Art Tatum was born in Toledo, Ohio, and despite being blind in one eye and only partially sighted in the other he became arguably the greatest jazz piano player who ever lived. In his improvisations, he was prone to spontaneously inserting entirely new chord progressions (sometimes with a new chord on each beat) into the small space of one or two measures. His reharmonization of pop tunes became a standard practice among modern jazz musicians, horn players as well as pianists. In rhythmically unpredictable spurts, he often generated lines with notes cascading across each other while weaving in and out of tempo.
As part of the Peabody Award-winning documentary series “Jazz Profiles,” this episode about Art Tatum was produced in 1999 by Molly Murphy and narrated by the show host Nancy Wilson.
The “Jazz Profiles” shows – nearly 200 of them – are part of the Tim Owens Jazz & Broadcast Collection at the University of North Texas Music Library. In a partnership with Tim and UNTML, we’ve picked a handful of noteworthy shows to share with you. You can find more “Jazz Profiles” shows at the UNT Music Library’s Jazz Syndicate (www.library.unt.edu/jazzsyndicate), and learn more about 32 Bar Blues' clothing collection and commitment to the arts at 32barblues.com