Art Tatum plays Chopin (Valse in C# Minor, Op. 64, No. 2)

Vladimir Horowitz once said that if Art Tatum ever took up classical music seriously, Horowitz would quit the next day. This was recorded on a cheap tape recorder at somebody's home, so pardon the sound quality.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Art
• Tatum
• Chopin
• Valse
• C#
• Minor
• 64
• jazz
• classical
• piano
• virtuoso

[The83rdTrombonist]

Too many of you complain about the speed that he plays at. Art Tatum was never a pianist for the public. He was a pianist for professionals. If you can't play, sing or understand the 13 scales AND have not practices more than an hour a day, you will never understand or like Art Tatum. If the people you think are amazing are always talking about how amazing Art was, then you need to do some homework and find out why.

[melissavardey]

Has no one commented upon his SENSE OF HUMOR?!! It is the fun he is having with his genius. Playing around, cascading through keys, dancing like dappled sunlight on a garden wall, like a butterfly in a summer garden...... he is dancing on the keys, joyfully - because he put the work in - the hours - the dedication, the driving compulsive force of love. Love for his instrument of expression.

[thenamesfrancisco]

lol horowitz would quit the next day

[dexxxhunt]

Arguably the greatest musician that ever walked around planet Earth.....Or anywhere else in the universe for that matter!!

[Hyperclefonical598]

@PabluchoViision Yes I totally agree. I love Latin Jazz! (Tito Puente and the guys you mentioned as well as Machito and eventually Dizzy Gillespie) But, it seems like Jazz sort of went down the tubes after the Bebop era. Just my observation according to my own taste and the mass public in the 1950's.

[PabluchoViision]

@Hyperclefonical598 I think 'kind of just crap' is throwing a lot of different things in the same sack. There is wonderful jazz being created. But you're mostly right about jazz having broken away from danceability. Where THAT spirit still lives, with awesome energy and joy, is in the world of LATIN JAZZ. Listen to the music of Dave Valentín, Poncho Sánchez, et al. and you will hear it there - including a lot of honoring of the jazz tradition going way back.

[frankbraker]

from :54 to :58 - he's quoting something else - I think some other piece?

[TheStefanNestor]

@The83rdTrombonist “Everyone wants to understand painting. Why is there no attempt to understand the song of the birds?” - P.Picasso

"To like" is not dependent on "to understand"(the way you used the term).To love even less.

[Hyperclefonical598]

@rurikbird I totally agree that modern jazz is "music for musicians". Actually, it's kind of just crap now. Jazz has evolved so much from swing and even be-bop, that it has lost the joy and dance energy it had back before the "progressive" era. I feel that energy and joy is part of what had the mass public on it's side.

[Hyperclefonical598]

Tatum's interpretation here of this popular Chopin waltz is absolutely amazing and wonderfully imaginative!! I would also love to hear how James P. Johnson would have played it!

[fdubmusic]

fucking hipsters. just enjoy the music. do you really think artists think about what you're talking about when creating? this is pointless.

[The83rdTrombonist]

@rurikbird Like you said, you're utterly ridiculous and wrong. As I said before, I was making a point for one side of the fence and NOT for all sides. It is true that much of the public liked hearing him but that was not the case originally. Many people oculd not stand to hear him because of the complexity. He could play well beyond average comprehension but after bad reactions, he dumbed his playing down a bit. So bite me if you don't understand.