Art Tatum -- Sweet Lorraine

[369wk]

The man was a genius. Any other comment is superfluous.

[TheShivka]

undisputed art tatum amazing playing

[16yearoldwhiteboy]

Genius + extremely fast reflexes + encyclopedic memory + a whole lot of spare time + perfect posture + confidence + large hands + creativity = Tatum. But still He is not God, as i hear many say, God is the Creator who thought to give him these amazing talents, to Him goes the praise. Peace.

[MarquisEstelle]

@16yearoldwhiteboy It has been written in several places that Tatum only ever spent his waking time playing the piano. He didn't practice, he only played. He probably didn't need to practice. He wrote no original music, he only played familiar tunes in unique ways. He also drank prodigous amounts of...get this....Pabst Blue Ribbon, literally cases at a time, yet he never showed it. This individual lived and breathed the piano, and nothing else. His entire being was consumed with it.

[eastlake93]

This brings a big man like me to tears.

[SendInTheChickens]

anyone who is bothered by the negative comments here, or indeed in any youtube comment section, should feel immediately consoled by the fact that only a very small proportion of arseholes (myself included) ever bother to comment on the thing they have just watched. the rest simply shut up and appreciate.

[sralmy]

1:39 SNAP!



[paulostroff99]

L0vely playing.TY e for posting.

[vimana19]

The "Yeh, yeh" was the bit that gave it away... That is definitely Tatum. Lol. Of course it is. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, just don't call me Japanese, eh?!

[brabazon10]

what about the depth of that piano; amazing.....and Art knew how to use such a super instrument to the full.

[savethetrees433]

One person in this world apparently doesn't understand music.

[Santosificationable]

Chuck Norris disliked this video because he thought he was the best lol

[ellingtonia1899429]

I do not think this real Art Tatum.

[stevekindler]

@ellingtonia1899429

it's real.. one any only

[bluesinorbit]

@ellingtonia1899429 This is Tatum, near-dead, playing among friends, reaching for something new in this tune that he must have played a thousand times. 

[ellingtonia1899429]

@bluesinorbit Oh, sorry, it sounded to me different from his Sweet Lorraine I heard before , but the reason was that he was near dead.

[madbebopper]

There is only one Art Tatum - possibly the greatest piano genius of all time in music.

He has brought me to tears with his sheer greatness many times. He never got the recognition due during his short lifetime.

God Bless you Art Tatum!

[pinkieldred]

Can anyone tell me...how many different versions of Sweet Lorraine Art recorded..? I have 5...I know there are more.

[xbeccagx]

One dislike? How could someone physically click the dislike button to such a beautiful video? Especially when everyone else likes it.. :)

[pinkieldred]

@xbeccagx .....this guy probably thinks Elton John is better (Pianistically ) and just doesn't have the ears to know the difference!

[wiggins1992]

i'm not gonna make some shite joke about there being 1 dislike and how that person must be a pleb or something. but i am genuinely shocked to see that someone doesnt like this, or doesnt appreciate how amazing this is

[panelacosmica]

3:00 to 3:03

Make your own GOD rintone :D

i did

[panelacosmica]

3:00 to 3:05

GOD

[Groek123]

I wished he had played some Bach Fuges for us , but that was not the time to play Bach for a Black Guy , why he should do that ! He was not only a Pianist , he was a great Artist and he is a Hero of Music for all times .

It must be horrible to be Black in that times and it must be more horrible to be a Black genius like Mozart or Bach as Tatum was . These Guys were great great Characters !

[freeqwerqwer]

I used to listen to this piano rendition of Sweet Lorraine like 500 times.

[Zerad92]

strong, fast and expressive in the same time... what a genius

[filistro]

I'll never get tired listening to that miracle of a pianist !

[earsoup]

gotta love the pulse, the swing !

[pinkieldred]

Along came Art Tatum and then the world changed musically. New magical phrasing ,chord structure etc...He was a genius ! This is one of many Sweet Lorraine's he recorded..everyone exciting and different.!

[pinkieldred]

Along came Art Tatum and then the world changed musically. New magical phrasing ,chord structure etc...He was a genius !

[brabazon10]

Interesting to hear Ray Heindorf making comments in between tracks. The famous Jack Webb [DRAGNET] is supposed to have previously been bashing on that piano in his house.

They all seemed to love one track of Sweet Lorraine....got a lot clapping.

[ipublica]

Wonderful document of his genius!!!

[Zuzelschorsch]

brilliant

[raa1231]

A few famous classical pianists were crazy about this guy. Their names elude me at the moment. I think Horowitz might have been one of them.

