Art Tatum, Forgotten Genius of the Piano
Smells Like: Art Tatum, Jazz, MusicArt Tatum was born a century ago last month and remains the most admired jazz pianist who ever lived. Tatum’s virtuoso technique left his colleagues speechless. As Fats Waller said, “When that man turns on the powerhouse, don’t no one play him down.” Even the classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz so loved Tatum’s playing that he made his own arrangement of one of Tatum’s specialties, Tea for Two. Yet outside of his home town of Toledo, Ohio, the centennial of his birth on Oct. 13 went virtually unnoticed and unremarked upon. Today reverence of his talent is universal among jazz pianists, yet he is essentially unknown to musical audiences.
Below is a rare 1954 TV performance of “Yesterdays” by Jerome Kern.
By Tom Fasano on November 27, 2009 – 10:06 pm
Posted in Music | No Comments »
Subscribe in a reader
Follow me on Twitter