Added: 2 years ago
From: CBasie2856
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  • Superhuman coordination and timing. No one could learn how to play with this type of velocity. Perhaps an excellent meaning of the term " God given talent ". In the field of jazz he was and still is unbeatable 55 years after his passing. I would have loved to have seen Richter, speed machine that he was, attempt to duplicate Tatum's Begin the Beguine off of the album " 20th Century Piano Genius ". That would have ben interesting.

  • brookky impro

  • Fabulous!

    CBasie2856, thank you. :))

    Does a recording of James P. Johnson's Chopin's Revolutionary Etude in stride version exist?

  • How Beautiful Is It.......

  • God must have spoken melodies to him and due to his dexterity he could play them virtually as he heard them. Now that's the only way i could fathom him playing brand new original melodies as he did *without practicing*. He just was given melodies and played them. It's really amazing and hard to interpret, but with God's help he was able to do it. Now the speed he did it at is just crazy, his brain had to be lightning fast and had a metronome ticking in his brain as well to do it like that!

  • @16yearoldwhiteboy It would appear, at least, that you've taken considerable thought over this performance in your four part(!) comment but, I noticed that, your comment seems to be predominantly preoccupied with proselytizing. Perhaps you might consider doing some meditation - that is - if you want some actual EXPERIENCE of what "God" might or might not be, rather than being forever enslaved by dogma. Experience should be worth more to you than hear-say. DON'T take my word for it- Experience:)

  • @VirgilFoxMusic

    yes, I don't think we should be enslaved to this false idea of God by dogma

    but about that, have you done lots of meditation yourself? Did you experience any God or what ever after doing meditation?

  • @CBasie2856 Thanks for your Q. I practice meditation regularly. I have had very encouraging results including occasional astral projection and too many things to try to explain here. My point is not to convince others by my experience, but rather, to encourage others to experience for themselves. It would appear that consciousness is fundamental, rather than matter. All is one, and with respect to that, Christianity seems very materialistic (idol worshipping). Google MULTIDIMENSIONAL MAN

  • @VirgilFoxMusic Yeah i was just touched i was just trying to say that he basically let the piano *play him* and had many amazing gifts (especialy memory). yes some say he was an "alien" and i was jus saying the only way i could fathom him being so great at this. And it was just on his performing in general lol, though I've been working on Tiger Rag a lot. And oh yeah God let me be born again in 2005 but i need Him a lot because i realy drifted away recently. btw Im not 16 im 19 sorry bout that.

  • @16yearoldwhiteboy Good for you. Keep an open mind.

  • because of his enginuity he was able to very make it sound "right" (and actually more complex because adding chromatic notes makes one sound more advanced). I think there's a certain point (IF you play much as he did and had an insane memory like he did), that you can hear harmonies in this tuning system and conjure up something. a mix of memorized runs and adding notes here & there. I think Its his astounding memory that really set him apart as it is simply a gift from God. And like i said

  • of his songs (somewhat) in most of his songs. But like I said, he does add new things. It was through his amazing memory for melodies, I believe, that allowed him to REMEMBER all of these crazy melodies. And his left hand was so developed that he could also come up with harmonies easily. See he wasn't a piano player, he let the piano play HIM. See, he also wasn't afraid to take risks. People don't realize that piano playing is NEVER right or wrong. Im sure Tatum hit many wrong notes! but,

  • See this is the amazing thing. Some people thought Tatum was a "genius" at the piano. This doesn't make sense for a plethora of reasons. Number one, he couldn't have reasoned at the piano, that's a no-no in piano playing. The thing about him was that he played what he felt, and developed it. It's like God gave him melodies and he played it and developed it. He then implemented them in his music. Thus he developed his own language of music. If you listen, there is a connection to all

  • in certain ways, he is blindless; his ears being watchful for his heart does the listening

  • Did he make a 1932 version? Because I have some sheet music that says "as performed by Tatum in 1932". I don't think he did though I couldn't find it.

  • I'm a piano performance major, and I gave the music for this a little read.... it was IMPOSSIBLE! He is amazing.

  • I'll never hear this song any other way now!! Great to see so many views for a 77 year old recording. It sounds amazing.

