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i found it kinda sloppy  :-p
i agree with cynbad.  aside from it being sloppy (by virtuoso if not conventional standards at least) it was really just a slavish imitation of tatum.  compliments to the guy for having the chops to pull it off and all, but i'm sure that any concert or show pianist (like the o.p. guy with the crazy chops who was posted here a while ago) with a pair of written transcriptions could pull that off just as easily.  i think that the guy playing this is more of a technical achievement than an artistic one.

art tatum wasn't god solely because of his technique.  he was god because of what he did and created with it.
i would kill to play like him! his handful of keys video is crazy.
his playing lacks feel and sense of time, he should slow it down a bit and plya with a metronome to get the feel of the song because that is the most important.
listen to ziggy.  anyone can have chops and learn an arrangement or transcription.  

littlerascal- you can get chops like that just as much as anyone else with two hands by learning that tune. that's how classical people get their chops, by learning all these heavy classical tunes- chopin, rachmaninoff, mozart, liszt, all those cats.

art tatum was a piano god because he did all this stuff from inside. his arrangements were on the spot, he had photographic musical memory (could play someone elses arrangement after hearing it once), he played classical, jazz, everyone, changed keys at will, could do anything technically that he wanted, and he pushed the envelope for piano players.

my recommendation to anyone who hears someone do something that reminds him of a certain pianist is to go listen to the original.  figure out what made him so good.  my favorite piano players all loved nat king cole, so i spent a lot of time listening to stuff that nat played in his trio before he sold out and started singing only.
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oh come on ... give the guy a break.  
he isn't comparing himself to tatum. merely paying tribute to him. the guy's obviously an obsessed fan and in my minds, his accomplishment towards paying tribute to art tatum is outstanding.
i thought nobody could ever play art tatum's version of tiger rag as fast and effortlessly as art tatum did. this video proves me wrong.  

this kid can play that fast and clean as shown in the video. this may be a little sloppy like cynbad said, but the timing is still good and it almost sounds perfect. this kid put a lot of effort into this piece to play it correctly. the majority of pianists could not play this piece at this tempo. they would certainly "fail" big time. this kid does not fail and his technique is almost as decent as art tatum. even the best pianists or the best "stride" pianists could not even attempt to play at this kid's level. this is the best that any pianist can get compared to art tatum.
i actually felt the time was the sloppiest aspect!

i maintain that the typical jr. high classical piano student could play at least this well.
the guy does play well, i just object to calling him a god.  that's just ridiculous.
loveforjazz, while i agree that this kid is playing at a pretty high level with regards to some things like speed, the idea that he is second only to tatum is simply ludicrous.  statements like, "his technique is almost as decent as art tatum. even the best pianists or the best "stride" pianists could not even attempt to play at this kid's level," are simply not true.  

i'm not ripping on the kid himself.  if i had that kind of technique, i'd be learning "tiger rag" too.  but standards must be maintained, and this guy is nowhere near tatum's level, much less god.

tatum's spirit lives in all who bow at the alter.  but this is a
piece of a memory.
he himself stated that he was "a lousy disciple" to tatum. he was attempting only to emulate and demonstrate his high regard for art tatum.
peace out!
that's pretty damn good considering the crappy upright he is playing it on. i imagine that performance on a good steinway would be marvelous.

there was one comment above that seems so unrealistic that it tells me more about the person who made it than anything else. maybe it was sarcasm?
  "i maintain that the typical jr. high classical piano student could play at least this well."
that guy can play:

the typical jr. high classical pianist is usually skilled enough to  play a professional piece like beethoven's appasionata sonata mov.3 (i'm learning that piece along with my stride piano playing) but not skilled enough to play a technical stride piece of fats waller or art tatum or oscar peterson.


cynbad:

thinks that "a jr. high classical pianist can play at least as well as this."
i wonder if oscar peterson could play art tatum's actual tiger rag.
well, i'm sorry if you don't believe me, but i could play that well in jr. high, and so could several other of my piano-student friends of the same age.  and it didn't matter a bit whether it was bach or ragtime.
fast is just fast.  not necessarily good.
and for anyone to say that ragtime or stride is more technically challenging than rachmaninoff -- well, that's just a hoot.
the handful of keys is ok, but it's not really swingin at all.  it's heavy, and the tempo is not consistent.  he's not a bad player, though.  if you want to hear some good stride playing, check out these guys:


there is no god. anywhere.


aside from your question being rather naive, you obviously havent listened to much oscar peterson. oscar could play everything that tatum could, except he played them with more more passion, swing and vigor!  

hmm...

