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Art Tatum

File:Art_Tatum,_Vogue_Room_1948_(Gottlieb).jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Also known as Arthur Tatum, Jr., Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr., Arthur Tatum

American jazz pianist (1909–1956)

OverviewAI-generated

Art Tatum (1909–1956) was an African American jazz musician and pianist from the United States. Born in Toledo, he resided there before his death in Los Angeles. Tatum performed in the jazz, stride piano, and swing genres. He was blind and died of kidney failure from natural causes. His remains are buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Tatum recorded for Verve Records, Capitol Records, Folkways Records, and Brunswick Records. His works include *The complete Capitol recordings, volume one* and *Piano starts here*. He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Grammy Hall of Fame, and the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance.

Synthesized by Vinony from 38 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
1909
Died
1956
Works
2

Top works

  • The complete Capitol recordings, volume one
  • Piano starts here

via Open Library + Wikidata

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
485,379
Total plays
4,622,937

Tags

jazzpianojazz pianoswinginstrumental

Art Tatum (Arthur Tatum, Jr., October 13, 1909, Toledo, Ohio, USA - November 5, 1956, Los Angeles, California) was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind since birth. Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. He was noted for the complexity and speed of his performances, which set a new standard for jazz piano virtuosity. Tatum drew inspiration from his contemporaries James P. <a href="https://www

via Last.fm · Art Tatum

Key facts

Born
Arthur Tatum Jr. , ( 1909-10-13 ) October 13, 1909, Toledo , Ohio, U.S.
Died
November 5, 1956 (1956-11-05) (aged 47), Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres
Jazz , stride
Occupation
Musician
Instrument
Piano
Years active
Mid-1920s–1956
Labels
Brunswick , Decca , Capitol , Clef , Verve

via Wikipedia infobox

~36 min read

Encyclopedic overview

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 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 alcohol consumption. 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.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Art Tatum” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (10)