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  • ''James P. Johnson could no longer stand it, so he presented his prearranged stride version of Chopin's Revolutionary Etude, which was perhaps the only thing that could possibly stop this monster.'' May someone explain this clearly to me??

  • genioo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    

  • Elsewhere on YouTube there is a clip of Horowitz trying to improvise on Tea For Two. It's pathetic, not just in comparison to Tatum's versions, but to the improvisational abilities of most of the great jazz pianists. Fact is that most classical musicians can't improvise or create music spontaneously because they only learn how to play what is written on the charts in front of them, and that isn't art, it's regurgitation. The most a classical musician can do is personalize his interpretation.

  • @kingpleasure I don't believe there's any meaningful artistic comparison between Classical and Jazz mediums. Their respective aesthetic concentrations are quite far removed; one does not listen to Classical music with the same expectations and mindset that one dons when enjoying Jazz (or vice versa) unless one wants to be sorely disappointed.

    I think it would suffice to say that both genres have produced content of considerable richness and depth, despite differences in their natures.

  • @OzzyKingofKings words truly spoken amidst the drivel talk on youtube well done sir

  • @kingpleasure actually a lot of pianist composers could improvise all day long,and btw tatum etc did a few songs but their improvisations were always confined to their styles and only a handful were really original,i have been to jazz clubs and they all seemed regurgitated to me

  • i like the fact that 3 people have a special "chriteria" disliking such an institution

  • I need the partiture :/

  • In the documentary The History of Jazz [Ken Burns] they only did a comparatively small segment on Art Tatum but in my opinion he should have been put on the same level as Armstrong, Duke and "Bird".

  • When Art stepped up to a piano, you could here the piano gulp.

  • Art Tatum isn't God, but his massive talent makes him mistaken for a god.

  • Look up "Jazz Royalty" on Wikipedia...

  • Art tatums awesomeness is no reason to use God's name in vain jus sayin..

  • all an inspiration

  • If there's such a thing as too much ornament, though, this is it. At a certain point, a surfeit of complexity -- all the weird harmonic changes and zillions of notes crammed into each bar -- becomes simple again, formless and vague, like static.

    But maybe I just can't listen that fast.

  • this guy is as good as mozart

  • @Santosificationable This guy is better than mozart.

  • @860125mwj well it's kind of hard to judge that. I think it's safe to say that they are on the same level; remember, Mozart also did hundreds of concertos in less than 3 decades, and composed professional-level concertos when he was a teenager.

    Art played Church Hymns at age 3, Mozart played Minuets at age 4 and composed simple pieces at age 5. They're about the same!

  • @860125mwj

    your comparing two completely different generes of music here. i believe he means art's way of playing jazz/stride is equal to mozarts classical genius

  • I swear I heard this before! Some bastard stole Art's shit!

  • Awesome.TY gullivior for posting.

  • TY gulivior for posting.

  • @paulostroff99

    I am not gullivior, I am CBasie2856 

  • Art Tatum was an incredible musician. Thanks for posting the video.

  • unbelievable

    

  • Shostakovich's arrangement had a bit more charm but this is nice too.

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  • Good God ! No one then or now could COMPETE with Art Tatum, just enjoy his gifts. Thanks for the post.

  • Brilliant :)

  • I just had to listen to this one more time, an' it gets down deep every single time.

  • OUCH!

    I´d like to quote "Fats" Waller when he met Art; I play piano, but tonight God is in the house. .

  • @Schillingsanders That aint God, that is Jesus, but just wait till you meet his Papa.

  • Wow, a music gem ! thank you

  • @TushTushTush

    your welcome ^_^

  • @TushTushTush lol tush tush

  • He was only about 24 when he recorded this version... not fair. It's interesting to hear how much he was still growing musically by listening to his later interpretation of the song which is also up here on youtube.

    Best pianist probably ever.

  • i think Tatum may have the best left hand of all time.

  • HEAVEN! When tea for two comes in the first time boom!

  • There is no doubt about that ... but as we know from many old recordings (Heifetz, Menuhin, Kreisler etc.), often the pitch and speed are shifted

  • Probably it sounds higher and faster due to the old recording process ?

  • @violinoamore

    Wrong! This is how fast and clear Tatum actually played.

  • @CBasie2856 Are you sure ?

