Rachmaninoff said that if Art Tatum ever decides to play "serious" music then we're all in trouble. Best insult/compliment from one of the greatest pianists ever lol
I heard Art Tatum for the first time in Philadelphia, PA at a lounge. Tatum had bad eyesight and had someone take him to the piano. What a talent. Two weeks later he passed. Much later I met a Jazz pianist and spoke about Tatum. He got so excited. He said he was a Pianist's pianist. That after a gig all the musicians used to hang out in a place in, I think in the Village in New York and all would get up to play and then would wait for Tatum to play. He had a lot of Tatum's recordings he recorded himself. Ah, those were the days. Miss them. Was glad to find this channel.
Everyone who listens to Tatum immediately realizes that his technique is beyond the bounds of what would normally be considered human limits. And even poor resolution videos make it obvious that his technique appears effortless and feather-light. Both hands were equally agile and completely independent of each other. But his incredible technique and espressiveness was not for me the most amazing aspect of his musicianship. Tatum had the ability to play a standard piece so that it sounded like he had previously set down and for days carefully composed that standard song into something like a concerto or symphony - an introduction, beginning statement, and then movements with motifs and sub-themes worked in to the overall structure. Finally, the ending and resolution that combines everything he previously played and ties everything up into a neat package. His mind worked differently than any other pianist. It worked in a way that allowed him to construct a piece of carefully composed "classical music" from any standard piece and do so as he played it. The only other pianist I have heard that even comes close was Oscar Peterson. But even he admits that he was no Art Tatum. Sometimes people will express how much they like a particular musician by saying that they could listen to that musician for hours on end. Usually, it is just an exprression and not a statement of literal truth. Not so for me and Art Tatum. I have actually listened to Art Tatum piano solo recordings for uninterupted hours. I very much doubt that there will ever be another on piano quite like him. I am grateful that we had at least had one Art Tatum.
Art Tatum was so good that in a recording he did with Buddy Rich, Buddy just sat back and kept time, which he NEVER did. Buddy was almost always the best musician in the group, and needed to lead, to add embellishments and make sure he was swinging the band. But with Art in the band, he could actually relax and just be the time keeper. I don't know of any other time that happened.
He's an amazing improviser and his technique is hardly matched by any pianist. But to say he improvised complex large scale classical forms like a symphony or a sonata is not accurate. He's an improviser, not a composer (though I'm not saying he couldn't have composed such music if he tried).
I took lessons from a master jazz pianist for a little while (a guy who took lessons from Lennie Tristano), and he never liked Tatum or Peterson--once he said something about there being "too much going on". I am slightly inclined to believe there was a shred of jealously that affected his opinion.
Well, not to bash him or anything, but Art Tatum's style was much more suited for piano-lead groups, and on recordings where he played behind a horn, he did have trouble leaving enough space.
Well, perhaps Tatum was just trying to avoid being bored by only doing traditional two/one hand comping. Not that comping should bore you, but perhaps it did him...
I think a lot of people think of blazing runs as failed melodic passages but really I see them as creating a texture or being atmospheric. Listen to any great "Shredder" and you will notice the best use it more as a roundabout harmonic device often mixed with more melodic phrases.
A genius who moves us to tears. a man who broke the boundaries of the simple harmonies of his time and completely reoriented jazz music. And that as a blind autodidact. A genius
It so disrespectful from you to call this talented, or even worse, a gift from a god pffffffff, have you seen his hands? hours and hours of practice going on, all because of his merit, not such a thing as a gift.
Watching videos of Art Tatum always make me marvel at how effortless and relaxed his playing is. It looks almost easy for him. Between 28 and 33 seconds, watch (in the reflection) how independently his left thumb moves while his hand is totally still. He just glides his hands smoothly across the keyboard while he plays runs at ridiculous speeds. He could probably keep a coin balanced on the back of his hand while some of those fast runs. I love this.
It took me a whole life to hear that sound from Tatum and I can quite say I’m close distinguishing it from the most important finding in jazz piano that can never be replicated no matter how much the human brain has evolved today ! Classifying it as a. Mystery of piano mastery ! Cold case
He goes on expressive tangents and has technical wizardry but I really love how he hits you with that hard groove all of the sudden, right in the pocket the song. Truly the most fluent pianist I’ve ever heard.
Unbelievably, the number of people who are unable to see the clear mastery. They cannot give a single example of another player who even comes close. Unfortunately, due to brutal racism, there is little to no footage showing Tatum's full virtuosity. Tatum and Oscar Peterson are the best!
A very common technique, actually. It's not that hard to do compared to the many other techniques Art Tatum showcased in this playing. It's only an alternation between the thumb and index in the left hand. You hear it often in 3/4 meter time music.
