[78-L] Art Tatum 100th birthday

[Malcolm Rockwell]

I'm glad to hear that there are a few others on-list who feel the way I 
do about Tatum. A few years back I was almost bludgeoned to death by a 
member when I issued this blasphemy!
As to why he orchestrated so meticulously? I once worked with a 
guitarist who had a massive phobia about making mistakes. He'd craft his 
solos, expressions and gestures so that they came out the same every 
time he performed. The first time you'd hear him you'd think "Wow! What 
great improvisation! This guy's good." Subsequent hearings gave him 
away. Could it have been be the same thing with Tatum?
BTW, this group I was in with the guitarist was the only Rock & Roll 
band where I actually had to write myself charts so I could play with 
them without total confusion. Of course he'd get all pissed if I 
actually used the charts in performance!
Happy birthday, Art!
Mal

*******

Julian Vein wrote:
> Taylor Bowie wrote:
>   
>> I learned a while ago that today October 13th was the 100th anniversary of 
>> the birth of Art Tatum,  so I thought that would be a  good occasion to stir 
>> up some trouble.
>>
>> Some people prefer traveling in something along the lines of the SST, 
>> because it is fast,  sleek,  mechanicaly complex,  etc.   Gets you there 
>> before you know it!
>>
>> That's all fine,  but going so fast I think you miss a lot of scenery which 
>> is part of what makes the trip enjoyable.
>>
>> And that's pretty much what I think of the playing of Art Tatum.  Yes,  it 
>> is impressive.  Yes,  he has technique to spare.  But I always get the 
>> feeling that he is not so much interpreting the melody as discecting it into 
>> little pieces...kind of like a surgeon doing an autopsy.
>>
>> Plus,  after a while,  you can always tell where and when he will make one 
>> of his little "runs" with which he likes to punctuate his playing.  I never 
>> experience the kind of joy or surprise in his work which I find in many 
>> other players.  It seems so calculated.
>>
>> When a record of his is over...I don't feel any sense of 
>> satisfaction....more like exhaustion.
>>
>> But year after year you read that he is the "greatest" piano player in jazz, 
>> blah blah blah.
>>
>> To me his playing  seems more like a stunt than music ...cold, clinical and 
>> machine like...disigned to get into the Guinness Book of Records as "most 
>> piano notes played in ten seconds."
>>
>> So Tatum fans...tell me what it is I'm missing.
>>
>>
>> Taylor
>>     
> ===========
> Nothing at all, Taylor. I think you've presented the case against Tatum 
> as well as I've ever heard it expressed. Seems to me he's more of a 
> musicians' musician, which is understandable.
>
> Each song was carefully choreographed, so it came out the same each 
> time. I don't get that sense of dignity in his playing that I do with, 
> say, Teddy Wilson or Jess Stacy, more like a "Look Mum, I'm smoking!" 
> attitude.
>
> Actually, this debate has been going on for many decades, similar to the 
> one about Jimmie Lunceford--his band probably impressed more in public 
> than on record. I rarely feel a desire to play a Lunceford or Tatum 
> record, and when I do I'm generally left unsatisfied.
>
>       Julian Vein
>
>
>