Art Tatum was the greatest virtuoso performer in the history of jazz piano; his technique overwhelmed almost every jazz player who heard him and caused classical virtuosos to take notice. Gunther Schuller called him `one of the most complex, enigmatic and elusive figures in jazz - and a phenomenon'. Through extensive interviews with Tatum's friends and fellow musicians, James Lester captures the complexities of this remarkable talent and the vibrant jazz world of the 1930s and 1940s in which he played. Covering his virtual blindness, extraordinary technique, and inexhaustible lifestyle, the picture that emerges is of cheerful, fun-loving, outgoing man, with none of the demonic self-destructiveness that seemed to haunt the other jazz greats of his era.