Biography of Art Tatum - Essay Example

Running Head: Art Tatum Art Tatum [Institute’s Art Tatum Biography God has blessed every human being with some strength, and atthe same time, every individual confronts some weaknesses as well. In this regard, it is on humans to benefit from their strength and turn their weaknesses into their strength; however, only a few very people are able to do that and thus, become greatest people born on this earth. Art Tatum is one of the great champions who excelled in the field of jazz through his strength of extraordinary piano playing. On the other hand, he confronted partial blindness and fractional sight since his birth on October 13, 1909; however, this Ohioan managed to become the excellent piano player in jazz music history. Study indicated that besides blessings, his musical family played a significant role in inspiring him to play piano, as he grew up watching his father play guitar at Grace Presbyterian Church while his mother performed on his to-be-strength. Although efforts were successful in improving his eyesight that affected him since infancy; however, in the year 1930, an incident of physical attack on Tatum resulted in U-turn of all such efforts. In this regard, ear was the basic tool that allowed him to take music lessons from radio and his family members since the age of three. However, in order to acquire professional knowledge, Braille was the only option that took this 16-year old genius to the Columbus School for the Blind. After learning Braille language, he joined the Toledo School of Music where he learned skills of classical pianist from Overton G. Rainey. Interestingly, Tatum did not take much time to learn skills, and he was running his own at a radio station in few years. One of the significant proofs of his extraordinary talent is that national, as well as regional performers began to visit Toledo, in order to hear Tatum’s significant pitches. The turning moment occurred in the year 1932, when Adelaide Hall introduced him to the world of New York that enabled Tatum to reach new heights, and within only a year, he launched his first recordings. After his recordings and participation in piano contests, he was able to build his reputation in the company that took him as an icon in jazz arena. For few years, he toured Chicago, Los Angeles, and England until early 1940s that tied him with Slam Stewart and Tiny Grimes, trio with a bassist and guitarist that became very popular and Tatum reached new heights in the jazz music industry. During the next decade, Tatum worked with some of the groups and individuals, such as Roy Eldridge, Benny Carter, Ben Webster, and a number of performers, directors, and producers in the industry. Unfortunately, despite of his thousands of avid fans and his success, he died on November 05, 1956, a premature death due to uremia; however, he still exists in the hearts and history of millions of fans and jazz music industry. Style As earlier mentioned that Toledo School of Music taught him skills in classical music, however, James Johnson and Fats Waller were the two individuals excellent in pace piano style that became the major inspiration of Tatum. This inspiration of stride piano style inclined him to improvise the jazz melodies in his own unique style that often included speedy alterations and swings in the melodies. Although he did not alter original melodies; however, his sophisticated and energetic melodies became inspiration for jazz pianist coming after Tatum. In addition, Tatum’s strides enhanced the improvisation period in 1950s through his wide range of melodic lines due to his excellent hands on a number of devices. In terms of devices, he extensively used the pentatonic scale to improvised melodies that influenced works of many jazz pianists in the coming years. In this regard, Tatum had the ability to alter root movements of a melody while applying innovative but analogous melodies to match the tune. His ability on chord progressions was one of the extraordinary talents that became the factor of his success in the jazz music industry. Although concept of music improvisation and innovation was not usual until 1930s, but still, Tatum successfully amalgamated various chord tunes, and excitedly mixed sharp and flat tunes to create an innovative harmonized melody. Thus, he became the founder of such improvisations, and after a decade, various musicians such as Charlie Parker and Bud Powell, inspired by Tatum’s skills, developed basis of modern jazz. Moreover, Tatum was the first jazz pianist to utilize dissonance in his tunes that successfully inspired and influenced avid fans and jazz pianists in the industry. With his exceptional skills on chord progression and improvisation of melodies, his range remained closer to Broadway popular, as it enabled him to express his talent in a significant manner. In brief, his style was unique and his wide range of embellishments does not allow an individual to put him in a specific category. Influence As earlier mentioned in the paper, Art Tatum became an icon in jazz piano, and inspired thousands of jazz pianists and musicians in the industry. Through his pace styles and harmonized modifications in melodies and his techniques of using dissonance, he reached new heights of jazz piano and opened new avenues for future generations of jazz pianists. Some of the later jazz pianists inspired from Art Tatum were Chick Corea, Bud Powell, Billy Taylor, and a number of other pianists in the industry. Oscar Peterson was one of the jazz pianists that were the outcome of Tatum’s innovations and embellishments. In specific, Peterson’s father once played ‘Tiger Rag for him’ that inspired Peterson astonishingly, and this Tatum’s melody enforced Peterson to become disappointed with his own piano skills. Since then, Peterson always considered Tatum as his inspiration, and he always termed Tatum as the master of jazz piano. This inspiration brought the two individuals closer that ended in a friendship; however, Peterson always remained introverted in terms of playing in presence of Art Tatum. In another case study, Tatum successfully inspired Bud Powell as well. Since childhood, Powell attended classes of classical piano like Tatum, and when he was eight, he began to adore jazz music that inclined him to play musical works of Art Tatum and few other musicians. Likewise, Bud Powell always credited Tatum for his inspiration that later brought him into his own recordings. In this way, Art Tatum, although a partially blind individual confronting many difficulties in his life, was successful in his musical career as a jazz pianist. He will always be one of the greatest and innovative jazz pianists in the industry. Read More