Art Tatum,原名亚瑟.泰特姆二世(Arthur Tatum,Jr.),出生于1909年，逝世于1956年，爵士摇摆音乐家，钢琴演奏家，亚瑟泰特姆是爵士历史上最特别的音乐家之一，双目失明的他有着非凡的技巧，鲜明的风格和崇高的威望，作为钢琴家，他是无可争议的权威。且其风格和谐完美，远远超过与他同时代的其他音乐家。亚特泰特姆自幼接受了较为正规的音乐训练，然而能成为一名出色的音乐家主要还是靠他自己勤奋的自学。他虽然因尿毒症而英年早逝，但这丝毫未影响他的声誉。在今天看来，他的唱片所表现出来的才华仍能然当代所有钢琴家们感到汗颜。by Scott YanowArt Tatum was among the most extraordinary of all jazz musicians, a pianist with wondrous technique who could not only play ridiculously rapid lines with both hands (his 1933 solo version of Tiger Rag sounds as if there were three pianists jamming together) but was harmonically 30 years ahead of his time; all pianists have to deal to a certain extent with Tatums innovations in order to be taken seriously. Able to play stride, swing, and boogie-woogie with speed and complexity that could only previously be imagined, Tatums quick reflexes and boundless imagination kept his improvisations filled with fresh (and sometimes futuristic) ideas that put him way ahead of his contemporaries.Born nearly blind, Tatum gained some formal piano training at the Toledo School of Music but was largely self-taught. Although influenced a bit by Fats Waller and the semi-classical pianists of the 1920s, there is really no explanation for where Tatum gained his inspiration and ideas from. He first played professionally in Toledo in the mid-20s and had a radio show during 1929-1930. In 1932 Tatum traveled with singer Adelaide Hall to New York and made his recording debut accompanying Hall (as one of two pianists). But for those who had never heard him in person, it was his solos of 1933 (including Tiger Rag) that announced the arrival of a truly major talent. In the 1930s, Tatum spent periods working in Cleveland, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and (in 1938) England. Although he led a popular trio with guitarist Tiny Grimes (later Everett Barksdale) and bassist Slam Stewart in the mid-40s, Tatum spent most of his life as a solo pianist who could always scare the competition. Some observers criticized him for having too much technique (is such a thing possible?), working out and then keeping the same arrangements for particular songs, and for using too many notes, but those minor reservations pale when compared to Tatums reworkings of such tunes as Yesterdays, Begin the Beguine, and even Humoresque. Although he was not a composer, Tatums rearrangements of standards made even warhorses sound like new compositions.Art Tatum, who recorded for Decca throughout the 1930s and Capitol in the late 40s, starred at the Esquire Metropolitan Opera House concert of 1944 and appeared briefly in his only film in 1947, The Fabulous Dorseys (leading a jam session on a heated blues). He recorded extensively for Norman Granz near the end of his life in the 1950s, both solo and with all-star groups; all of the music has been reissued by Pablo on a six-CD box set. His premature death from uremia has not resulted in any loss of fame, for Art Tatums recordings still have the ability to scare modern pianists.