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Topic: Art Tatum's compositions  (Read 3830 times)

Offline cuberdrift

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Art Tatum's compositions
on: January 22, 2018, 04:26:22 PM
I find out through the Internet that Tatum actually composed at least four piano pieces, published in London.

These are: Amethyst, Turquoise, Jade, and Sapphire.

Many say "Amethyst" is actually "The Shout", one of his fast recordings which date from 1934;



"Turquoise" is said to be the title of the short piece Tatum plays in "The Fabulous Dorseys" (1946). It comes in at around 4:08 in this video:



"Jade" is seen here:



James Lester's "Too Marvelous For Words" says that "Jade" is somewhat related to "Gang O' Nothin'", which seems to be yet another Tatum composition, here rendered by pianist Lee Sloan:



Finally, "Sapphire" is played by pianist Marco Fumo in the following video:



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These are all incredibly beautiful compositions. I find them of stunning quality and am even more impressed that he supposedly created them early in his career, while still in his 20s. He seems to be fond of the "quasi-Impressionist" style of Lee Sims (his idol apart from Fats Waller) and intertwines it with the classic stride idiom.

I just have two questions:

1.) Why do there seem to be little or no recordings of Tatum himself playing them?
2.) Where can the sheet music for these be found?

Thank you very much!

Sincerely,
cuberdrift