But I pick out a majority that I like and simply find him so inspirational. Tatum based his early work on Waller it is said. Tatum did have his critics, some of whom I suspect would envy him. I never feel I should decry or comment on something that doesn't have a good vibe for me, it just may be fantastic for someone else. There are so many kinds of sounds and beats, rhythms and harmonies. I believe that music has some fantastic effect on us that we can appreciate it when ever the style is gelling with our individual vibes. The choice is one of individual taste in the way the vibrations effect the heart and soul. You either like that syle of piano jazz or not. Oscar Peterson idolises him and was inspired by him. The style he adopted was his alone and as exciting as any I've heard. Well, I have to say that Art Tatum had a great repertoire and when you listen to most of his recordings, it is difficult to find a fair proportion that any musician with a soul for music cannot fail to adore. It makes great ear training thoughīy the way I didn't know anyone else, still living, appreciated Tatum. The hard part is Tatum plays the notes so fast, they mesh into each other and sound like chords *laugh*. In scalar passages, most of the time you can hear where the thumb is used as it's the heaviest finger and it's hard not for it to stick out. He is on record himself saying that many of the runs are done with three fingers. See ? you need 3 fingers (and a thumb) for this. After you practive this for a while, play it up to speed and it will sound like one the many passages you might have heard on Tatum's recordings. Now at the same time, drag your thumb on the white keys (glissando) while keeeping the fingered scale going. play the F# pentatonic scale starting on A# with this fingering -descending:Ī# (4) G# (3) F# (2) D# (3) C# (2)(repeat next octave down) It isn't possible to do some of those passages at that speed with two fingers alone. However this fingering does not apply for scales and passages. (you can actually hear this fingering on his recordings every time he plays this arpeggio) Koji (STSD) I could be wrong but I'd say that applies only for 4 note arpeggios like this (descending): A far cry from the 'standard' fingering that was beat into every pianist's head for years.Īctually several people I trust in seeing him play, say he fingered almost all of his runs 2-1-2-1-2-1, or 3-1-3-1-3-1ĭid a transcription of 'Aint Misbehavin' which I think (hope) is accurate in terms of what Tatum does on the recording. And others are executed with three fingers while dragging the thumb along the white keys (crazy control!).Ĭoleman Hawkins, or Ben Webster stated that Tatum played his scales with just three fingers because it provided a more even run. A lot of those passages you hear are were executed with three fingers. People who saw Tatum and spoke of him always talked about his technique. Especially, if you were trained conventially. I don't proclaim to be some expert but I've listened to Tatum intently for the past 12 years so I had to pick up something from him one would think.Īs far as comparing his performances to classical repertiore, his stuff is just as difficult as the most challenging repertoire. (I wish I owned a piano to demonstrate )Īs far as passages go, are there some that are difficult for you (not surprising), or what's notated doesn't make sense ? I'll be glad to help. His left hand keeps the beat but his right hand wanders in and out of the beat. Tatum's passages have to be heard, it's very difficult to accurately notate what he does because he plays all around the beat. I've seen a good bit of the transcriptions out there and the accuracy leaves a lot to be desired so I wouldn't take them as official.
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