TLuka Puka here's always some know it all dipshit who says "'it's easy" probably without actually being able to do it himself in the same manner. Fuck you and get lost.
the key is not to be so enamored by the physical technique as to miss out on the musical sensitivity. just playing insanely fast is worthless, this man had perfect pitch, insane rhythmic timing, and an endless imagination.
Complete harmonic mastery as well! At 1:30 he plays a crazy chord, building on the dissonance of the preceding voicings. It's like an split second he hesitates and picks the most outside chord he can find, it basically a tritone of the V chord in the progression but the voicing he uses is like a tritone 7 stacked on a V7. It's like the furthest chord he can play from the home key, and he chooses this is a millisecond. That's true genius.
Dude is amazing and he was half blind plus he key strokes are so quick on the bass keys its craziness!!! I love playing piano. Gotta get better with my left hand though.
Tatum is the source. All pianists should spend some time studying, absorbing and enjoying his pure mastery. His hands were so relaxed when he played, no wasted movement. If you watch the video with the sound turned off it looks like he is barely playing. With the sound back on your jaw drops. SO much to learn from Mr. Art Tatum.
Praise The Almighty for having given us this genius. RIP Art. PS a word of advice to those alive : lay off of any form of alcohol and y'all and yr liver live longer.
I am a classical and Jazz pianist and honestly i have to say that Tatum is simply incredible in many ways. The control , the harmony , the runs , the steady swinging beat , the indipendencd of his hands, the row speed . If you trancribe and analise him you really realise how great he was, under the microscope. Is like when you transcribe Bill Evans . Tatum is quality , if he like Peterson exagerates with tons of notes when you analyse them you see that at that incredible speed everythink make sense . When he plays stride with tenth is simply incredible is the best ever ,only Oscar Peterson came close. And when he plays ballads he plays with feelings . He is not a virtuoso without heart. The king of solo piano . Quality feelings Technique advanced sophisticated tasty chords for that period. Maybe a bit too much . He had to show what he could do often too much. But he was the greatest ever. As a classical pianist too i can sau that merely only technically he was simply one of the greatest.That is impressive for anyone while very few undestand the contents and the complexity of his playing.
Art Tatum used to literally intimidate pianists. Many pianists attempted to copy him; others questioned their own skills after encountering him, and some even switched instruments in response to hearing him play. He was *that* good at playing the piano.
Ya think! Lol. Reminds me of the British guitarists reactions to Hendrix the first time they saw him play. Tatum probably made a LOT of talented pianists quit. Lol
DAMN........the comments in these Tatum posts are disheartening. Jazz pianists with no appreciation of the intricacies of INTERPRETING Classical music and Classical pianists with little understanding how to pull off these improvisational miracles. Why compare? Why not sit back and enjoy the idiom we are listening to in all its mastery devoid of comparison?
Listen to him rip and watch his hands how in control he is - in classical that is called playing with a quiet hand - it is the mark of a true master of his or her instrument.
Alvaro Munoz-joy not necessarily, the blind pianist Derek Paravicini plays extremely difficult stoccato pieces and improvs completely taking away the notion of tracing the keys to find your next note. its like a sixth sense of their instrument
Ya its insane to see, ive only seen it live once or twice in my life. Buckethead has the same control on the guitar, live it looks like his hand is staying still but he is actually playing the fastest and most complex chromatic scales possible.
What an achievement! Tatum absolutely rocks through this song with consummate virtuosity, yes, but with a sly, wry, brilliant sense of its melodic, lyrical, and harmonic possibilities as well, which he brings to fruition. And it is such a pleasure to watch him not seeing but feeling the keyboard as surely as if he were seeing the keyboard. In a word, awesome! Thanks to you, whoever posted this!
When I say literally stunned the first time I heard him… I started crying it was so good. It hit spots in my head that I could never imagine playing. The imagination this man had was not of this Earth. Exceeds legendary.
GREAT - Thank You for this. Just as a footnote, Stanley Dance's biography states, "According to the pianist Teddy Wilson and the saxophonist Eddie Barefield, "Art Tatum's favorite jazz piano player was Earl Hines. He [Tatum] used to buy all of Earl's records and would improvise on them. He'd play the record but he'd improvise over what Earl was doing ... course, when you heard Art play you didn't hear nothing of anybody but Art. But he got his ideas from Earl's style of playing - but Earl never knew that". I'd say go see the Earl Hines docu here on UA-cam if you haven't seen - and heard! - it. Completely amazing.
This is the first time I've listened to Art Tatum after hearing that he was Hiromi's idol, and OMG WOW 🤩🤩🤩 1) I can absolutely hear it, and 2) Oh, how I love this! And this was made in the early 1900s???
Completely amazing as always. If you go to the Toledo public library (he's from Toledo) they've got the best collection of Art Tatum books, recordings, pictures, etc. My brother lives there. Thanks for posting.