  • @violinoamore

    I wouldn't of posted this video without knowing the answer to that. Tatum is considered one of the greatest pianists of all time, with the exception of maybe Liszt and Hamelin. A great many classical geniuses were in high respect to him.

  • @CBasie2856 'wouldn't of' = wouldn't have.

  • @CBasie2856 Hamelin? Please, please tell me you DON'T mean "Marvin."

  • @LazlosPlane

    I mean Hamelin.

  • @CBasie2856 no classical geniuses were in high respect to him, all of them died before tatum was even born, he is however, a great pianist

  • @spartan1081990 By "classical" we mean the standard European music from about 1600-1900's. Rachmaninoff, Horowitz, Richter were some who had great respect for him.

  • this is fab and if you love tea look at a site called. tealove. really cool gift idea

  • BRAVO!!!!!!! thank you for posting this

  • I came

  • This is LOVELY

  • @0marpje0

    Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed this video :)

  • @CBasie2856 :)

  • 2 people are deaf.

  • Words simply can't describe the GENIUS of this man.I have been listening for the last 45 years.

  • Welcome, to Intermission!

  • (Continuing the comment immediately below)

    The large-scale dramatic structure and hyper-emotionality of the Revolutionary Etude is just about as unamenable to a stride transcription as anything you could possibly imagine, and what James P. Johnson almost certainly played was his version of the Octave Etude, a virtually formless virtuoso exercise already pre-arranged for stride piano, and exactly right for a shoot-out between virtuosos like Johnson, Tatum, and Fats Waller.

  • The "information" under this video claims James P. Johnson ended the competition by playing "his prearranged stride version of Chopin's Revolutionary Etude." This never happened, and it would have been a musical abomination if it had.

  • Dear God, what do you even say about this. I didn't realize how this great this guy was until today.

  • @scoutinternational

    Listen to these recordings: Liza, Tiger Rag, Happy Feet, The Shout, Running Wild, All God's Chillun Got, Lulu's Back in Town, Song of the Vagabonds

  • @scoutinternational Art IS God.

  • Simply breathtaking. A genius.

  • Supposedly Eva Braun's favorite song.

  • Sounds like you guys know this guy backwards and forwards. This is a first-time for me. I still can't believe it's only one person playing!!! Don't laugh me out of the room...

  • to say that Errol Garner was Art Tatum's match shows that you don't understand piano plating.

  • Cutting at this point was slang for replacing someone at his job by outperforming him... suits this guy then!

  • The trouble with most pianist impresarios these days is that they're just that, someone else. Tatum type likeoes in them daze were just themselves. Why let's all go hear my mate Danny or Gary. Guess I got lucky when they turned up, now they're almost nowhere to be found, thanks to the exceptione of Danny Thompson. Check him out at the Baby Grand, Charing Cross, Glasgow on three real nights of the last daze of any week. I'd better Utube that dude before he is the last candle to burn out.

  • Could anyone message me the sheet music to this recording?

  • @NordstromAMich

    Ask the user foundring for the sheet music. He mailed me the sheet music about a couple years ago.

  • @NordstromAMich .....send me a message and i'll try to send a link to the score that i have , from piano room 

  • @fingerscarr Thank you alot but I have that one and I learned about 2 pages of it, but what I found out is there were some errors in it but not too much.

  • Heavens to Murgatroid! This is sheer musical magic! If the late great Mr Tatum had been any cooler, he'd have been frozen! THANKS for posting this treasure of a tune!

  • @JubalCalif I still think D. Thompson's better, go looking.

  • That subtle inimitable touch everyone try's to emulate and no-one succeeds.

  • One of the most inspiring pianists ever.

  • the music is amazing but i can't stop looking at the picture... did he drop a cigar or does he have detachable digits? if the fingers are working independently then we may know his secret. :)

  • @allie304

    There is no secret. He is what he is.

  • I have the sheet music for it, and I looked at it while listening to this video and I can imagine how hard it is to play it... I'm trying to play it on the piano, but a mere Grade 5 piano player like me won't be able to play it smoothly altogether for now...

  • @Ryuurin3435 You have the sheet music. What key is it in?

  • @vimana19

    It starts in Ab Major and later on modulates to C Major, then it repeats over and over.

    I have played it myself, through learning this solo by ear.

