Art Tatum

"First you speak of Art Tatum, then you take a long deep breath, and you speak of the other pianists"
Dizzy Gillespie



I could very easily have titled this post "The Case For Art Tatum". He was and remains quite a divisive figure in jazz. There is absolutely no doubting the man's talent when it came to putting fingers onto piano keys. His technique was absolutely sublime and would stop people in their tracks, especially back in the 1930's when he burst on to the scene. Check out Tea For Two his first solo recording from 1932, which remains his most famous track.



I don't think one key on the piano remained untouched! It's also astounding to think that Tatum was almost blind from an early age as well. He was a child prodigy and later was heavily influenced by the popular stride pianists of the 20's including Fats Waller and James P Johnson. It was however the intricate playing of Earl Hines that appeared to have the most effect on him. He preferred to play solo rather than with a band and he was one of the pioneers of early piano jazz soloing that would be exploited more fully by the bebop players in the 40's.

He pretty much scared the bejeesus out of anyone who considered themselves to be a piano player back in the 1930's. After hearing Tatum for the first time Les Paul(!) claimed that "I quit playing the piano right then and there and went to the guitar." Even Fats Waller, who was no slouch, is reported to have said when Tatum showed up at one of his shows, "I only play the piano, but tonight God is in the house". Pianist Teddy Wilson put it very nicely when he said, "Put a piano in a room, just a bare piano. Then you get all the finest jazz pianists in the world and let them play in the presence of Art Tatum. Then let Art play. Everyone there will sound like an amateur."

Have a look at this short video of Clint Eastwood chatting with Ray Charles about their mutual respect for Art Tatum. There is some fantastic (and quite rare) footage of Tatum himself in the clip.



He was quite the antithesis of a player like Count Basie who liked to play sparse notes and preferred the rhythm section to take care of the bass lines. And herein lies the problem with Art Tatum. He never played one note when he could play ten for which he received criticism. Les Paul, although a fan of Tatum, pinpointed the problem by saying that Tatum's musical ability put him at odds with the general listener. "The more talented (a player) is, the thinner the air gets. When you have that ability it's hard to restrict yourself to playing something as stupid as the melody!"

From my point of view I can see both sides and I would compare Tatum in guitar terms with someone like Yngwie Malmsteen. Their technique is beyond question. Yet listening to both of them for any length of time can be tiresome. Luckily Tatum did make some really fantastic recordings towards the end of his career in a band setting with superb musicians who were able to keep up with and in some ways reign him back into the songs he was playing. I'll sign off with this great track that he did in collaboration with Benny Carter on alto sax and Louis Bellson on drums. Called Blues In C the song really shows how he could combine his pyrotechnics with a wonderful bluesy after hours feel.

Hot Lips Page

One of the tracks that blew me away when recently listening to an album by Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra for the jazz library was "Lafayette". The reason? The absolutely scorching trumpet solo from Oran "Hot Lips" Page. Before we continue, please have a listen.

Early Basie, no? Perhaps a little more up tempo than the classic Basie riff sound that was to dominate jazz five years later. Some ingredients for a classic pre-swing jazz track are included in this track. An opening tenor sax solo from one of the legends of the instrument, Ben Webster; jazz bass innovator Walter Page and Count Basie himself on the piano. However, for me, the outstanding moment is Hot Lips Page's blistering solo. Such was his talent that he opted to leave the Basie band right before they were to make it big in 1936. He had decided to try for a solo career under the guidance of Louis Armstrong's manager, Joe Gleason. The fact that you may not have heard of Hot Lips Page but you know undoubtedly who Louis Armstrong is, is an indication of where Hot Lips Page's career sadly went. 

 

Oran Thaddeus "Hot Lips" Page was born in 1908 in Dallas Texas. His early musical career saw him move around the States quite a bit. Before the age of 20 he had already provided backing for such blues legends as Ma Rainey, Ida Cox and Bessie Smith. His grounding in the blues was to remain with him for the remainder of his career and provided a very important element to his jazz improvisation. In fact a lot of Page's recordings that I have listened to recently are pure out and out blues. Not surprisingly then he is regarded as an innovative force in early R 'n' B. Yet he was also involved in many musical events that were to shape the direction of jazz from the early 30's onward. 

He was a member of the hugely important band The Blue Devils in the late 1920's which was eventually to become Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra. He was prominently featured in a legendary recording session that took place in New Jersey in December 1932. Some of the tracks that were recorded that day included Moten Swing and the above mentioned Lafayette. This was the music that was to pave the way for the Swing era that dominated jazz in the 1930's. After opting to go solo, Page had modest success fronting his own orchestra in the latter part of the decade. As well as a superb trumpeter he was also a formidable vocalist very much in the style of Louis Armstrong. 

Page was never to achieve much success as an orchestra leader. Yet as a sideman he made some fantastic tracks in the 1940's. His travels across the country were to see him work and record with Artie Shaw, Ben Webster and Sidney Bechet, to name a few. He performed in Carnegie Hall in 1942 with Fats Waller, although sadly only one track of the concerts has survived. Page also pushed himself musically and was unafraid to experiment as evidenced by his attendance and participation at the 1942 jam sessions various Harlem nightclubs. These sessions involved many of the artists that would make bebop the next driving force of jazz. 

Hot Lips Page & Sidney Bechet (New York 1947)

I have really enjoyed researching and listening to the music of Hot Lips Page. It is really hard to pin his musical style down and to put a label onto his work as a whole. Riff style jazz, smooth orchestra, small combo stuff, pop, novelty songs, duets, out and out blues - he covered a lot of bases and it would be unfair to characterise him solely as a blues singer or a jazz trumpeter. His body of work speaks for itself. So too perhaps do his last known recordings which were of a raucous live show that included the tracks St Louis Blues, Sheik of Araby, On The Sunny Side Of The Street and a fantastic St James Infirmary. Unfortunately after much trawling of the internet I cannot find any versions to embed here. They are on the Chronological Classics album 1950 - 1953 and are well worth seeking out. Traditional good time jazz at its best performed by one of the greats who deserves way more recognition. 

Here's another earlier cracking version of St James Infirmary that Page recorded in 1947.  

Stride Piano II - Fats Waller

Fats Waller was a name familiar to me. If you mentioned his name I would immediately recollect, perhaps the most famous, photo of him, the one where he is sitting at an upright piano, wearing a cockeyed hat and smoking a cigarette. I also knew that his most famous track was the classic, Aint Misbehavin'.



However I was unaware of the actual style of his playing. I assumed that he played an early form of boogie woogie but in fact his style is very much Harlem Stride. He was a student of James P Johnson, who we looked at in the previous post. I have heard it argued though that Waller took the stride piano form to a higher level. He was a formidable musician but in his favour was his immense showmanship. This is apparent in the songs and records that he left us. I love the humour that jump out of the songs. It sounds like he was having the time of his life (and he probably was considering that he was partial to having a bottle of gin on his piano).

His entire catalogue is worth checking out, but here are a few choice cuts.

Handful of Keys. This song exemplifies Fats Waller's technique.



Honeysuckle Rose. A great example of Fats' sublime piano playing infused with his tongue in cheek delivery.



The Joint Is Jumpin'. It's Friday night in 1920's Harlem.