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Who's the next Art Tatum?


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Some genres of music are more intellectual and less sensory than others. One is not better than another. Culture can flow towards the intellectual (the rise of classical and then romantic from baroque, the rise of bebop from swing, etc) Sometimes there is an opposite flow toward clarity and simplification as when impressionism displaces romanticism in the late 1800s, or when rock and roll rises in the 1950s or when punk and grunge arise in the 1980s. The pendulum swings. Tastes change.

 

I like to think that Art Tatum had both the intellectual and the sensory, but he also wasn't schmaltzy or earnestly book-ish. At least to me. There is always a raging commitment to the music itself. I hear that commitment in both Horowitz and Kurt Cobain.

 

It's difficult to write a recipe for that type of artistry so I will go with the OP's comment that there will never be another.

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I prefer this.

 

[video:youtube]

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

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Oh man, that Erroll Garner tune is sweet!

 

Garner was the first jazz pianist I fell in love with (musically speaking of course :) Misty and Concert By The Sea on vinyl from long ago...

 

The pianists I like the best are the ones, when I listen to them, I seem to know what my fingers would feel if I played the same thing, and I get the itch to play in a big way. This is a hard thing to describe, but I imagine most of you know what I mean.

 

nat

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The next jazz keyboardist to achieve fame on an international level will be the one who is savvy with social media such as Instagram and Youtube, or at least someone savvy enough to build a team around him/her who knows how to leverage such technologies for marketing/promo.
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Frankly, Tatum bores me. He sounds like a high-quality society pianist that keeps repeating that high speed run down the keys that I can"t do. He doesn"t swing hard and he"s not bluesy.

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

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The next jazz keyboardist to achieve fame on an international level will be the one who is savvy with social media such as Instagram and Youtube, or at least someone savvy enough to build a team around him/her who knows how to leverage such technologies for marketing/promo.

 

That's pretty much a given these days for any pianists who want to sell their music, lessons, or tickets with live music comes back. Most are working Youtube, FB, IG, Twitter and some moving over to Twitch (which I don't like). Some are going the Patreon route. All about keeping their name in front of the public.

 

Since Covid many have developed serious video skills for live streaming and that's starting to become a necessity to market yourself and make money doing lessons and online hangs.

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Frankly, Tatum bores me. He sounds like a high-quality society pianist that keeps repeating that high speed run down the keys that I can"t do. He doesn"t swing hard and he"s not bluesy.

That's an interesting perspective because Erroll Garner was inspired by Tatum and many Jazz musicians accused him (Garner) of being a high-quality society pianist.

 

 

The next jazz keyboardist to achieve fame on an international level will be the one who is savvy with social media such as Instagram and Youtube, or at least someone savvy enough to build a team around him/her who knows how to leverage such technologies for marketing/promo.

IMO, Cory Henry is about the closest in that regard, yet, the musical climate is such that he will never achieve international fame in the same vein as the pioneers. Cory Henry has the gift. The times are just different. :cool:

PD

 

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy"

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IMO, Cory Henry is about the closest in that regard, yet, the musical climate is such that he will never achieve international fame in the same vein as the pioneers. Cory Henry has the gift. The times are just different. :cool:

 

Yesterday on Christian McBride's IG he did an interview with Cory that was great. I had only know of Cory since Snarky Puppy I didn't realize he had played with Kenny Garrett, Bruce Springsteen, Boys to Men, Kirk Franklin and others before joining Snarky Puppy. They got into the whole world of Gospel Chops and how todays Gospel players now coming from a variety of backgrounds and not just church players. I think Cory has an international following from his Snarky Puppy days just a matter of converting that to a Cory Henry following and not Cory from Snarky.

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The next jazz keyboardist to achieve fame on an international level will be the one who is savvy with social media such as Instagram and Youtube, or at least someone savvy enough to build a team around him/her who knows how to leverage such technologies for marketing/promo.

IMO, Cory Henry is about the closest in that regard, yet, the musical climate is such that he will never achieve international fame in the same vein as the pioneers. Cory Henry has the gift. The times are just different. :cool:

 

"Greatness" is a combination of having the skills to be considered "great" and having enough people be aware of your great skills that after your days are done, you are guaranteed to be remembered for generations to come - which today requires strong social media presence.

 

Cory Henry does look like an excellent candidate to be considered the "next great".

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Let's put this in a more contemporary perspective. Who is or will be the next Eddie Van Whammy. Can anybody influence almost all players of a genre today? No. Social media or not. Not unless they create a completely new genre that make every kid who sees it only once wants to do it. Even kurt cobain, the anti eddie has seen his influence fade but the disciples of wheedle deedly are still out in full force. We aren't likely see that kind of mass influence again.

FunMachine.

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I think Tatum's harmony was more original than his solos. He did not, IMHO, lyrically improvise. He had a large repertoire of licks he could perform in either hand, either direction. He could modulate better than (that national anthem, we can't talk about here.) His other greatness was cutting up anyone who played before him, harmonically, tempo and amazing dexterity. Of course all this done with one eye blind and other eye legally blind.

 

The good way to understand Tatum for me, was trying to read his transcriptions.

 

If you think about the great piano players, they are not beneath Tatum in a vertical list, but sit equal in a horizontal list. Case in point: Chick, Herbie, Keith. All great and different.

AvantGrand N2 | ES520 | Gallien-Krueger MK & MP | https://soundcloud.com/pete36251

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I"m not sure if 'Who"s the next Art Tatum?' is a question about virtuosity or influence.

