Piano Starts Here : The Art ( Tatum ) Of Piano
KEYBOARDS
Ron Davis is a Toronto-based pianist , composer , and recording artist active on the national and international jazz scene . A critic ’ s choice performer at the 2015 Pan Am Games , his “ Symphronica ” project is a jazz / funk / world / classical mashup of an electric / acoustic jazz quartet plus a string quartet . The music can be heard on his most recent recording , Pocket Symphronica ( Really Records ). www . rondavismusic . com .
By Ron Davis
Piano Starts Here : The Art ( Tatum ) Of Piano
I
’ m wary of superlatives . Especially in the arts . But in Art (“ art ,” so apt ) Tatum ’ s case , I can ’ t resist . Or won ’ t . Loud and proud : Art Tatum was the greatest jazz pianist of all time . It all began with Piano Starts Here , a Columbia Jazz Masterpieces LP . A prescient name . It triggered my lifelong mesmerization with Tatum decades ago . Feels like yesterday . The first four tracks were recorded in 1933 . The last eight in the late 1940s .
Track one : “ Tea for Two ” – A creaky standard . Motoric in Tatum ’ s hands . Whole tone harmonies . Ear-boggling chromatic palette . You have my attention , Mr . Tatum . “ Art Tatum is the one pianist who forces you to listen to him ,” Bill Evans once said .
Track two : “ St . Louis Blues ” – Harmonic wizardry , but flat . Technical , yet impressive . Attention still held .
And then , track three . “ Tiger Rag ” – Another overdone old one . But … Boom . Misterioso whole tone mega-chord intro . Transition to tempo di machine gun . Note-cluster melody with rat-a-tat left-hand bass . Arabesque runs . Protean harmonies . He builds to a climax , unleashing some left hand supersonic stride . It oscillates with cesium atom precision . Then , with the whimper of a few hushed chords , two and a half minutes along , he brings it to an end , like the finishing glide of a furious roller coaster ride .
Tatum ’ s “ Tiger Rag ” on Piano Starts Here is an ornate aural baroque cathedral . A towering monument of pianism . After hearing it for the first time , Oscar Peterson said , “ I had crying fits and gave up playing piano for three weeks .”
Track four : “ Sophisticated Lady ” – Rich but robotic .
Then the 1940s recordings . Tatum ’ s style has matured . Technique better balanced with emotion . Flourish with architecture . Subtlety with flash .
Track eight : “ Yesterdays ” – Jerome Kern ’ s simple , haunting song . Tatum turns it
into an enduring miracle . It begins with a rich rubato statement of the song . Then a driving ostinato kicks in . Tatum straps the melody to a rocket . It twirls and twizzles through tempos , keys , and piano registers . In three minutes and 25 seconds , he creates a fractal recomposition of the piece . And it swings like crazy .
I ’ m wary of superlatives , I said . But here I go again : Tatum ’ s “ Yesterdays ” ranks among the handful of supreme piano recordings . Not for the technique . If you only hear the technique , you haven ’ t heard Tatum . It ’ s his harmonic flights , his command of time , his melodic invention . ( But yes , the technique too .)
The impact Piano Starts Here had on me was both immediate and lasting . A plunge ( more like a head-boinking anvil ) and a journey . It took me years to grasp the title ’ s deep meaning . Piano . Starts . Here . Jazz piano really does start with Tatum – for me , and for a pantheon of jazzers from Charlie Parker to Brad Meldhau .
I ’ ve had other influences , from Monk to Peterson to Glenn Gould , but it always comes back to Tatum . I can ’ t get past him . So it turns out that , in some ways , piano stops here , too .
26 • CANADIAN MUSICIAN