Estate Living Digital Publication Issue 4 April 2015 | Page 62

I TUNEYOU
Jazz is one of music’s most legendary
genres. With roots stemming from
Afro American culture and charting an
impressive 100-year history, jazz music
is showing no signs of fading. Serenaded
by the sweet-sounding melodies, we
celebrate some of the principal architects
who have helped shape the industry.

Art T
atum
Art Tatum is widely acknowledged as
one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time
and one who was way ahead of his time.
Drawing inspiration from Fats Waller,
Tatum, introducing a strong, swinging
pulse to jazz piano and with his ability
to play extremely fast without losing
accuracy, was phenomenal to watch.

International
Sweethearts of Rhythm
As America’s first fully integrated female
jazz band, The International Sweethearts
of Rhythm played swing and jazz across
the US during the 1940s and successfully
changed the historical discourse of a
previously male-dominated jazz genre
to now include female musicians. After
a performance in Chicago in 1943, the
Chicago Defender announced the band
was ‘one of the hottest stage shows that
ever raised the roof of the theatre’. More
recently, they have been labelled one of
the most prominent and probably best
female aggregations of the Big Band era.
Watch a video of the band here.

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His interpretations of popular songs were
exuberant, sophisticated and intricate
and, by building stride and classical
piano influences into an individual style,
wholly unique to him, he single-handedly
revolutionised the way the piano was
used in jazz music. The talented Ohioborn artist still remains a major influence
on generations of jazz pianists the world
over and was posthumously inducted into
the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame following
his death in 1956, and even received a
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in
1989. Hear one of his most famous songs
here.

Indo Jazz
Although an unusual combination, jazz
music in India has enjoyed substantial
successes thanks to the likes of Ravi
Shankar, John Coltrane, John Mayer and
John McLaughlin, who have recently
pioneered the cultural fusion. However,
the eclectic interaction between
traditional Indian music and jazz can date
back to as far as the 1950s, which were
often called the golden age of jazz in India
due to a host of American jazz musicians
like Leon Abbey, who bought an eightpiece band to Bombay, Crickett Smith,