 

If the latter, I hear the influence of Bud, Bill Evans, Chick, Herbie, Oscar, and Keith Jarrett everywhere. The only player from later generations that I hear having this type of widespread influence is Brad Meldau (born in 1970). On The album that Rob mentioned, Pilgrimage by Michael Brecker which I love, Brad"s on several songs; Herbie"s on the others.

 

In particular, I think Brad has innovated the role of the left hand and the impact of independence of the hands and layers. His articulation has an original sound/feel to it. He also has chops forever and can be very soulful . Having said that I don"t like everything he does. I get lost during some of his improvs over vamps, but I get lost when Keith does that too. Of course, a lot of this is just a matter of preference.

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In particular, I think Brad has innovated the role of the left hand and the impact of independence of the hands and layers. His articulation has an original sound/feel to it. He also has chops forever and can be very soulful . Having said that I don"t like everything he does. I get lost during some of his improvs over vamps, but I get lost when Keith does that too. Of course, a lot of this is just a matter of preference.

 

Speaking of Brad, I would of thought someone would of commented on Brad clip I posted earlier in this thread. I also don't care for everything Brad does but damn, IMHO his solo on Get Happy is a tour de force and on par with Tatum's best works and it is solo piano like Tatum's best.

 

Here's the link if someone wants to listen (solo starts at 1:55.)

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The only player from later generations that I hear having this type of widespread influence is Brad Meldau (born in 1970).

 

In particular, I think Brad has innovated the role of the left hand and the impact of independence of the hands and layers. His articulation has an original sound/feel to it. He also has chops forever and can be very soulful.

No disrespect to Brad Mehldau but I doubt that he will become a "school" of Jazz piano. IOW, I don't believe musos will hear another muso playing piano and remark, "those are some hip Mehldau voicings". :D:cool:

PD

 

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy"

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I think a big part of why there will never be another Tatum or any of the other Jazz giants is that their artistry was a product of their environment.

Times were simpler, there were fewer distractions, and music was a bigger part of the mix of entertainment.

 

The world has moved beyond that age and it'll never happen again.

 

I think there's a specific historical factor here: Tatum came from the tradition of solo stride pianists who were employed as one-man-bands in speakeasies, bars and brothels all over the USA for decades. The whole strength and solidity and virtuosity of the left hand accompaniment came to be what it was because it HAD to. These people weren't playing in bands; they lived or died based on how they could fill a room with a complete musical world when there was only the budget for one musician. That's why it was "a LEFT hand like God". Any half decent jazz pianist can tell you that playing fast intricate right hand solos that impress people is easier than it looks. Doing it while also providing a rhythm section with the other half of your brain is the thing that separates Tatum/Hines/Peterson etc. from Powell/Monk/Evans etc. That's why solo jazz pianists now tend to come across more like skilled reproducers of historical artifacts than original and engaging artistic voices. A bit like period instrument performers or traditional folksong collectors.

 

And then I wonder whether such solo improvisation of a complete musical texture just is, inevitably, a less effective way of doing things that's always likely to lead to a less engaging musical creation. Having to improvise so many complete layers at once means you tend to fall back on predictable learnt patterns for some of them. Even when you might find something quirky or original on the spur of the moment, you end up having to relegate it to auto-pilot while you then think about what the other hand's doing. (This might be the appropriate moment to admit that I HATE Tatum and can't listen to him. All those formulaic, context-irrelevant right hand runs just make me sit there and think "why is he playing all those notes?")

 

Oscar's interesting in that respect. When he plays stride you always get the impression that it's the easiest thing in the world for him and he could have presented himself mainly as a solo jazz pianist in that tradition if he'd wanted to. But why would he want to, when he can have Ray Brown provide far more thoughtful bass lines than the little bit of his own brain free to take of that ever could, and have his whole brain dedicated to playing solos that are not just fast but musical too?

 

I dunno. One thing I eventually ended up learning was that just because you can do something, doesn't mean it's the right or best thing to do. I wonder whether there won't be any more virtuoso solo jazz pianists that are genuinely interesting and original, simply because it's not the most efficient way to achieve musical interest and originality.

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Frankly, Tatum bores me. He sounds like a high-quality society pianist that keeps repeating that high speed run down the keys that I can"t do. He doesn"t swing hard and he"s not bluesy.

 

Yeah, that's what I meant. That damned run that has to fill in every gap whether it has anything to do with what came before or not.

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That run is about the only damn thing I can do on a

Piano. ð

 

Oscar is still my favorite. But I really like a guy named Gonzalo Rubalcaba a lot.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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I think a lot of it is also about genealogy. You have to look at the greats and see who they ran through.

Probably the biggest was Miles with Bill, Chick, Herbie, Keith, Joe, Joey.

 

If there hadn't been a Miles, it's hard to say if the disciples would have achieved their ultimate notoriety not withstanding their talent.

Bill had enough trouble with acceptance with the racial deal.

 

So you have to ask yourself, who is a Grandfather today (say = Miles). There isn't one. and probably never will be again.

 

Jazz talent will be Balkanized with pockets of talent and followers with nobody really standing out.

It also goes to the music industry and change from the A&R people deciding who would be exposed and who wouldn't.

J a z z  P i a n o 8 8

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A cocktail pianist?

 

[video:youtube]

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

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Here's some John Chin originally from the L.A. area but has been in NYC closing in on fifteen years. Excellent pianist definitely part of the NYC scenes now. He used to have these 4am online hangs for a year or so that were a blast. Topics were all over the place and musicians and club owner getting home from gigs and jams would pop in and out of the hangs. I used to remember pianist Benito Gonzalez would pop in around 5 or 6am then decide it time to go practice things he thought of at his gig.

 

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