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#328 Tonight, God Is in the House

"We may affirm that absolutely nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion."

~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Have you heard the story of Art Tatum? It’s pretty cool. (I got this from Robert Coopers’ BRILLIANT book, “The Other 90%.”)

Art was one of the world’s greatest jazz pianists. Here’s his story:

Art was born partially blind in Toledo, Ohio in 1909. He became completely blind after he was beaten as an adolescent. Yikes.

Art absolutely loved music—especially the piano. His family couldn’t afford a piano or lessons so when he wasn’t at school or working, he’d have someone walk him over to the local saloon where he’d sit at the player piano and follow the keys for hours on end.

It was hard to keep up with the dizzying speed of the keys going up and down, but that’s how he taught himself how to play.

Here’s the cool part: What Art didn’t know (because he didn’t have a teacher telling him it was impossible) was the fact that the manufacturers of player pianos of the 1800’s and early 1900’s used two pianists, not one, to make the rolls of paper music.

Not knowing it was impossible, Art became the first pianist in history to play four hands of music with his two hands. Nice.

Apparently, at one point Art Tatum played with Fats Waller, another jazz legend. Waller told the audience: “I am just a piano player. But tonight, God is in the house.”