Jazz History Quiz #172

May 21st, 2024

The correct answer is Art Tatum!

photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress

Art Tatum; 1946

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…..Scott Yanow of All Music Guide to Jazz writes that the Toledo, Ohio native Art Tatum “was among the most extraordinary of all jazz musicians, a pianist with wondrous technique who could not only play ridiculously rapid lines with both hands (his 1933 solo version of “Tiger Rag” sounds as if there were three pianists jamming together) but was harmonically 30 years ahead of his time; all pianists have to deal to a certain extent with Tatum’s innovations in order to be taken seriously. Able to play stride, swing, and boogie-woogie with speed and complexity that could only previously be imagined, his quick quick reflexes and boundless imagination kept his improvisations filled with fresh (and sometimes futuristic) ideas that put him way ahead of his contemporaries.”

…..“He spent most of his life as a solo pianist who could always scare the competition. Some observers criticized him for having too much technique, working out and then keeping the same arrangements for particular songs, and for using too many notes, but those minor reservations pale when compared to his reworkings of such tunes as “Yesterdays,” “Begin the Beguine,” and even “Humoresque.” Although he was not a composer, Tatum‘s rearrangements of standards made even warhorses sound like new compositions.”

Watch Tatum’s 1954 appearance on the Spike Jones TV show, performing Jerome Kern/Otto Harbach’s 1933 composition, “Yesterdays”