i wonder if tatum could play this:

    or this:

    or this:





jv'
jazzvirtuoso,  

i agree with you about oscar entirely. tatum was a genius but oscar swings harder than almost anyone.  

another thing, oscar peterson does an incredible slow stride unlike any other pianist. the way he uses accidental notes is brillant, there's no other pianist that could do it or can. benny green almost does but not as smoothly.

listen to the my favourite instrument cd or the tracks cd, both solo recordings, for examples.

also listen to sandy's blues from the exclusively for my friends cd box for an incredible walking bass line.  

tatum couldn't do any of that.

in fact listen to litte jazz exercise on the tracks cd for a fast tempo track. i doubt tatum could swing like that.
wow. well, despite all the stuff here. casparus - illuminatus! reference? i hope so, one of my favorite books.

i disagree about this tatum, oscar peterson stuff.  

i can hardly think of anything any pianist did harmonically (or in many other areas) that equals the significance of the harmonic sophistication, and substitutions, that tatum pioneered and innovated. besides being responsible for the harmonic substitutions that influenced charlie parker and informed bebop, his masterful use of consonance and dissonance in chord voicings can be found in (and suggests) the harmonic complexity of herbie hancock and bill evans.

it's easy to get caught up in the execution of technically difficult things like walking left hand bass while missing out on the things that make music profound and enjoyable.

the videos you posted, jv of peterson are incredibly impressive. i mean, peterson's also one of my favorite pianists, and one of the greatest to live. we get requests is one of the best trio recordings ever, in my opinion.

but personally, i'm more moved by art tatum's lyricism and beautiful harmonic sense, especially on ballads.

the more i learn about jazz, the more i'm moved by subtle sophistication that effortlessly communicates to the listener. i feel like everyone associates tatum with tiger rag and other showpieces very famous for being technically impressive. everybody gets caught up in the technical aspect of tatum's playing.

but listen to the ballad side of tatum and you'll hear what influenced charlie parker's harmonies.

reserved tatum, wonderful use of disonnance, esp. 2:15-2:21. smoke gets in your eyes:
&mode=related&search=art%20tatum



jesus christ, listen to this next one. 1:11 - 1:17. not only is his rhythmic displacement very forward thinking (think lennie tristano and warren marsh), my god, the harmonic stuff is unbelievable. also in the first chrous of blowing, he uses repeated motives to make his melody beautiful and singing.
&mode=related&search=art%20tatum

just some food for thought. like best whoever you like best, it just disturbs me to see tatum referred to as a technically inferior version of oscar peterson. he's one of the piano's (and jazz's) greatest innovators, and his music is of the most delicate, melodic, lyrical and soulful music ever composed that's also forward-thinking and completely individual.

hm
i actually think that if tatum had heard what op was doing, he could have copied it almost note for note, or close enough to pass.
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remember that with his technique, the way tatum played was a matter of choice.  i think that there's no doubt that he could have played in oscar's, bud's, monk's, or any other style if he so chose.  but tatum chose to keep his own style and that's one of the things that made him so unique.
however, if it did come down to tatum's swing versus peterson's swing, i think oscar would have the edge.  it's not a knock against tatum, it's just that i personally think his playing always retains more of a straight classical feel than oscar's.  apples and oranges.
but i again have no doubt that if tatum wanted to swing like oscar, he could have.
cynbad, i somewhat agree with you, in that i didn't find lfj's youtube link to be enjoyable  to listen to at all. it is frenetic, and the time is sloppy. however,any junior high schooler who could pull off this piece would be nothing less than a child prodigy. it annoys me that there are people who think this should be the bar for a great musician, as there is so much amazing music out there created by people who were not child prodigies at all. most of the child prodigies who i went to school with are no longer involved with music at all, not professionally, they grew bored with it and found their passion elsewhere.
i don't understand why people thinks peterson swings the greatest. sure he is the fastest, the most technical, and the best blues player; but i feel peterson is too much on top of the beat to be considered the most sublimely swinging jazz pianist. i feel that wynton kelly swings much more nicely. and i have often compared red garland's version of c jam blues and oscar peterson's version of c jam blues and i felt that red garland also has a nicer swing than peterson.
jazz+, i agree that for hardest swing, wynton kelly deserves attention. he maintains that swing even at very fast tempos. most of us will start playing straight as we get faster. he doesn't.
you have to remember that oscar was playing with guys like ray brown who swing as good as anyone...not to say the guys wynton kelly played with didn't swing, but still if you want to swing hard it helps having ray brown in your band
wynton kelly played with paul chambers and philly joe jones. i'd say those guys swung pretty hard.
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