I've got this one bookmarked... everytime, I feel like "What is possible on the piano? How long may the road be, until I find the limits of this instrument?", I watch this video and see: there are no limits to this wonderful thing... Tatum showed, what a piano and furthermore what we players may be capable of. As Sri Patthaba Jois used to say "Practice, practice, practice, and all will come" - thank you a lot, Mr. Tatum.
I have listened to most of Art Tatum's recordings and believe that he was the most highly evolved and intelligent human being ever to walk the planet earth -- ahead of Einstein, Goethe, Kant, Michelangelo, DaVinci, Galileo, Newton and Edison. Nobody has ever come close to playing the piano or any other instrument like Tatum. Even the greatest classical players like V. Horowitz were humbled before Tatum. Today's jazz greats like Keith Jarrett are wonderful, but do not compare to Tatum for his combination of artful complexity, lightning quick inventiveness, stunning velocity, virtuoso technique ... I could go on. Most listeners are quickly overcome by the avalanche of ideas that pours out of him. The Wikipedia article on Wiki tries to dumb him down with boring recitations of the commonplace aspects of his life, and falls far far short of recognizing his greatness!
And you want to believe that this clip is one of this old black and white sped up vids... And them u click on another tatum vid...and then another... And you finally accept it... "it's actually him playing...with that speed... And flawless accuracy... And dynamics... And feeling... and pulling all this off while looking like he's thinking about what he's eating after the show..." 😔 and he was doing this almost 100 years ago
I was looking at memorium videos as I am obsessed with dates of when famous people die and the Art Tatum entry pop up for 1956. They way his playing is described made me come here to see him in action. Nothing prepared me for this. Truly astounding musician.
There's no word... I watch, listen, and learn every time I see and hear this. Too bad there's not more footage of Tatum's unbelievable pianistic skills...
He was and remains the greatest pianist who has ever lived, and that includes ALL, classical as well as jazz. This is not only my opinion but that of great Jazz pianists, Harold Mabern for one.
Alle Achtung! So zu spielen grenzt an ein Wunder. Danke für diese wundervolle Musik und Leben SIE wohl. Jeder der etwas von Musik versteht, weiß welchen großartigen Beitrag SIE geleistet haben. Danke Wir alle werden SIE als den besten Pianisten in Erinnerung behalten. Danke
One of the most amazing things about Art Tatum was that in spite of his tremendous talent, he was so humble. Someone to remind us that we can never be truly "proud" of ourselves, no matter how good we are.
i agree Kolef. this i the first performance i ever watched on youtube about 2 years ago. it made me a youtube junkie. i started listening to tatum 11 years ago and pretty much had given up on ever SEEING him. still can't comprehend it.
Rubinstein: "Shhhh! I am listening to the world's greatest piano player."Rachmaninoff: "If this man ever decides to play serious music we're all in trouble.""Maestro Horowitz, who's the world best pianist?" Horowitz: "Art Tatum."
***** I believe that both men recognized that Tatum had a gift so natural that despite near-blindness and never having had a lesson in his life Tatum was able to do passagework at such lightning-fast tempos that Horowitz and Rachmaninoff believed had he studied seriously he could have eclipsed them as pianists. But Tatum's genius lay in how creative he could be at improvising. His mind was working at twice the speed of any pianist next to him. Horowitz begged Tatum to give him his rendition of Tea for Two and when Tatum told him he didn't have it written down, it was all in his head Horowitz nearly fell over. There is a video on UA-cam of Horowitz attempting jazz and it's truly awful.
J Joe Townley What a lot of people don't understand is that Jazz music has its own methodology and theoretical applications. While it wasn't entirely written down and scholarly studied upon at the time of Tatum, there was still meaning to every note and passage achieved through years of practice and experimentation. In the same way that Horowitz was terrible in his attempt to play Jazz, I don't think Tatum would've been too great in his attempt to play some Classical pieces in same way as Horowitz and Rachmaninoff. That's not to say that he didn't play any Classical music, but Tatum was just born in a different world from Horowitz and Rachmaninoff, and they all thrived immensely in those respective worlds.
***** True, which is why Rachmaninoff said half-jokingly that they were all in trouble if he ever decided to start playing seriously. Rachmaninoff knew Tatum couldn't do it but Rachmaninoff was aware he had the technical facility to be able to if his psychological makeup had been bred to play "by the notes".
thats a good point shadow. i have played a few tatum transcriptions in recitals. i think what stands out to alot of people(myself included) upon first hearing are the incredible cascades of notes in his right hand but once you start to study them one realizes that the jumps and skips in his left hand are incredibly hard to master in tempo. also he almost always strides in tenths, not octaves like alot of the great stride pianists before him. his accuracy is just uncanny. truly frightening.
This is so badass. I remember as a metal head teenager, reading an interview with the producer Ted Templeman talking about first seeing Eddie Van Halen in a small club, before signing the band. The only two guys that came to his mind while watching him were Art Tatum and Charlie Parker. I thank him for turning me on to those two dudes, and jazz as a whole.
