Art Tatum Never Sweated, and So, Wasn’t Loved

Art Tatum is a childhood memory, his piano playing was always a part of my dad’s very important music collection. Music experts consider Tatum to be the most admired jazz pianist who ever lived. In yesterday’s WSJ, Terry Teachout discussed just what it is that makes someone memorable, famous and loved…and it’s not their talent.

Teachout writes that Tatum’s problem was that he refused to reveal himself. Besides knowing that he liked baseball and enjoyed Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, the few interviews that the jazz great ever gave just didn’t say much about him. Like an accountant tapping his numbers into a calculator, Tatum just made it look easy. He didn’t have a painful story to tell, he wasn’t a man who faced terrible circumstances and bounced back, no, he simply played the piano better than anyone who ever played jazz.

It’s a fascinating idea, that to become famous, you’ve got to let people in. Simple virtuosity “is an insult, a tactless reminder of human inequality that can only be forgiven when the artists makes clear through visible effort how high a price he has paid for his great gifts. Tatum was too proud to make that concession, he did all his sweating offstage.”

So the centennial of this the greatest jazz pianist who ever played will not be noted, not celebrated, and will simply not make the news. For a taste of what Art Tatum could do, play this this video.