[Rooticaliyut]

i just crapped in my pants and ate it

[MarquisEstelle]

I'm so tired of the term 'shredding.' This obviously isn't guitar, in the first place. Few, if any, guitarists are even the in same musical league as Tatum in sheer virtuousity. Shredding is a series of "parlor tricks," as Leopold Mozart called them, this, in distinction, is virtuosity. More shameful still is that the current generation can see no more in this world class musician than a pimped out, lame, and hollow term called 'shredding.'

[librasurf]

@MarquisEstelle YOu have to forgive how some young people try to recognize a genius......

Oscar Petersen is up there too!!!

[KawhackitaRag]

@MarquisEstelle

c'mon man, give them the benefit of the doubt. I am friends with many such people, and some of them genuinely appreciate this music... they just don't know the right words to express it, because it is something they have not encountered before. Instead of picking on them, why not help by giving them some better words to use?

You don't have to define them... that's what google and the dictionary are for.

I agree that many of Tatum's performances have tremendous depth.

[MarquisEstelle]

@KawhackitaRag Ah...it's not a bitter isolation, it's simply that these little guys could try and stretch their vocabulary and appreciation, and it doesn't hurt to jolt them a little. It's a way of learning to realize there are other levels of appreciation might have a little more educated depth and descriptive norms to them. I too am friends with many such people and I write such not in spite of it, but because of it. Thanks for you comments. Perhaps that too will help broaden the horizon.

[seamothboy]

@MarquisEstelle did Leopold ever really call them parlor tricks, or did you make the quote up?

[MarquisEstelle]

@seamothboy He used the German equivalent.....

[MegaYoshitsune]

@MarquisEstelle I think fast guitarists can be good like Shawn Lane and Allan Holdsworth, but most of them just never want to slow down.

[songofthewhales]

@MarquisEstelle As a young person I'm getting tired of that stereotype. We can all be deeply moved by this music because we are all humans with souls. Please keep hateful things like this to yourself.

[MarquisEstelle]

@songofthewhales As a young person you need to learn to keep your mouth shut and have some respect.....who says it's a stereotype anyway. Are you classically trained? Didn't think so. So keep your stereotypical stereotyping remarks to yourself.

[kitdownesmusic]

@MarquisEstelle i love his shredding though

[thetaxman1991]

this guy is ridiky donkey

[helmut4lyfe]

I absolutely LOVE the run from 0:05-0:06.. It's used in one of the songs in Legend of 1900, and I haven't been able to figure it out

[MattMurdockCZ]

@helmut4lyfe you mean Playing Love?

[helmut4lyfe]

@MattMurdockCZ Yes, I couldn't think of the name off the top of my head. I absolutely love that little run he does. As an amateur piano player and avid tatum fan, I want to learn it!

[bellofpeterpan]

That`s great!!!

[andresp87elan]

capo total

[2Young4OldFashioned]

Sounds like Billy Taylor talking at the end?

[Andreeeiiii]

02:26 is excactly a phrase from petersons night train - hymn to freedom

[helmut4lyfe]

This came out first :)

[Andreeeiiii]

haha, but if i said like "thats the phrase Art plays in sweet lorraine", nobody would hear that its similar, because its virtouse ;)

[Mobyman690]

peterson came after tatum

[Andreeeiiii]

no way? hahahha.... "didnt know that" :D

-.-"

[sierraninerone]

hot p jazz.. may i interject that the couple in the back have a striking resemblance to mr. mitchum and ms. hayworth. can i get a witness here ? wonderful blues, thank you.

[BRazor78]

Haha the guest at the end says "G flat, sounds easy" and Tatum's like "yeah, its really easy". It would take me years to play in that key anywhere near as well as Tatum did.

[valvetrom]

@BRazor78 Chopin used to start his pupils off in Gb. Irving Berlin could only play on the black keys.

so whats your problem?? But it would take me centuries to play like Tatum in any key, and I don't want to, too decorative but enjoyable.

[BRazor78]

@valvetrom I have no problem, I was simply stating the fact that Gb's not a key most people are accustomed to improvising in. Also, these days, most teachers, including mine, start their students off in C so Chopin's not a good example to prove your point with. And if you actually studied Tatum's transcriptions, Tatum 's playing was much more than decorative. It was harmonically ahead of its time.

[valvetrom]

I started a lot of kids and teenagers on Gb to play

by ear "Amazing grace" its pentatonic. they loved it.

Orienteering is good and easy., but heart and soul,Carmichel they play in C. But others do

K-Ci and Jo Jo , all my live, in Db, out of their own

initiative. So Tatum was right,Gb is easy( as long

you don't write it down

[BRazor78]

Yeah you have a good point there... It's easy to play but its harder to improvise in because its less common than Bb or F for example.

