If I Had You – Art Tatum

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Tatum built upon stride and classical piano influences to develop a novel and unique piano style. He introduced a strong, swinging pulse to jazz piano, highlighted with cadenzas that swept across the entire keyboard. His interpretations of popular songs were exuberant, sophisticated and intricate. Jazz soloing in the 1930s had not yet evolved into the free-ranging extended improvisations that flowered in the bebop era of the 1940s, 1950s and beyond. But jazz musicians were beginning to incorporate improvisation while playing over the chord changes of tunes, and Tatum was a leader in that movement. He sometimes improvised lines that presaged bebop and later jazz genres, although generally not venturing far from the original melodic line. Tatum embellished melodic lines, however, with an array of signature devices and runs that appeared throughout his repertoire. As he matured, Tatum became more adventurous in abandoning the written melody and expanding his improvisations.

How to Learn The Piano Part

Your classical music educator may find it challenging to teach you Billy Joel or even Elton John. Classical training is nevertheless helpful to learn about the quite a few specialized mechanics or perhaps the principle building blocks of music which all piano instructors have (hopefully) mastered. Never underestimate simply how much traditional music may help you have an understanding of the various features within all music for instance melody, tempo, beat, etc.