Art Tatum is hands down the ultimate pianist in human history. No other had more command of the instrument, not even Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Cziffra...if we talk about raw pianistic ability no one else equals this guy. There are other greats but none as inventive and spontaneous. No one can improvise as quickly, as clearly, and as spontaneously. That is why elite musicians regard him in the extreme. They may sound exaggerated, but it's simply true. As far as a pianist goes, no one beats Tatum.
ty for the info........i'm 46 and never got into jazz music, just seems like at some time i should have heard of this guy before! he plays with such ease, and i like the way he looks at the camera after he finishes, with a smile and like ho-hum. incredible!
Rachmaninoff said that if Art Tatum ever decides to play "serious" music then we're all in trouble. Best insult/compliment from one of the greatest pianists ever lol
ok it messed me up to learn that these guys were alive at the same time for decades
@@atlassolid5946 lmao same
I feel like it was Horowitz who said that
The Rack was the hugest piano music ever lol massive chords and near impossible to play.
@@BrandonCuringtonOfficial I love Horowitz
Art Tatum was harmonically so much ahead of his time
It's 2023 and I still don't really understand everything he's doing, or how he just does it like it's nothing.
@@DJFLDJFL haha True
he played piano not harmonica 🙄
@@Bigbossperson☝️🤓
His hands are bigger than my head
I heard Art Tatum for the first time in Philadelphia, PA at a lounge. Tatum had bad eyesight and had someone take him to the piano. What a talent. Two weeks later he passed. Much later I met a Jazz pianist and spoke about Tatum. He got so excited. He said he was a Pianist's pianist. That after a gig all the musicians used to hang out in a place in, I think in the Village in New York and all would get up to play and then would wait for Tatum to play. He had a lot of Tatum's recordings he recorded himself. Ah, those were the days. Miss them. Was glad to find this channel.
Oh my god. That's incredible. Wish I had been there.
I love how happy he looks after he's finished. It makes me smile everytime. (:
Lookin like he's comin back from a trance
Yes! Agreed:)
Same
Me too :)
@@boonrichter3044 l was thinking not a trance but coming back from grace.
There are so many great Jazz Pianists, but there is only one GOAT , Art Tatum
Everyone who listens to Tatum immediately realizes that his technique is beyond the bounds of what would normally be considered human limits. And even poor resolution videos make it obvious that his technique appears effortless and feather-light. Both hands were equally agile and completely independent of each other. But his incredible technique and espressiveness was not for me the most amazing aspect of his musicianship. Tatum had the ability to play a standard piece so that it sounded like he had previously set down and for days carefully composed that standard song into something like a concerto or symphony - an introduction, beginning statement, and then movements with motifs and sub-themes worked in to the overall structure. Finally, the ending and resolution that combines everything he previously played and ties everything up into a neat package. His mind worked differently than any other pianist. It worked in a way that allowed him to construct a piece of carefully composed "classical music" from any standard piece and do so as he played it. The only other pianist I have heard that even comes close was Oscar Peterson. But even he admits that he was no Art Tatum. Sometimes people will express how much they like a particular musician by saying that they could listen to that musician for hours on end. Usually, it is just an exprression and not a statement of literal truth. Not so for me and Art Tatum. I have actually listened to Art Tatum piano solo recordings for uninterupted hours. I very much doubt that there will ever be another on piano quite like him. I am grateful that we had at least had one Art Tatum.
❤❤❤❤
amen
His equal was possibly Dorothy Donegan. Fairly certain
Art Tatum was so good that in a recording he did with Buddy Rich, Buddy just sat back and kept time, which he NEVER did. Buddy was almost always the best musician in the group, and needed to lead, to add embellishments and make sure he was swinging the band.
But with Art in the band, he could actually relax and just be the time keeper. I don't know of any other time that happened.
He's an amazing improviser and his technique is hardly matched by any pianist. But to say he improvised complex large scale classical forms like a symphony or a sonata is not accurate. He's an improviser, not a composer (though I'm not saying he couldn't have composed such music if he tried).
The fact that he is blind makes it even more impossible to wrap your head around how good he is
Your kidding right Tatum was blind he was the forerunner to Ray Charles!!!!! The fastest piano who ever lived!!!!
He's blind only from one eye, the other is less viable but he sees from one.
@@alfawr7104 Its still amazing that he was a speed demon on the Ivory keys.
I feel if you're at this level it doesn't really matter if you're blind or not
Nope, being blind makes your other senses stronger. Better coordination with hands.
His fingers float over the keys! What an amazing pianist!!
THE TECHNIQUE IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING
I took lessons from a master jazz pianist for a little while (a guy who took lessons from Lennie Tristano), and he never liked Tatum or Peterson--once he said something about there being "too much going on". I am slightly inclined to believe there was a shred of jealously that affected his opinion.
a shred.
