Art Tatum is one of the few musicians for whom the word “incredible” truly fits. Tatum’s technique on the piano was so wondrous that it amazed classical pianists, his speed could be blinding and his musical vocabulary, especially harmonically, was three decades ahead of his contemporaries in the 1930s.

Tatum was born 13 October 1909 in Toledo, Ohio. Nearly blind from birth (just having a slight amount of vision in one eye), he was self-taught on the piano initially before gaining some formal training at the Toledo School of Music. Tatum also briefly played guitar, violin and accordion but soon stuck exclusively to piano. He later stated that his main influences were Fats Waller and some of the semi-classical pianists of the 1920s but there is no explanation for his genius or where he originated many of his more startling musical ideas.

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