Tatum, Art(hur) 1910-56
US jazz pianist

Born in Toledo, Ohio, and largely self-taught, he became jazz music's first supreme keyboard virtuoso. Although near-blind from birth, he was a professional musician from his teens. Moving to New York in 1932, he made solo recordings and club appearances which have hardly been equalled for technique, drive and improvisational ability. The most influential of the swing-style pianists, Tatum continued to work in the idiom until his death, most effective as a soloist or leading a piano-bass-guitar trio.

Bibliography: James Lester, Too Marvelous for Words: The Life and Genius of Art Tatum (1994)