Art Tatum - The Way You Look Tonight

From The Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces. Track #5 on Disc 5 (of 7). Jerome Kern's classic in the hands of the greatest piano player who ever lived.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• art
• tatum
• the
• way
• you
• look
• tonight
• jerome
• kern
• dorothy
• fields
• sinatra
• bennett
• astaire

[wparke]

@QueerOldDean If Duke or Ray just played piano without a band or singing there chords and harmonics would get boring and repetitious after 10 songs. you can't say that with Tatum. Duke and Ray are not concert solo pianists, Tatum is. So compare him to concert solo pianist . You will find most of them boring and repetitive after 10 songs.

[raleiti]

@QueerOldDean Ellington or charles could not hold his jock strap. you haven't got to the point where you appreciate his super sosphistacted disection of the melody, and remember this isn't rehearsed its off the top of his head. in fact he he sat down for two days and ripped 13 albums ad lib and this was just one. thats genius

[jaywbe]

gave up trying to analyse chord structures, harmonies, etc 2 seconds in. this "man" is obviously in a class of his own, not meant to be studied or analyzed, just to be enjoyed. and that suits me just fine :)

(although I'd like to inherit some of his skills :))

[freakyhead20]

Thanks for the upload..there will not be another Tatum..

[composerzane]

@queerolddean - i sympathize with your sentiment here, as controversial as it may be on the comments section for a tatum video. with that said, however, i think a fair amount of the enjoyment any one person gains/does not gain from listening to tatum is partially based on the technicality of their "ear" so to speak. i personally hear repetition of familiar tics, but also the invention that was constructed on top of that (massively technical) foundation.

[QueerOldDean]

Hm. Not to be cynical, but Tatum gets to be somewhat of a bore once you listen to him for about a hundred times. His playing/improv techniques, while quite surprising at first, have too many notes. Also, his acclaimed chord progressions gets old after a while, since his vast harmonic vocabulary is constrained by habit to certain distinct patterns. I mean, I love Tatum--maybe the most genius improv player there ever was--but still I'd prefer the not-so-genius Duke Ellington or Ray Charles anyday.

[markdaniel72]

I am seldom reduced to facile monosyllables, but 'wow', or 'Dear God!' seem suitable here. I have long been a Tatum fan, but somehow this recording has passed me by until tonight. Waller used to say of Tatum, 'God's in the house.' This demonstrates why. The 'usual' staggering technique is here, but also a playful but thoughtful inventiveness surely without peer. WOW.

[voicegenius2]

Art Tatum was a musical Genius. Listen to the harmony he used, along with the melody. I got the chills listening. I even muttered, Oh my G-d. That Harmony! Chordal Structure. Thank you Art Tatum for adding to my life.

[kron42]

One of the greats? Of course. The best that every lived? There is no such person.

[mscarolannstaples]

How lovely is this piece by the master Mr. Tatum... A class all by himself.. Thank you for giving us great music..