Art Tatum plays Tea for Two

Of all Tatum's recordings, this is probably my favorite. I think it's by far his best version of Tea for Two (even better than the earlier, transcribed version which as of now is the only other version on Youtube). It's almost classical the way he develops and varies the theme. If Liszt played Tea for Two, it would sound something like this. :)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Art
• Tatum
• Tea
• for
• Two
• jazz
• piano

[Santosificationable]

Three people disliked this video: Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and Rebecca Black.

[chucknorrisfanclub]

3 people are deaf in one ear and almost fully in the other.

[jrcwwl]

@goldensnake100 Oh how sadly right you are!!

[Tcjunior18]

be crazy to see him play circus gallop!

[MrJarrentan]

This Is Weird

[16yearoldwhiteboy]

@Santosificationable Yes i know i feel like Yves Plat may be trying to be a show-off actually sometimes. And i don't judge just by their speed, i just really enjoy these amazing songs, i mean it may seem like I do, but that's really what I like listening to / playing lol. I actually get turned off from from this genre sometimes because i feel like they only do what their fingers feel comfortable doing fast. Now Art i think he was able to play from his heart regardless, but idk about Yves Plat

[elsapoguapo]

What?! Yves-Plat is great, but, c'mon... He's not a true improviser, and plus, even his overly pre-meditated version of Tea for Two doesn't even hold a candle to Tatum's in terms of musicality, creativeness, or virtuosity... sorry. This version is so much more interesting musically than Plat could ever hope to accomplish, let alone not as impressive, energetic or emotional.

No one will ever be like Tatum, including Yves who swings like a rusty gate and has a very vanilla/predictable arrangement.

[Santosificationable]

@16yearoldwhiteboy Many college graduates from music schools can probably reach that technique nowadays, so I don't think it's a question of how "fast" the runs are, how quick the strides are, etc. What matters is what they *CAN* do. I'd say that Bill Evans, despite playing in a less technically demanding style, can improvise at a higher level than Yves.

I used to be like you before, critiquing a pianist by the speed of his runs. Then again, it's not the hands that matter, it's the artistry.

[16yearoldwhiteboy]

@Santosificationable Wow Yves Plat improvised?! Yeah actually Yves Plat is probably the best I've heard since Tatum of course (in terms of virtuosity). But i mean we don't know if Yves Plat practiced and they *say* Art didn't but honestly i don't know if i can believe that lol. Either way i think Yves Plat is astonishing, but Arts runs were much more complex and fast (& sometimes spontaneous) and he changed keys fluidly! Yeah Plat needs to be more mature and relaxed really to more like Art.

[Santosificationable]

@MissyHolland What I meant, dear viewer, was that it's highly probable that three extremely jealous people disliked this video when they discovered just how mediocre they were compared to someone that can actually be called "mature". And it's highly probable that those 3 very jealous people were Lady Gaga, Rebecca Black, and Justin Bieber.

The fourth disliker was probably someone who tried to favorite the video, but accidentally pressed thumbs-down as scrolling towards the "add-to" button.

[Santosificationable]

Tatum's (this) version is simply amazing, but that doesn't mean we can already shun pianists like Yves aside. It's still a great benefit to learn from them. I dream that I will be as good as (if not better, why not?) than Yves Plat in improvising, one day. But Tatum? I wouldn't bet on it. People like him only show up once in a hundred years, and I'd be incredibly LUCKY if I were going to be that one genius to grace the 21st century, lol.

[Santosificationable]

@16yearoldwhiteboy Just watched Yves' Plat version of this song. It's really entertaining, and I was amazed at the insane stride part (his left hand velocity was just like the one in Tiger Rag!).

But if we wanted to be serious about this, I think he's...far from Tatum in musical maturity and pure virtuosity. For example, take the rapid changing of keys in 2:45 of this video - Yves might have difficulty with it performing it at the spot.