 (with Callender and Jones).