Too Marvelous for Words

Art Tatum defined the limits of the possible in jazz piano. Gunther Schuller called Tatum''s playing "a marvel of perfection.... His deep-in-the-keys full piano sonority, the tone and touch control in pyrotechnical passages...are miracles of performance." Whitney Balliett wrote "no pianist has ever hit notes more beautifully. Each one--no matter how fast the tempo--was light and complete and reson...