Well, not to bash him or anything, but Art Tatum's style was much more suited for piano-lead groups, and on recordings where he played behind a horn, he did have trouble leaving enough space.
Well, perhaps Tatum was just trying to avoid being bored by only doing traditional two/one hand comping. Not that comping should bore you, but perhaps it did him...
He must hate Sergei Rachmaninov. Sergei had more goin; on then a juicer.
I think a lot of people think of blazing runs as failed melodic passages but really I see them as creating a texture or being atmospheric. Listen to any great "Shredder" and you will notice the best use it more as a roundabout harmonic device often mixed with more melodic phrases.
Art Tatum was absolutely among the greatest Pianists of recorded history. I can't begin to explain how extraordinary he was
A genius who moves us to tears. a man who broke the boundaries of the simple harmonies of his time and completely reoriented jazz music. And that as a blind autodidact. A genius
The gift of God.... This talent is unparalled...
It so disrespectful from you to call this talented, or even worse, a gift from a god pffffffff, have you seen his hands? hours and hours of practice going on, all because of his merit, not such a thing as a gift.
Practice not some talent crap! He worked his ass off for this skill..
@@kalirocketdevyou could spend your whole life practicing and never be 1/10th this good. This is raw god given unparalleled talent
Watching videos of Art Tatum always make me marvel at how effortless and relaxed his playing is. It looks almost easy for him.
Between 28 and 33 seconds, watch (in the reflection) how independently his left thumb moves while his hand is totally still. He just glides his hands smoothly across the keyboard while he plays runs at ridiculous speeds. He could probably keep a coin balanced on the back of his hand while some of those fast runs.
I love this.
No words....I shouldn't even be leaving a comment. No words can describe his greatness.
It took me a whole life to hear that sound from Tatum and I can quite say I’m close distinguishing it from the most important finding in jazz piano that can never be replicated no matter how much the human brain has evolved today ! Classifying it as a. Mystery of piano mastery ! Cold case
it doesnt even look like he's hitting the keys, he's straight up gliding over the notes it's genuinely incredible
He goes on expressive tangents and has technical wizardry but I really love how he hits you with that hard groove all of the sudden, right in the pocket the song. Truly the most fluent pianist I’ve ever heard.
Unbelievably, the number of people who are unable to see the clear mastery. They cannot give a single example of another player who even comes close. Unfortunately, due to brutal racism, there is little to no footage showing Tatum's full virtuosity. Tatum and Oscar Peterson are the best!
Monk
. just found out about him today - this insane man ^
He's amazing, but to say that he's leaps and bounds above every other pianist ever is just weird and wrong.
there are many who are better in terms of music, not speed; monk and bud powell for example
Or maybe Tatum and Earl Hines?
Unrivaled ear, novel harmonies, depth and beauty of tone, clarity, humor, swing when he chooses, dismissal of the usual...
Well said!
Forget his fingers, the speed of his mind is staggering.
Genius. He made the impossible effortless.
Watch his left thumb at 0:28...
I played that several times. It still doesn't look real, but I know it is. Incredible!
A very common technique, actually. It's not that hard to do compared to the many other techniques Art Tatum showcased in this playing. It's only an alternation between the thumb and index in the left hand. You hear it often in 3/4 meter time music.
Luka Puka that fast, though? And that clean?
Have you seen late Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Medtner, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Ravel?
TLuka Puka here's always some know it all dipshit who says "'it's easy" probably without actually being able to do it himself in the same manner. Fuck you and get lost.
the key is not to be so enamored by the physical technique as to miss out on the musical sensitivity. just playing insanely fast is worthless, this man had perfect pitch, insane rhythmic timing, and an endless imagination.
This is no man, this is a god
. yes ^
I agree with you completely or almost completely. I don't think having perfect pitch would be an advantage while playing a piano.
@@Birdlives247 I was thinking the same thing 😂
There is no structure to what he is playing. It is sheer chaos
Art Tatum could sprint on the keys, nobody is touching that technique,amazing
Complete harmonic mastery as well! At 1:30 he plays a crazy chord, building on the dissonance of the preceding voicings. It's like an split second he hesitates and picks the most outside chord he can find, it basically a tritone of the V chord in the progression but the voicing he uses is like a tritone 7 stacked on a V7. It's like the furthest chord he can play from the home key, and he chooses this is a millisecond. That's true genius.
"outside" is an understatement
Also 0:09 was that the same chord you were referring too? Or am I missing something, (I don’t know why theory so probably )
im sure he thought of it about 5-10 seconds before hand.
What notes form the tritone of the V chord that he plays? I don’t have perfect pitch. Thanks.
He ended the piano's career. This instrument has reached its full potential with Tatum.
1337Pwn4g3 lmao
If a piano could play itself it would sound like Art Tatum.
