Art Tatum is one of the finest musicians ever to walk the planet, and I doubt you'll find anyone here (or anywhere else) who'll disagree with that. I'm just baffled as to how this has anything to do with Folk Music. Folk is a predominantly white construct that views Tradition in terms of reaction & revival rather than the sort of radical restructuring that Tatum was involved in, which is Traditional in a very different sense. As such Tatum's progressive African-American legacy lived on through people like Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk and Sun Ra - and carries on in the music Cecil Taylor, who is often compared to Tatum yet is about as as far away from Folk Music as you can get.

I can't think of one Black self-confessed 'Folk musician' in the sense that Folkies would understand, and no Folk musician who represents the sort of singularly radical virtuosity evidenced by Tatum, on any instrument, much less the piano.

And modern music certainly ain't in no doldrums. So - all in all - a bit of a baffler.

Respect to DDT's mission / passion / zeal though. I've been listening a lot to Art Tatum today, which can be no bad thing.