  • @CBasie2856 Aye, learning by ear is the best key by far.

  • @vimana19

    It depends, just on the way you learn. So you learning by ear might not be the best way to learn this piece, but it may be the best way for me.

  • Nice!

  • Tatum > Life

  • I love this music... and Art is maestro!!!

  • fabulous! I used to listen to Fats Waller when I was in school so I come to Art Tatum late - but just fabulous - exuberant!

  • cool song thanks for posting

    does anyone know where to get sheets for this?

  • @piano2347907

    1.Check out the book "The Art Tatum Collections", it has Tea for Two in it, but beware that although the transcription sounds like the actual recording, it has lots of flaws in it.

    2. Transcribe it yourself

    3. Get someone to transcribe it for you.

    4. I have been looking for a midi file version of Tea for Two, but I haven't been able to find one. If you find one, just save it to your computer and send the midi to me via email, and I'll turn it into sheet music for you.

  • @CBasie2856 alright thanks yeah ill look into it

  • @CBasie2856 I actually have a book with this recording- and I must say that the transcription is pretty much flawless. The book also has After You've Gone, willow weep for me, sweet lorraine, st louis blues, the man I love, body and soul, cocktails for two, Jitterbug Waltz, tiger rag, how high the moon and a few others.

    Also, I hate how this only has 53000+ views- this may be one of his single best solos ever.

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  • A great genius-TNX!!!!

  • omg. 1:48. way too sick.

  • Damn! Made my day! Great is not the word

  • Did two people click "dislike" just to be jerks?

  • @pimphofoo no, their minds were literally blown after listening to art tatum, and thats the part they didnt really enjoyed. you gotta understand that if you were them, you´d be pretty pissed off if your mind suddenly blown after hearing some music

  • Semplicemente Eccezionale

  • fabulous!!! Thanks for posting this by one of the greats~

  • @lauraneville

    Your welcome, you can also check out my other videos. I have some more videos of Fats Waller and Art Tatum.

  • @CBasie2856

    Art Tatum re-recorded this in 1939 didn't he?

  • @ElMorenoRey16

    Im not sure when he did it. You can listen and check out his recordings of tea for two on Amazon - mp3 downloads.

  • @CBasie2856 Thanks, I did, and you were right. This was the 1933 one, the original. He later re-recorded in 1939 (I just posted it) adding a more swift past to the beat of the tune. Both are beautiful renditions if I'm any judge. Art Tatum was one of the greatest pianists of all time....no doubt about it! Thanks again :)

  • @ElMorenoRey16

    Art Tatum ha registrato ufficialmente 3 Tea for Two per piano solo: 1933, 1939, 1953. Sono versioni molto diverse tra loro. Esistono inoltre numerose versioni in trio. Tatum è divino.

  • brilliant

  • I have a transcribed version of this.

    IT is AMAZING.

  • You can tell he was having a special amount of fun with this. There are moments when you can tell he's changing his mind and throwing monkey wrenches in just to see where it takes him. Then he feels the power of the repetition, only he refuses to be redundant...and so off again someplace else.

  • This surpasses any version I've ever heard. I am so glad to have discovered it. It truly is flawless and a unique version. (of course I mean unique in its one and only sense,being : "one of a kind".

  • I love it!!!

  • cute..^_^

  • donthe shark -- I thought I played this song well. Boy, was I wrong.

  • Just the very fact he could reach 13th note cords with intervals leaves with no motive to attemp to learn this by ear.

  • Not a hint of "pounding" or bluster. Just incredible technical virtuosity without even any effort. This is not just piano playing. No doubt he could have played the Rachmaninoff 3rd concerto just as easily. I more than jealous. But then, who could ever imagine anyone better than Tatum, and certainly not me. sanjosemike

  • @sanjosemike I agree with you about Tatum's virtuosity - to me the greatest pianist. But I wonder if he would have been able to replicate the Rachmaninoff 3rd note for note - I'm sure the basic structure and many of the arpegios would have been there, but I keep thinking Tatum would have put his own spin on it - one that I'm sure that Rachmaninov himself would have marvelled at and approved of.

  • so fantastic.... I wonder how you manage to get such a knowing of your instrument! Thanks for posting it !!

  • damn this is cool .....

