Art Tatum Celebration Column

The Art Tatum Celebration Column stands on the corner of Adams and Huron in central downtown — a sculpture of stacked-up 8-foot piano keys honouring the Toledo-born jazz pianist many consider the greatest of all time. It was installed in 2006 as part of a wider downtown public-art programme.

It's a five-minute look-at-it stop on any downtown walk; combine with the Valentine Theatre, where Tatum played, a block away. The Art Tatum Heritage Trail website lists other sites around the city associated with his life, including the location of the family home on Indiana Avenue.

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Art Tatum, born blind in one eye and with limited sight in the other, grew up on Toledo's Indiana Avenue and became — by the verdict of pianists from Horowitz to Oscar Peterson — the greatest jazz pianist who ever lived. He played the Waiters and Bellmens club downtown in his teens, was signed in 1932, and died at 47 having recorded with no one able to keep up. The column is a stack of giant piano keys reaching about 30 feet.

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