Dude is amazing and he was half blind plus he key strokes are so quick on the bass keys its craziness!!! I love playing piano. Gotta get better with my left hand though.
It's clear you never listened to classical music. There are infinite ways to play piano, that Tatum has never explored.
1337Pwn4g3 clearly you haven't heard Richard Clayderman
Tatum is the source. All pianists should spend some time studying, absorbing and enjoying his pure mastery. His hands were so relaxed when he played, no wasted movement. If you watch the video with the sound turned off it looks like he is barely playing. With the sound back on your jaw drops. SO much to learn from Mr. Art Tatum.
One of the most infectious smiles ever. I smile along with him every time. He's spreading smiles over the centuries.
Art Tatum the best to ever grace the piano.
The legend himself, my opinion the greatest jazz pianist of all time.
Oscar is the only one that even comes close.
Well,Dorothy donogen comes very close. So little known still.
What an incredible performance!
Praise The Almighty for having given us this genius. RIP Art.
PS a word of advice to those alive : lay off of any form of alcohol and y'all and yr liver live longer.
His smile at the end. Timeless. rip the master
possibly the greatest pianist of all time
He is the most technically gifted. The greatest would probably be Chopin.
I am a classical and Jazz pianist and honestly i have to say that Tatum is simply incredible in many ways. The control , the harmony , the runs , the steady swinging beat , the indipendencd of his hands, the row speed .
If you trancribe and analise him you really realise how great he was, under the microscope. Is like when you transcribe Bill Evans .
Tatum is quality , if he like Peterson exagerates with tons of notes when you analyse them you see that at that incredible speed everythink make sense . When he plays stride with tenth is simply incredible is the best ever ,only Oscar Peterson came close.
And when he plays ballads he plays with feelings . He is not a virtuoso without heart.
The king of solo piano .
Quality feelings Technique advanced sophisticated tasty chords for that period.
Maybe a bit too much . He had to show what he could do often too much.
But he was the greatest ever.
As a classical pianist too i can sau that merely only technically he was simply one of the greatest.That is impressive for anyone while very few undestand the contents and the complexity of his playing.
that smile at the end... superb hahaha
Humble
Such a flawless execution!
Art Tatum used to literally intimidate pianists. Many pianists attempted to copy him; others questioned their own skills after encountering him, and some even switched instruments in response to hearing him play.
He was *that* good at playing the piano.
Ya think! Lol. Reminds me of the British guitarists reactions to Hendrix the first time they saw him play. Tatum probably made a LOT of talented pianists quit. Lol
@@cavaleer Difference wa Hendrix wasn't technical genius!
Rachmaninoff supposedly went up to Harlem to hear him and he may have influenced the Paganini Variations.
@@socraticgadfly 15th
He really is the unachievable pinnacle
DAMN........the comments in these Tatum posts are disheartening. Jazz pianists with no appreciation of the intricacies of INTERPRETING Classical music and Classical pianists with little understanding how to pull off these improvisational miracles. Why compare? Why not sit back and enjoy the idiom we are listening to in all its mastery devoid of comparison?
They are completely unable to see clear mastery and virtuosity.
I know right, they feel like they’re much better -_-
they are just trolls, don't care about them, just look and go on
Put the thesaurus away my guy.
calm down
In my humble opinion, Tatum is the greatest instrumentalist musician of all time that ever played any instrument in any genre in any universe.
Kolef88 js bach
what about outside of your humble opinion
This is everything. Tatum plays all kinds of music, and very entertainingly.
I heard some classic there! something like a chopin etude!
Absolutely. .The greatest natural born talent nobody can match and that includes classics.
This guy was blind !!!!
The greatest pianist of all time, right here folks... Mr. Art Tatum
How he plays piano is straight up Amazing. and he makes it look simple.
That's easily the greatest display of piano playing I have ever seen in my life.
Checkout Cziffra bbc Improvisation.
Listen to him rip and watch his hands how in control he is - in classical that is called playing with a quiet hand - it is the mark of a true master of his or her instrument.
he had to keep his hands low to the keys to feel them as he could not see!
it's quite a way to have to learn hahah
Alvaro Munoz-joy not necessarily, the blind pianist Derek Paravicini plays extremely difficult stoccato pieces and improvs completely taking away the notion of tracing the keys to find your next note. its like a sixth sense of their instrument
Matthew Brewster Er kann aber nicht so gut spielen wie Art Tatum!
Matthew Brewster im not talking about Derek Paravicini, i'm talking about Art Tatum
Ya its insane to see, ive only seen it live once or twice in my life. Buckethead has the same control on the guitar, live it looks like his hand is staying still but he is actually playing the fastest and most complex chromatic scales possible.
Frozen in awe. Utterly great.
this is the best piano I have ever seen. And I have seen piano, but this something beyond.