  • Glad you liking it :)

  • is there a recording available of johnsons "revolutionary etude"?

  • nope, there is no recording

  • Ay por dios, no hables tan mal de tu patria. Pronto se harà realidad el legendario proyecto de Antonio Calderon y formareis parte de la comunidad de naciones sudamericanas y todo mejorarà en vuestro favor, eso si no asesinan a ese hombre, jejeje. Y por cierto, tampoco estàn mal vuestras mujeres, jejeje

  • Saludos desde el trasero del mundo, las manos de este hombre me hacen olvidar en donde vivo.

    Greetings from the rear of the world, hands of this man make me forget where I live.

  • beatifull (lindo)

  • nearly have my minimalist version of this ready , but don't know whether i have guts to post lol ! ! !

    may do so under another name ha ha !

  • its ok, go ahead and post it, but we don't expect u to be Tatum

  • Despite all of the flourishes, Tatum never loses sight of the melody!! Great!

  • Genial y Hermoso, muchas gracias.

  • slick

  • JP Johnson did a stride version of Chopin's Revolutionary Etude? Man I'd love to hear that!

  • Yes i think he did, i read it on a website about Art Tatum, Waller, and Johnson but i don't rember which one

  • I have been playing for over 13 years, and I am quite accomplished at the piano, and yet if I were to do nothing but eat and sleep and play piano non-stop for the rest of my life, I STILL wouldn't be as good as he was.

  • yes you would not be as good as Tatum, but you would be GOOD!

  • theres other version of tea for two , a piano style use it for ballet dance , i hope your feature it. thanks.

  • I'd hope by that point that you defined yourself as a unique pianist. Nobody will ever play like Art Tatum again, but you sure as hell can be a very fascinating musician in your right.

  • it is really easy to be a musican,

    it is kinda easy to become a student

    it is hard to become a professional

    it is extremely hard to become a virtuoso

    it is almost impossible to become a famous musician

    it is COMPLETELY impossible to BE Tatum

  • I totally agree.

  • @CBasie2856, brilliant

  • @CBasie2856 What if someone is his reincarnation?

  • @vimana19

    There isn't going to be no Tatum reincarnation, Oscar Person was Tatum's only match.

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  • @CBasie2856 Errol Garner was Tatum's match (I would ascribe your respected preference to your perspective, maybe it's an acquired taste), Oscar Peterson however was a cry baby, he said so. Alas it ‘aint a competition.

    They say things happen twice, I don’t believe Tatum is the exception just cos it aint happened yet.

    Anyway point is, maybe as the Buddha child was rediscovered so Tatum will be reintarnated instead, and come back to life as a Hillbilly.

  • u could play this after 13 years im sure

  • which is more than 1/7 of your lifetime, assuming that you'll live to be about 75.

  • even the greatest pianists of his time said, some passages of his music are not playable.

    he played them!

  • @DragonerPhoenix I feel that classically trained pianists are too confined to reading music and regurgitating it on the piano. A pianist is an artist, and if he doesnt want to follow conventions he does not need to, art is art, is art tatum.

  • @24NerF Excuse me! That's pretty offensive stuff you're throwing around. Since when did I say anything against Art? I happen to completely agree with your opinion. As a classically trained pianist who is moving into jazz and MY OWN STYLE, I never, ever found myself following "conventions" or "regurgitating it on the piano". What you are referring to are bots. Bots have no musical talent at all but are forced to play piano at high levels. I agree that Art is art. 

  • @DragonerPhoenix Well, classical training lays very good foundations, but there are a lot of so called 'bots' who play music. Which, I must say most calssically musicians are, Im saying this as a classically trained violinist, and during my young days learning the ropes from my teacher she would teach me not to do things because it didnt sound 'proper'. For example, don't slide your fingers to do a portamento, or dont tap your feet... 8 years I look back and do what I want, with whatever style..

  • @24NerF As I was talking about, if you bothered to check the entire comment. Fortunately, my piano teacher kept classical music as open as possible, allowing for little fine touches that I would like to make.

  • Ich bin im  7. Himmel! Grossartig!

  • Two sound of two people playing at once would not be as good. Interestingly, this performance has been "re-performed" with amazing accuracy on SONY Classical - 'Piano Starts Here'.