[valvetrom]

Monk wrote(C Williams) Round about Midnight, in Gb -Eb minor ,he could see the pentatonic scale, he hidn't need to put it in written music. Is a very beautiful ballad.

[madacus2]

Hi Brazor78. If you trerat G fat as F sharp it makes it easier, moving to dominant and its dominant etc.

Madicus2

[Patrickphx11]

Kah Der

[moob744]

Puts a smile on MY face!

[brabazon10]

It will probably be another 100 years before another Art Tatum comes along. His abilities with time, harmonies and substitute chords have never been matched.

Irrespective of genre of music, no other pianist ever had such ability to play chords like him. His departure at age 47 was a tragedy and far too soon.

Hopefully future generations will be able to appreciate his craft.

[BRazor78]

Its been over 250 years since Mozart's birth and i dont expect another prodigy like him anytime soon. I daresay well be waiting for another 1000 years for another tatum.

[brabazon10]

agree totally. his mind worked at such a speed, that really he was very much a solo pianist, even though he made many recordings with others. An extraordinary musician.

He was planning to make some recordings with an orchestra, playing Rhapsody in Blue,etc but it was too late. a tragedy.

[kkprinter]

There is only one god and his name is art

[demosj]

@kkprinter

I see what you did there.

[CBasie2856]

then who is Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Horowitz, Oscar Peterson and all the other really talented folks out there. Seems to me that there can be more than one God out there. To me there is lots of musical Gods, even at my school.

[madacus2]

ask your teacher to copy that .Play the this for her/him get a response, then decide. It's the harmony that changes and sometimes in every bar. He was blind, never had a piano lesson. I am a jazz pianist and believe me, this is so clever. There is only one one God who could play piano whenever he wanted. Unfortunately he doesn't. Tatum may be near it on earth. Don't be cynical. Just enjoy it.

[helmut4lyfe]

Agreed. However, he was classically trained when he attended a school for blind at the age of 4. His teachers didn't like jazz, but he continued (obviously).

[madacus2]

Hi helmut4lyfe. Thanks for info. Ididn't know that about Tatum. I wonder what Art would have been like if his teachers did enjoy jazz! I get disheartened with many remarks posted, sometimes ignoring utube for a few days because of it. Tatum was quite remarkable by any musicians standards in whichever discipline of music. Thanks again

Madacus2

[helmut4lyfe]

You're very welcome. I listen to Tatum and study him religiously.  I actually have a video on my profile of Tatum's Elegy, which I consider to be one of, if not his best work. Check it out if you'd like, it's worthwhile.

[samadjhi]

@madacus2 Your words dont go unheard! Teach brother

[ray123ification]

unique and wonderful

[bkgangstapianist]

I wish more people heard this. This, I think, is one of his best solos ever!

Not to many crazy difficult runs that bend in and around the beat. The chords are warm and sultry and perfect. His timing is impeccable. The song itself is beautiful.

Not taking away from any of Art's solos, but I jus think this one is sitting in a groove and just stays right in the center of that groove all the way through.

[PetromyzonMarinus]

...His name is ART.

[ChrisBryon]

I do KNOW

[CBasie2856]

who made ART music! This is ART... beautiful, artistic, abstract, and great at all the same time.

Mabye God named him Art because he invented a new style of jazz piano - a new Art.

[billythehelper]

His middle name should have been Art "Cantimma" Tatum

[SunnYoOoO]

what name would fit him better :>

[ChrisBryon]

Was it Tatum speaking someone says "F Sharp"

[rockstar728]

yup - that was him.

[ReturnOfTheStienway]

PIMP!

[Shmecklecka]

Damn! It's... inexplicable.

All that effortless, technique, harmony, flawless rhythm, and in the end it's all so profoundly, joyously musical. I've not heard this version before. Thank you for posting it!

[BrunoJazzmanLeicht]

Tatum had it all. I always listen to it with my eyes closed.

[lessunn]

I feel you! It's like you can picture the black and white camera paning around his incredible hands and then switching to his face to show nothing more than a smile...as to let us know how easy this really is for him....almost make you hate him...ALOT.....in a good way tho.....like he's taunting us....damn genius

[openpianist]

Art is magnificent!!

I could listen to him for several hours in a role.

Thank you Art.

[Synematic]

This man played duets by himself when he was young, not knowing they were meant for two people. It's still hard to believe that his tiger rag is performed by only one person.

Tatum and Liszt would have had a hell of a time playing together.

