November 5, 1956(1956-11-05) (aged 47) Los Angeles, California
Genres
Jazz, stride
Occupation(s)
Musician
Instrument(s)
Piano
Years active
Mid-1920s–1956
Labels
Brunswick, Decca, Capitol, Clef, Verve
Musical artist
Arthur Tatum Jr. (/ˈteɪtəm/, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever.[1][2] From early in his career, fellow musicians acclaimed Tatum's technical ability as extraordinary. Tatum also extended jazz piano's vocabulary and boundaries far beyond his initial stride influences, and established new ground through innovative use of reharmonization, voicing, and bitonality.
Tatum grew up in Toledo, Ohio, where he began playing piano professionally and had his own radio program, rebroadcast nationwide, while still in his teens. He left Toledo in 1932 and had residencies as a solo pianist at clubs in major urban centers including New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. In that decade, he settled into a pattern he followed for most of his career – paid performances followed by long after-hours playing, all accompanied by prodigious consumption of alcohol. He was said to be more spontaneous and creative in such venues, and although the drinking did not hinder his playing, it did damage his health.
In the 1940s, Tatum led a commercially successful trio for a short time and began playing in more formal jazz concert settings, including at Norman Granz-produced Jazz at the Philharmonic events. His popularity diminished towards the end of the decade, as he continued to play in his own style, ignoring the rise of bebop. Granz recorded Tatum extensively in solo and small group formats in the mid-1950s, with the last session only two months before Tatum's death from uremia at the age of 47.
^Doerschuk, Robert. 88 – The Giants of Jazz Piano. p. 58. '[...] by consensus, the greatest jazz pianist who ever lived.' When Leonard Feather was compiling his Encyclopedia of Jazz in the mid-1950s, he polled a number of musicians about the players they themselves most admired on their respective instruments. More than two-thirds of the pianists surveyed put Tatum at the top of the list. Gene Lees conducted a similar poll thirty years later, and again Tatum dominated the results.
^Gioia, Ted. "The Dozens: Art Tatum at 100". Jazz.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
Arthur Tatum Jr. (/ˈteɪtəm/, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever. From...
Pianist ArtTatum recorded commercially from 1932 until near his death. He recorded nearly 400 titles, if airchecks and informal, private recordings are...
The Genius of ArtTatum is a 1953-54 series of solo albums by jazz pianist ArtTatum originally issued on LP over 11 volumes. First released on the Clef...
The Lionel Hampton ArtTatum Buddy Rich Trio is a 1955 album by Lionel Hampton, ArtTatum and Buddy Rich for Norman Granz' Clef Records. The album has...
Gillespie and Charlie Parker in the 1940s, as well as Duke Ellington, ArtTatum, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge and Benny Goodman. The tritone substitution...
and Paulinho da Costa. The label also re-released 1950s recordings by ArtTatum, which Granz reacquired, and released unissued European live recordings...
over eight consecutive decades. She performed with major artists such as ArtTatum, Ethel Waters, Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Bill "Bojangles"...
with Bill Douglass, a well-respected jazz drummer with Benny Goodman and ArtTatum, and soon after she acquired a professional drum kit. Carpenter was initially...
Wynton Kelly, Secondhandsongs.com. There Will Never Be Another You by ArtTatum, Secondhandsongs.com. There'll Never Be Another You by Donald Byrd, Hank...
director for the Ink Spots. Beginning in 1949, he worked with pianist ArtTatum until Tatum died in 1956. During the 1950s and 1960s, he was a member of the...
pianist". Erroll Garner said, "When you talk about greatness, you talk about ArtTatum and Earl Hines". Count Basie said that Hines was "the greatest piano player...
elegant, and virtuosic. His style was highly influenced by Earl Hines and ArtTatum. His work was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in...
Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, and Nat King Cole, and pianists, such as ArtTatum, Bill Evans and Peruchín. "Tenderly" was first recorded by Brazilian singer...
Gillespie, Jascha Heifetz, Lena Horne, Leontyne Price, Bessie Smith, ArtTatum, Sarah Vaughan 1990 Nat King Cole, Miles Davis, Vladimir Horowitz, Paul...
Gene Norman Presents an ArtTatum Concert is a solo piano album by ArtTatum. It was recorded in concert in 1949 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles...
Archived from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014. "Tatum and Goodman". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. May 29, 1952. p. 36. England, Jim...
drums" to describe Taylor's style. He has been referred to as being "like ArtTatum with contemporary-classical leanings". Cecil Percival Taylor was born...
Dizzy Gillespie Jascha Heifetz Lena Horne Leontyne Price Bessie Smith ArtTatum Sarah Vaughan 1990 Nat King Cole Miles Davis Vladimir Horowitz Paul McCartney...
hand. After one of ArtTatum's performances at Birdland in 1950, Powell told the pianist that he had made mistakes, to which Tatum responded that Powell...
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