Boogie Woogie Piano Great

Art Tatum (1909 - 1956) was a celebrated piano virtuoso and not specifically known for his boogie-woogie piano playing. 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 repertoire mainly consisted of music from Tin Pan Alley, Broadway and other popular music of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He also played his own arrangements of a few classical piano pieces. 

In his early years, he drew inspiration from pianists James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, who exemplified the stride piano style, and also from the more "modern" Earl Hines. Tatum is now widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time and was a major influence on later generations of piano players. He was hailed for the technical proficiency of his performances, which set a new standard for jazz piano.