What an achievement! Tatum absolutely rocks through this song with consummate virtuosity, yes, but with a sly, wry, brilliant sense of its melodic, lyrical, and harmonic possibilities as well, which he brings to fruition. And it is such a pleasure to watch him not seeing but feeling the keyboard as surely as if he were seeing the keyboard. In a word, awesome! Thanks to you, whoever posted this!
PERFECT MUSICIAN PERIOD
Just got to love this wonderful soul who gave the world so much. Playin' in heaven now. Art ... with lotsa beer to drink! God bless you.
Art Tatum is considered a piano deity
It is so wonderfully quick, yet every note is crystal clear and heart stimulating.
When I say literally stunned the first time I heard him… I started crying it was so good. It hit spots in my head that I could never imagine playing. The imagination this man had was not of this Earth. Exceeds legendary.
GREAT - Thank You for this.
Just as a footnote, Stanley Dance's biography states, "According to the pianist Teddy Wilson and the saxophonist Eddie Barefield, "Art Tatum's favorite jazz piano player was Earl Hines. He [Tatum] used to buy all of Earl's records and would improvise on them. He'd play the record but he'd improvise over what Earl was doing ... course, when you heard Art play you didn't hear nothing of anybody but Art. But he got his ideas from Earl's style of playing - but Earl never knew that".
I'd say go see the Earl Hines docu here on UA-cam if you haven't seen - and heard! - it. Completely amazing.
he is the true definition of a pianist
I'm glad we have recorded medium so that we may appreciate this man's genius.
The best ever, there will not be another.
Julian Subero check out Jesus Molina, not as good as Art but reminds me of him sometimes
Just too marvelous for words.
The joy he brought to us. It really is a shame that he died so young.
It's insane to be able to play like that...geeeez! Amazing!
This is the first time I've listened to Art Tatum after hearing that he was Hiromi's idol, and OMG WOW 🤩🤩🤩 1) I can absolutely hear it, and 2) Oh, how I love this! And this was made in the early 1900s???
This video was filmed in 1954. Art Tatum is really the greatest pianist to have ever existed!
Technically absolutely stunning, but the soul, depth and warmth is even more amazing.
Completely amazing as always. If you go to the Toledo public library (he's from Toledo) they've got the best collection of Art Tatum books, recordings, pictures, etc. My brother lives there. Thanks for posting.
...which is to say nothing of the sheer musical brilliance of what he's playing.
Is really fantastic.
I've got this one bookmarked... everytime, I feel like "What is possible on the piano? How long may the road be, until I find the limits of this instrument?", I watch this video and see: there are no limits to this wonderful thing...
Tatum showed, what a piano and furthermore what we players may be capable of. As Sri Patthaba Jois used to say "Practice, practice, practice, and all will come" - thank you a lot, Mr. Tatum.
I have listened to most of Art Tatum's recordings and believe that he was the most highly evolved and intelligent human being ever to walk the planet earth -- ahead of Einstein, Goethe, Kant, Michelangelo, DaVinci, Galileo, Newton and Edison. Nobody has ever come close to playing the piano or any other instrument like Tatum. Even the greatest classical players like V. Horowitz were humbled before Tatum. Today's jazz greats like Keith Jarrett are wonderful, but do not compare to Tatum for his combination of artful complexity, lightning quick inventiveness, stunning velocity, virtuoso technique ... I could go on. Most listeners are quickly overcome by the avalanche of ideas that pours out of him. The Wikipedia article on Wiki tries to dumb him down with boring recitations of the commonplace aspects of his life, and falls far far short of recognizing his greatness!
Wikipedia and Jimmy Wales give new meaning to the word "bias"
RE: Einstein--as Mrs Einstein said to her husband, "what the hell do YOU know"?
Thanks! Merci! We're lucky to have acces to this amazing archive! Nous sommes chanceux d'avoir accès à ces archives inspirantes!
And you want to believe that this clip is one of this old black and white sped up vids... And them u click on another tatum vid...and then another... And you finally accept it... "it's actually him playing...with that speed... And flawless accuracy... And dynamics... And feeling... and pulling all this off while looking like he's thinking about what he's eating after the show..." 😔 and he was doing this almost 100 years ago
Much love from a classical guy. Jazz is the most underrated and unappreciated art.
Awww God.....speechless
I was looking at memorium videos as I am obsessed with dates of when famous people die and the Art Tatum entry pop up for 1956. They way his playing is described made me come here to see him in action. Nothing prepared me for this. Truly astounding musician.
His technique is amazing to watch.
The greatest of all time!!!!!!!
the best there ever was - period. god bless him.
Totally . .
tom knoll Tatum vs Liszt
tom knoll
My money is on Horowitz.
Is it okay if I would rather hear Earl Hines?
Bob Taylor
Who?
There's no word... I watch, listen, and learn every time I see and hear this. Too bad there's not more footage of Tatum's unbelievable pianistic skills...
