Being born blind never proved to go against the music in Arthur Tatum Jr’s heart. One of the most technically sound pianists, his technique and compositions manage to boggle musicians even in this advanced day and age.
Born on the 13th of October 1909, Arthur Tatum could barely see from one eye after having cataracts in one eye with the other having limited vision – a condition which he had from when he was just months old. A child prodigy, he started by learning how to play the piano rolls from recordings which his mother used to play at home. He slowly started playing duets not knowing that they were meant to be played as duets but playing both the parts himself.
Having learnt to play in this unusual manner, his playing style was very fast which he could surprisingly play with acute accuracy. While he was developing his talent, he also made sure that the piano was always tuned right and would insist that it be tuned right.
He underwent surgery to improve the condition of his eye which didn’t give him relief for too long. In around 1930 when he was around 20 years old, he was inflicted which damaged his eye again. He started his career in Ohio where he was born. He later shifted base to New York in 1932.
His music influences grew over the years and he started taking after James P Johnson and Fats Waller who were considered the best stride piano players. His claim to fame was a cutting contest. A cutting contest was a contest between stride piano players in Harlem where one player would “cut” into the piece the other player was playing and in the process try to outdo him. In a cutting contest in 1933, he beat his heroes at the keys – Fats Waller.
At these contests, the standard songs that used to be played were Harlem Strut, Carolina Shout and Handful Keys – all of which were composed between Johnson and Waller. Tatum competed against them with his own arrangement of Tiger Rag – a tune originally composed by the Original Dixie Land Jazz Band. He out beat them and all the other competition making the event one that marked the phasing out of the stride era. After that, he became known to be the authority on the stride style of playing the piano. He held the record for being the best at the instrument only to be challenged by Donald “The Lamb” Lambert who came the closest to challenging Tatum at the instrument that he had come to master.
The immediate reaction of a pianist to one of Tatum’s recording would leave him baffled at what he was doing where and how. His fingers flowed like water on the keys. He was consequently free stylist in his method of playing the piano. His mastery of being able to move his fingers fast over the keys of a piano with accuracy like as if one is listening to a sped up version of the player using the same techniques. This allowed him to fly like a breeze through a part that any other pianist would cringe to play because it was difficult.
The technique itself was not the complicated. Jimmy Rowles, an admirer and colleague, confessed that the despite slowing down the faster parts of his signature piece “Tiger Rag”, you’d find a perfectly coherent, syncopated rhythm. Taking ground from his stride piano roots, he took the same genius to playing jazz like the good usage of pentatonic scales which allowed for jazz to grow a form of music which was ideal for solos. He influenced many jazz masters of the period like Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson, Billy Taylor, Bill Evans, and Chick Corea.
Another handy work of the genius that Tatum was is the introduction of swinging the beat of a jazz song. He was firm believer that melody was king which showed in his music. He never attempted going away from the original melody of the song and preferred working with the original melody of the tune innovating with the chord progressions to suit the melody.
The man was such a genius at the piano because most musicians couldn’t keep up with his speed and extensive techniques. He will go down in history as the virtuoso of jazz piano.
By: Duane Shinn
Jazz piano is a built-in part of the jazz dialect because it has been originated in solo as well as group. Due to the melodious and consonant nature of jazz music, people of all ages are keenly taking interest in learning to play jazz and practice jazz piano, jazz bass line, jazz guitar etc.
Learning jazz piano is not dependent on age of a person; the music just comes from within the soul. If someone wants to practice jazz piano, he must initially learn to play chords, then he can learn to play it with swing rhythm. The chords can be learnt just as ordinary piano chords like learning main intervals and building the chords. By learning these, one can practice broad forms of jazz music. But in actual practice when, one starts learning chords , its not just few riffs and licks because when advanced chords like 9th,11th and 13th make it little confusing. No one is born with natural power and piano isn’t easy. To make it easy to learn jazz piano, there must be some fixed rationales and formulas which make it comfortable to remember.
There are a few points that should be remembered while you learn to play jazz piano. While practicing jazz piano, addition of the 6th tone and harmonization of chords makes the music extremely melodious. Try to provide the swinging rhythm as clear as possible. The learners should strike weak beat with their left hand and then a beat with their right hand. Establishment of the guide tones have also proved to be excellent at the course of cord changing. To provide your jazz music a harmonic multifarious ness, the technique of circle of fifths is used which involves planning of chord in such a fashion that firstly a chord is shifted and frequently voiced, and then the scale goes upwards giving it a recurring pattern.
After following these few tips one can definitely improve his art of playing jazz piano.In conclusion, it is not required that to learn jazz piano, you must first learn how to play a regular piano or you should first have the classical training about any instrument, music comes from within.
By: Akhila Choudhary
Jazz music has had a checkered history. It is widely believed that jazz was possibly born in New Orleans sometime in the 1920s. It is said that early African Americans, probably slaves, stumbled on to jazz music while trying out a fusion between their native folk music and the European form. In its early days jazz was more popular in bars. Perhaps it was this dubious association which prevented the growth of jazz music till the advent of the radio. The instruments popularly used were accordion, fiddle, flute, guitar, various percussion, wind, string and chord instruments. The most popular of them all were the guitar and the piano.
Today jazz music is popular once again. The main reasons for the popularity of jazz are two. Firstly, jazz has an individualistic style of rendition and secondly, jazz has a natural rhythm which is lilting and captivating. Amateurs and would be professionals today practice jazz piano using a variety of means. The obvious choice is of course the internet. One common method is to use websites which have a wide selection of songs using the piano as the prime instrument. You as the learner have a number of options. First of all you can select your favorite song. Secondly, you can select your choice of accompaniment and then you can practice jazz bass lines. Your options do not end here. You can also select the pitch, the song duration and its rhythm as well. Therefore, you could use a metronome as a guide for the rhythm or the beat. Since the metronome’s beat is adjustable you could increase the beat gradually while you practice jazz bass lines. You can practice to your heart’s content till you are satisfied. Once you are convinced that the result is satisfactory you could download in either the MIDI or MP3 formats.
An amateur wanting to practice jazz piano no longer faces the insurmountable task of looking for a teacher and commuting to his school during each visit. In the comfort of his home he can now learn jazz music.
By: Akhila Choudhary