Milestones, Nov. 19, 1956

Died. Arthur ("Art") Tatum, 46, beefy, almost-blind jazz piano master (Tea for Two, Wee Baby Blues, Sweet Lorraine), who knew and played classical piano as well as he did boogie, worked out a complex, polyrhythmic style somewhere in between, backed it up with a technique considered the best in jazz; of uremia; in Los Angeles. Jazzman Tatum slugged down enormous quantities of beer as he played, preferred to work solo ("A band hampers me"). The late, great Fats Waller once commented : "That Tatum ... is just too good."

Died. Robert James Woods, 52, chunky co-founder (in 1935) with the late Lawrence...