He was and remains the greatest pianist who has ever lived, and that includes ALL, classical as well as jazz. This is not only my opinion but that of great Jazz pianists, Harold Mabern for one.
Alle Achtung! So zu spielen grenzt an ein Wunder. Danke für diese wundervolle Musik und Leben SIE wohl. Jeder der etwas von Musik versteht, weiß welchen großartigen Beitrag SIE geleistet haben. Danke Wir alle werden SIE als den besten Pianisten in Erinnerung
behalten. Danke
There are really good musicians whose career doesn't contain as much information as Art just played in one song
One of the most amazing things about Art Tatum was that in spite of his tremendous talent, he was so humble. Someone to remind us that we can never be truly "proud" of ourselves, no matter how good we are.
Barry Harris said “Art Tatum was too much for all of us.” ❤
i agree Kolef. this i the first performance i ever watched on youtube about 2 years ago. it made me a youtube junkie. i started listening to tatum 11 years ago and pretty much had given up on ever SEEING him. still can't comprehend it.
Art the truth Tatum a true virtuoso.
That smile is so freaking adorable!
This "Yesterdays" tells us about the whole "Tomorrows" of piano art: After it, centuries of work await pianists.
What a great performance. What remarkable speed and lightness in the right and left hand. A very enjoyable piece indeed. Paul.
Rubinstein: "Shhhh! I am listening to the world's greatest piano player."Rachmaninoff: "If this man ever decides to play serious music we're all in trouble.""Maestro Horowitz, who's the world best pianist?" Horowitz: "Art Tatum."
+J Joe Townley Absolutely Right!!!
You have to also remember that Rachmaninoff and Horowitz were very hard on themselves as musicians and as pianists.
***** I believe that both men recognized that Tatum had a gift so natural that despite near-blindness and never having had a lesson in his life Tatum was able to do passagework at such lightning-fast tempos that Horowitz and Rachmaninoff believed had he studied seriously he could have eclipsed them as pianists. But Tatum's genius lay in how creative he could be at improvising. His mind was working at twice the speed of any pianist next to him. Horowitz begged Tatum to give him his rendition of Tea for Two and when Tatum told him he didn't have it written down, it was all in his head Horowitz nearly fell over. There is a video on UA-cam of Horowitz attempting jazz and it's truly awful.
J Joe Townley What a lot of people don't understand is that Jazz music has its own methodology and theoretical applications. While it wasn't entirely written down and scholarly studied upon at the time of Tatum, there was still meaning to every note and passage achieved through years of practice and experimentation. In the same way that Horowitz was terrible in his attempt to play Jazz, I don't think Tatum would've been too great in his attempt to play some Classical pieces in same way as Horowitz and Rachmaninoff. That's not to say that he didn't play any Classical music, but Tatum was just born in a different world from Horowitz and Rachmaninoff, and they all thrived immensely in those respective worlds.
***** True, which is why Rachmaninoff said half-jokingly that they were all in trouble if he ever decided to start playing seriously. Rachmaninoff knew Tatum couldn't do it but Rachmaninoff was aware he had the technical facility to be able to if his psychological makeup had been bred to play "by the notes".
Watching “Everwood” keeps driving me back to GREAT musical artists! WOW!
thats a good point shadow. i have played a few tatum transcriptions in recitals. i think what stands out to alot of people(myself included) upon first hearing are the incredible cascades of notes in his right hand but once you start to study them one realizes that the jumps and skips in his left hand are incredibly hard to master in tempo. also he almost always strides in tenths, not octaves like alot of the great stride pianists before him. his accuracy is just uncanny. truly frightening.
This is just surreal.
This is so badass. I remember as a metal head teenager, reading an interview with the producer Ted Templeman talking about first seeing Eddie Van Halen in a small club, before signing the band. The only two guys that came to his mind while watching him were Art Tatum and Charlie Parker. I thank him for turning me on to those two dudes, and jazz as a whole.
Art Tatum is hands down the ultimate pianist in human history. No other had more command of the instrument, not even Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Cziffra...if we talk about raw pianistic ability no one else equals this guy. There are other greats but none as inventive and spontaneous. No one can improvise as quickly, as clearly, and as spontaneously. That is why elite musicians regard him in the extreme. They may sound exaggerated, but it's simply true.
As far as a pianist goes, no one beats Tatum.
Cziffra
ty for the info........i'm 46 and never got into jazz music, just seems like at some time i should have heard of this guy before! he plays with such ease, and i like the way he looks at the camera after he finishes, with a smile and like ho-hum. incredible!
One great one genius total Piano,
A real henius of piano playing..(I cannot believe to my ears and to my eyes!!(Horowitz at a Tatum concert..)
This chord at 1:31 seconds is sick!
how is this man not more well known.......absolutely amazing!!!!!
wouldn't it be a blessing if you could just do for 15 minutes what he can do so easily. it sure would be an incredible experience!!