Art Tatum.

Courtesy of William P. Gottlieb.

 

“Get Happy”

Art Tatum

1940

Art Tatum was the most dazzling piano virtuoso in the history of jazz. Equally adept in either hand--even at blistering tempos--and armed with a seemingly limitless reservoir of fresh ideas, novel harmonies, and startling shifts in rhythm and dynamics, he simply overwhelmed his rivals.