Art Tatum
piano
Virtuoso pianist from Toledo, Ohio, the towering pianist of the 1930s, whom Barry saw in person at the Rouge Lounge and admired, though his own generation learned from Bud Powell instead.
- mentions
- 16
- recordings
- 12
- Barry speaking
- 10
What Barry says
Tatum struck everybody. Asked who was the best pianist, some of Barry’s generation would say Tatum, but for the young players of the 1940s there was only Bud Powell; Tatum was the great pianist of the 1930s.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle10:10Accepting the Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award7:56Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶38
Tatum belonged to the 1930s and stride. He was a big band by himself and needed no drummer; even with others he played a lot. Barry’s generation grew up as the big bands broke into small groups, hearing Al Haig, Bud and Shearing, so they are not striders.
The last train to Monk: an interview17:1417:52Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶122Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶8
Barry could listen to Tatum only for a while before his head hurt: it was like ten pianists playing at once, complicated and beautiful. Everyone loved him.
Asked about the claim that all of jazz is in Tatum, Barry says Tatum was in some way Erroll Garner, Bud Powell, Monk and Duke Ellington all at once.
Teaching how to use the body at the piano, Barry says the greatest pianist is the one who plays five notes with one move, knowing how to get from one point to the next. That is why a Tatum run takes your breath away.
Barry tells of Johnny O’Neal, a young pianist who sounded uncannily like Tatum. He had learned by speeding up his mother’s Tatum records and then slowing them back down, the opposite of what Barry’s generation did.
The young pianist who played like Tatum0:00Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶320Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶321Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶323
Tatum, Bud and Monk did not keep the left hand up high under single-note lines; they played with both hands together, and Barry says young pianists who do otherwise are not really listening to them.
Small chords, not big ones1:40Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶30Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶479
Tatum came from Toledo, about 60 miles from Detroit, at a time when each city had its own way of playing. Barry warns young pianists never to think they are the best: in any town there may be a pianist who will eat you up.
Interview: Detroit and after1:10Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶50
In his own words
Now, who’s going to be the greatest pianist? The one who’s going to do five notes with one move, or the one who does five notes with five moves?... You hear [Art Tatum] play a run and make you take your breath away sometimes.
You got to think that Art Tatum is the 30s and you think of the 30s you think of Stride.
It was sort of complicated, listening to Art Tatum. He was so much, it was like ten piano players playing at once.
Art Tatum was also Erroll Garner, Art Tatum was Bud Powell, and Art Tatum was all of them… Art Tatum was Monk and Art Tatum was Duke Ellington.
Well, it makes sense. But we used to do the opposite. We slowed it down. He sped it up!
Every mention
16 moments in the recordings, 10 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
The Spirit of Bebop
The last train to Monk: an interview
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle
- 10:10
The great pianist of the 1930s was Tatum; his own teens were the time of Bud and Bird.
Accepting the Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award
- 7:56
Some would name Tatum the best pianist, but the young ones said only Bud.
Interview: Detroit and after
- 1:10
Tatum came from Toledo; never think you are the best, some pianist will eat you up.
The young pianist who played like Tatum
- 0:00
A young pianist who played like Tatum learned by speeding up his mother’s records.
Small chords, not big ones
- 1:40
Tatum did not keep the left hand up high all the time; play hands together.
Practising the sixth diminished scales
- 28:04
After playing a passage in class: remember that, that’s an Art Tatum ending (the old automatic captions name Tatum; the newer transcript garbles the name).
Interview: Bird, Hawkins, Monk and New York
- 42:58
Interviewer
Ben Sidran plans a show where Barry would talk about Tatum, Monk and Bud.
Artists House Master Class Barry Harris - Introduction by Gary Giddins
- 7:29
Someone else
Gary Giddins recalls his first Village Voice piece, on Tatum records.
In the interviews and notes
Asked which pianists struck him before Bud Powell, Barry says Tatum struck everybody, then explains that he learned to solo from Bud on “Webb City”.
Barry saw Tatum in person at the Rouge Lounge. Tommy Flanagan saw him at Detroit after-hours spots, which Barry learned about only later; he never went to Freddie Ginyard’s.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶301Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶302Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶303Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶304
Asked whether Tatum was his first love among pianists, Barry says he does not think so: his path ran through school stock arrangements, Bird and Bud’s “Webb City”. He had heard Tatum before, though.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶305Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶306Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶307Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶308
Jaki Byard, a teenager in the 1930s, learned stride, Tatum and Earl Hines; Barry, a teenager in the 1940s, heard Al Haig, Bud Powell and George Shearing, so his generation are not the best stride players.
Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶8Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶122
Listening to Tatum was complicated, like ten pianists at once, and Barry could take only so much; but it was beautiful and they all loved him.
Barry never transcribed Tatum, though books of his solos existed; his own way was to learn by ear and slow records down.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶315Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶316Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶317Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶318
Barry heard that Tatum and his peers had played in the bars of St. Antoine Street in Detroit, and thinks his own generation carried on from that period.
Complaining about how pianos are recorded, Barry mentions hearing that Tatum’s microphone was placed up towards the ceiling rather than inside the piano.
When Barry settled in New York, the scene had changed: Bird, Tatum and Prez were dead.
Tommy Flanagan saw Tatum often in Detroit, where he almost had a house gig at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge and liked to play late at Freddie Ginyard’s after-hours club; Flanagan was still absorbed in Tatum while Barry turned to Bud.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶58Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶56
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.