✅Later | Ray Charles & Art Tatum / Blind Jazz Composers / Disability Pride Month / Cute Composer

🎀 Cute Composer Series: Disability Pride Month — Blind Pianists Who Changed Everything 🦻🎹✨ Ray Charles (1930–2004) was an American singer, pianist, composer, and bandleader often called “the Genius.”  He was blind by the age of 7, and his mother sent him to the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine — where he learned to read, write, and arrange music in Braille.  🎶 His fusion of gospel and R&B helped create a new musical genre known as soul.  He also pioneered country crossover and jazz recordings that broke every genre boundary that existed, becoming one of the first Black musicians granted full artistic control by a mainstream record label 💪 He received 13 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.  His Georgia on My Mind became the official state song of Georgia. His What’d I Say is in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry. And when Frank Sinatra called him “the only true genius in the business” — nobody argued ✨ Art Tatum (1909–1956) was an outstanding African-American jazz pianist known to the jazz world as the supreme master of the keyboard — whose virtuosity baffled classical and jazz musicians alike.  He had cataracts from birth, and several operations did not save his sight.  Nearly blind and mostly self-taught, Tatum played with the speed of light, adding complex chordal combinations to a swing that was exceptionally powerful even without the support of a rhythm section.  🎹 Vladimir Horowitz — widely considered the greatest classical pianist of the 20th century — reportedly said after hearing Tatum play: “He is the greatest pianist alive.” Idolized by jazz instrumentalists and lauded by musicians such as Vladimir Horowitz and George Gershwin, Tatum possessed a name synonymous with genius.  Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson, Chick Corea — all cite him as the foundation. Few jazz pianists after Tatum failed to incorporate at least one favourite Tatum run or embellishment in their playing.  His fellow musicians simply called him “God” 🙏 👉 Which one’s music do you want to explore more? VOTE BELOW👇& follow @daixcompose for more Cute Composer spotlights 💙 Recordings: 🎶 Ray Charles: Georgia on My Mind — Live with Edmonton Symphony Orchestra 🎶 Art Tatum: Tea for Two — with sheet music (Zenph re-performance of 1933 original) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kACt0FM0Kf8

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