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Art Tatum

Music Interviews

Art Tatum: A Talent Never to Be Duplicated

Fifty years ago Sunday, the jazz musician Art Tatum died. He's among the piano geniuses of all time, in any genre. People who heard him for the first time on a record often thought they were listening to two piano players. Yet his legacy is often overlooked.

Art Tatum: A Talent Never to Be Duplicated

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Review

Basic Jazz Record Library

Art Tatum: 'The Chronological Art Tatum: 1949'

With some of the fastest reflexes in the history of jazz piano, Art Tatum deftly mastered stride, swing, and boogie woogie. Although nearly blind, Tatum had a knack for playing out-of-tune keyboards with sticky notes. On The Chronological Art Tatum: 1949, Tatum was at the apex of his career.

Art Tatum: 'The Chronological Art Tatum: 1949'

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Stride Piano: Bottom-End Jazz

Fats Waller seemed to pack 10 lifetimes of fun into his 39 years on the planet. Evening Standard/Hulton Archive hide caption

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Evening Standard/Hulton Archive

Take Five: By Instrument

Stride Piano: Bottom-End Jazz

Jazz24

Born out of Harlem in the 1920s, stride pianists took the basic left-hand "oompah" rhythm of ragtime, but played it with more swing and complexity, while the right hand played the melody and the ever-increasing improvisations upon it. Read and hear a five-song introduction to a style that travels great distances up and down the keyboard.

Jazz Centennials: Legends At 100

Lester Young gave Billie Holiday her nickname: "Lady Day." William P. Gottlieb/Library of Congress via flickr.com hide caption

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William P. Gottlieb/Library of Congress via flickr.com

Take Five: A Jazz Sampler

Jazz Centennials: Legends At 100

WBGO

Jazz has no shortage of celebrated masters. Every year brings an abundance of new milestones for record labels to celebrate. With that in mind, we present songs by six American jazz musicians who would have become centenarians in 2009, including Lester Young.

Art Tatum, 'The Musician's Musician'

Art Tatum. Columbia Pictures/Handout/Getty Images hide caption

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Columbia Pictures/Handout/Getty Images

NPR's 'Jazz Profiles'

Art Tatum, 'The Musician's Musician'

Count Basie called him "The 8th Wonder of the World" and the clarity and speed of his playing has never been matched.

Art Tatum, 'The Musician's Musician'

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