Born on October 13th 1909 in Toledo Ohio, Art Tatum was a jazz pianist often regarded as one of the greats. He suffered from vision problems from an early age and eventually became blind in his left eye with limited vision in the right. He had an excellent memory and perfect pitch. Despite some classical instruction he was largely self-taught on the piano. After winning an amateur competition in 1927, he began to play around Toledo especially at radio station WSPD. These broadcasts brought him to a wider audience in the Midwest, and passing band leaders like Duke Eillington and Fletcher Henderson would visit the clubs where he played to see admire his playing.

After a couple of years in New York, Tatum moved to Cleveland, then Chicago, eventually settling in California - playing for Hollywood parties and various radio programs. He also recorded classic sides for Decca Records. In 1938 Tatum and his wife went to England and Tatum appeared on the BBC Television program Starlight. Returning to the US he played constantly through the 40s into the 50s eventually in a concert setting with Norman Granz’ Jazz at the Philharmonic. In 1949 Tatum signed with Capitol Records. In 1951 he established a full-time trio with bassist Slam Stewart and guitarist Everett Barksdale. In 1953 Tatum recorded 124 solo tracks for Norman Granz’ Label Clef Records.

A heavy drinker, Tatum became seriously ill in 1954 and tried to control his drinking and his weight. In August 1956 he played a concert at the Hollywood Bowl for an audience of 19,000. He died three months later. Tatum’s influence extended to a variety of players in the modern era including Oscar Peterson, Marshall Solal, Bud Powell, Lennie Tristano, Herbie Hancock and Mary Lou Williams. An interesting Tatum footnote is that in 1993 an MIT researcher coined the term “a tatum” as the smallest time interval between successive notes in a rhythmic phrase.