[elkwolf]

but this isn't tatum playing, correct?

[CBasie2856]

This is Tatum

[elkwolf]

oops, guess im just so used to his other recording.

[CBasie2856]

He had many recordings of this tune. He did many recordings of other tunes too.

[420rules420]

HOLY GOD IN HEAVEN! ! ! THIS GUY IS NUTS

[Zappacho]

Before Guitar shredding, there was Art Tatum ^^

[Despond]

This isn't shredding. It's actual melodic and has unique phrasing. :)

[djziggurat]

hey, shredding can be unique and melodic, but yes, most shredders arent, check out Shawn Lane, might take a bit to like, but if you like this you'll love him, he loves tatum, and cannonball, best guitarist to have ever lived, hands down

Gray Piano flying, get you back, and Hardcase are all good songs that you can start with

[Despond]

How do you think I came across to search for this footage? It was off a Shawn Lane title. I knew about Art Tatum before but never had seen footage. I've been into Lane way before youtube. :)

Shawn Lane isn't' a shredder. Shredding doesn't exist. It's just a term conjured by people trying to sound hardcore - mainly metal players with their cliche approaches. The essence being if you play fast you shred, regardless of any difficult sequences and phrasings. Absurd really.

[Despond]

You're either a skilled/competent musician or not. That includes all facets... your library of technical skills, your precision/dexterity, compositional abilities, improvisational abilities and theoretical knowledge/variation.

It all plays a role not: "Hey dude, I am a shredder". ^^

[djziggurat]

hehe, i wonder how many others seeing this vid are lane fans, and yes, lane was faaaar beyond just a mere shredder

[hypgenius114]

@Despond You obviously don't listen to progressive.....

[harriter88]

@Zappacho Yeah but with infinitely more heart & soul style and sophistication then 99% of most gutair shredding espically of recent vintage with all of it's bs distortion diminished runs and arpeggios.Now if your talking about Hendrix,Howe and a few others with deep blues,folk,country & classical roots then i'm with you.

[avedwards]

He was a genius. Not only that, he was also blind but plays the piano as good as some of the best pianists there are.

[ugnex3]

not as good. better. much better. infinitisimally better.

[boogsie777]

He was as good as chopin ..He was the best player of any style remarked Rachmaninoff !

[bigdavehunter]

Great performance! What a genius!

[musictranscription]

I can write for you any sheet music

[ugnex3]

transcribe this one for me, will ya? :]

[ffurgy]

I got to hear Tatum at the Hollywood Bowl back in the 50's...he played a gig with Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson..didn't quit until 2 AM. Oh my gawd...I was a hack of a recital pianist, and here he was. I'd say he was as good as Liszt, Chopin, Godowski and/or Rachmaninoff...and here's another little known...Nat Cole was close behind Tatum in skill and improvisation. I have a book of Cole's compositions...I can't begin to play them...

[shelim23]

I've seen many recorded interviews of known composers and performers including Vladimir Horowitz and Sergei Rachmaninoff who weren't from the jazz world claim he'd impress them by changing the keys on the fly or playing different variations of a song instantly while he performed as well as other greats talking about the cutting contests and rent parties in NY where he'd impress and amaze! Willie "the lion" Smith and Thomas"Fats" Waller of the many great pianists in the cutting contests of Harlem

[charlietuna11]

i had the great honor to see tatum 3 times although he was approachable i was to intimidated.he was accurately described as a genius who had no respect for the impossible.i can't do better than that.

[thenewrapstyle]

i think if i had the chance to hear this in person i'm come apart at the seams.

[KawhackitaRag]

Dick Hyman heard him in person and thought it was one of the greatest things he ever heard.

[ltfunko]

I think we can hear him talking at the end.

[anilstrathclyde]

yeah, he's the one who says "f sharp" (Tatum often played his pieces in notoriously difficult keys). What amazes me about Tatum is that by all accounts he was a very modest man. He liked to drink beer, loved playing cards and baseball...basically a blue collar guy from Ohio who was an absolute genius at the piano, greayest jazz pianist ever, no contest. Some pianists have a style that gets old after you listen to them a few times, Tatum never does because there is such depth to his playing.

[andrew17660]

F sharp! goddamnit. Thats a hard key to play this song in, and not to mention play it so well! I've never heard a version in the standard G or C that's even close to half as good as this (except of course maybe one by tatum)

[Wderganc]

My favorite version by far.

[Pentagonshark666]

Tatum is one the realest legends in the jazz

music.

[missye04]

art tatum the legend!

[pinkieldred]

OHHHHHHHH Eargasims one of my favorite tunes by Tatum