[Dixielandjazz] Art Tatum

[Nickdragos at cs.com]

Listmates,

Regardless of personal opinions on Art Tatum, a truly fine summation is 
included in James Lester's bio of Tatum, "Too Marvelous For Words: The Life & 
Genius Of Art Tatum" {Oxford University Press, hardcover ISBN 0-19-5-8365-2, 1994}.

(this is actually on an un-numbered following the main body of the biography 
& before the notes & index):

"The English pianist Alan Clare was once intrigued with a workman who was 
carrying out some remodeling inside his house. Clare was playing some recordings, 
and he began to notice that the workman was whistling along with whatever 
music he put on - Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, it didn't seem to matter. Even if he 
hadn't heard it before he had the natural musical ability to follow a melody 
closely and almost automatically. Clare decided to give him a real test and dug 
up his recording of Art Tatum doing "Tea For Two", with the ground-breaking 
chord changes Tatum introduced into the tune. The workman never lost a beat nor 
did he lay out for a bar or two to figure out what was going on. He tracked 
Tatum flawlessly through all the changes, and when the record ended, he spoke 
for the first time. He glanced at Clare and with classic English understatement 
said, "Tricky f****r, ain't he?"



I must admit my own personal admiration of Tatum runs deep; when I was 9 
years old, and in the midst of several years of piano lessons, I heard Tatum's 
1949 Capitol solo recording of "Willow Weep For Me".....

So much for my continuing lessons..........


Cheers from Sacramento, California
Nick Dragos
NickDragos at cs.com