New Art Tatum bio by Mark Lehmstedt

[EKE BBB]

This book has just been published, so far only in German:

Art Tatum. Eine Biographie

von Mark Lehmstedt

Leipzig 2009 (Lehmstedt Verlag)

319 Seiten, 39,90 Euro

ISBN: 978-3-937146- 80-5

Much has been written about Art Tatum. Until now there has been a comprehensive discography (by Arnold Laubich & Ray Spencer, 1982), as well as a biography (by James Lester, 1994), and also a dissertation which looks into his early biography in Toledo (by Imelda Hunt, 1995). It might seem rather unusual that now a german author presents an extensive Tatum biography for which he did his own research in archives and collected as much about the pianist as he could find. The result is a very readable book, the life story of a man who had been born into a middle class family, and who managed to lead a life with only very little eyesight and belonged to the most admired pianists of the Jazz era. When Art Tatum entered a a club where Fats Waller had played, Fats is reported to have said: "I only play the piano, but God is in the house tonight". In order to build upon, Lehmstedt uses all the earlier biographies as a starter, interlacing all different sources of information about Tatum with those about other musicians or life conditions or social circumstances of the era. He mainly intersperses the whole story with reports of witnesses, parts of interviews with Tatum or other musicians and thus seems to successfully avoid any personal speculation. He describes the fame Tatum had as a soloist - not only in the realms of Jazz, but he also writes about the drumless piano trio, which, though Tatum might not have invented it, certainly was largely promoted by him, he refers to concerts in mere taverns, rather mundane night venues and great concert stages, as well as to jam sessions with music collegues, up to the recording sessions with Norman Grantz, and the sheer endless admiration which Tatum had recieved by musicians of all Jazz idioms, but also by classical musicians and from other directions. Lehmstedt manages to merge all these puzzle pieces of his research into a fascinating text, which lets his own admiration shine through without domination. At times music itself seems to be missed out a bit: Lehmstedt is no regular author on musical matters who would have the natural ability to let the music sound along with words and description. His musically relevant comments often deliver rather usual written clichee, without actually being able to immerse into the musical qualities themselves, without questioning what exactly could have been so compelling about Tatums keyboard virtuosity. He often has to rely on other writing colleagues to achieve the latter, on the other hand he's got at least enough other writers to derive his quotes from - enough great writers. These facts aren't necessarily meant as a critical judgment, besides the book carries the title "A Biography" and won't really miss any musical elaboration that much, ideally it would have to be read using one (or two or three) Tatum CDs altogether. And there's also enough to look at: many beautifully reproduced photographs have been added, many of them in large formats. There's an extensive book list at the end, a discography and a name index. The whole work can indeed be regarded as a "labor of love", besides it's a work of diligent study and, finally, a thrilling read for anyone who wants to approach the god of Jazz piano.

(Original text in german by Wolfram Knauer, translated by Markus Leuthel)

[Big Beat Steve]

In order to build upon, Lehmstedt uses all the earlier biographies as a starter, interlacing all different sources of information about Tatum with those about other musicians or life conditions or social circumstances of the era. He mainly intersperses the whole story with reports of witnesses, parts of interviews with Tatum or other musicians and thus seems to successfully avoid any personal speculation. He describes the fame Tatum had as a soloist - not only in the realms of Jazz, but he also writes about the drumless piano trio, which, though Tatum might not have invented it, certainly was largely promoted by him, he refers to concerts in mere taverns, rather mundane night venues and great concert stages, as well as to jam sessions with music collegues, up to the recording sessions with Norman Grantz, and the sheer endless admiration which Tatum had recieved by musicians of all Jazz idioms, but also by classical musicians and from other directions. Lehmstedt manages to merge all these puzzle pieces of his research into a fascinating text, which lets his own admiration shine through without domination. At times music itself seems to be missed out a bit: Lehmstedt is no regular author on musical matters who would have the natural ability to let the music sound along with words and description. His musically relevant comments often deliver rather usual written clichee, without actually being able to immerse into the musical qualities themselves, without questioning what exactly could have been so compelling about Tatums keyboard virtuosity. He often has to rely on other writing colleagues to achieve the latter, on the other hand he's got at least enough other writers to derive his quotes from - enough great writers. These facts aren't necessarily meant as a critical judgment, besides the book carries the title "A Biography" and won't really miss any musical elaboration that much, ideally it would have to be read using one (or two or three) Tatum CDs altogether. And there's also enough to look at: many beautifully reproduced photographs have been added, many of them in large formats. There's an extensive book list at the end, a discography and a name index. The whole work can indeed be regarded as a "labor of love", besides it's a work of diligent study and, finally, a thrilling read for anyone who wants to approach the god of Jazz piano

No wanting to engage in any author bashing but the remarks highlighted above in bold make me feel a bit uneasy.

Hope the author hasn't actually used previous biographies as extensively as this review makes it sound. Of course every researcher will acknowledge (and use) previous research but it all depends on the extent. After all the material for this book must have been accumulated roughly "50 years after the fact" (i.e. the death of the subject of the book). A bit late for major interview coups with those who knew the man that would have added a lot of insight. Relying mostly on secondary sources to combine everything that has been written here and there into a new opus would make sense if done thoroughly but to what extent would it offer really new insights? I suppose it was not just meant to be an "Art Tatum Reader" (not that this would necessarily be a bad thing either).

And the admission that the book has been written by someone who is not really a writer on matters musical ... ho hum ... Not that I would want to insist on a critical note by note analysis of the music (that one would have to be a musician or musicologist to really grasp in full anyway), but there is something in between that would need to be covered to make the music come alive in the book. And if a leading authority on jazz and jazz research (as is W. Knauer is in this country) stresses this point to that extent (and taking into consideration that he certainly would not want to bash a publication like this either) then this leaves one to wonder what there is to read between the lines in this review.

At any rate, I guess I'll have a closer look as soon as a copy appears at one of my (better) local booksellers for perusal.

Edited December 4, 2009 by Big Beat Steve

[EKE BBB]

A few comments from someone at the StridePiano list who actually read the book:

Really a "labour of love". No scientifical work, but a clever combination of innumerable Tatum-sources. Not a photo-book, but mostly text with a lot of photos. Printing-quality is very good. Photos are almost all well known to Tatum-fans, so nothing really new.

One big drawback: Dick Hyman, #1 Tatum-pro today and direct link, was not involved in this project, he's not even mentioned!!! ?

Great to have a 3rd book on our #1 hero, anyway.