Fats Waller















Fats Waller

Fats Waller edit.jpg
Waller in 1938

Background information
Birth nameThomas Wright Waller
Born
(1904-05-21)May 21, 1904
New York, New York, U.S.
DiedDecember 15, 1943(1943-12-15) (aged 39)
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Genres
Dixieland, jazz, swing, stride, ragtime
Occupation(s)Musician, composer
InstrumentsPiano, vocals, organ

Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid the groundwork for modern jazz piano. His best-known compositions, "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose", were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984 and 1999.[1]




Contents





  • 1 Early life


  • 2 Career


  • 3 Personal life


  • 4 Death and descendants


  • 5 Revival and awards


  • 6 In popular culture


  • 7 Key recordings


  • 8 Filmography


  • 9 See also


  • 10 References


  • 11 Further reading


  • 12 External links




Early life


Waller was the youngest of 11 children (five of whom survived childhood) born to Adeline Locket Waller, a musician, and the Reverend Edward Martin Waller in New York City.[2] He started playing the piano when he was six and graduated to playing the organ at his father's church four years later. His mother instructed him in his youth, and he attended other music lessons, paying for them by working in a grocery store.[2] Waller attended DeWitt Clinton High School for one semester, but left school at 15 to work as an organist at the Lincoln Theater in Harlem, where he earned $32 a week.[3][4] Within 12 months he had composed his first rag. He was the prize pupil and later the friend and colleague of the stride pianist James P. Johnson.[5]


Waller's first recordings, "Muscle Shoals Blues" and "Birmingham Blues", were made in October 1922 for Okeh Records.[6] That year, he also made his first player piano roll, "Got to Cool My Doggies Now."[6] Waller's first published composition, "Squeeze Me," was published in 1924.[2]



Career


Waller became one of the most popular performers of his era, finding critical and commercial success in the United States and Europe. He was also a prolific songwriter, and many songs he wrote or co-wrote are still popular, such as "Honeysuckle Rose",[7] "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Squeeze Me". Fellow pianist and composer Oscar Levant dubbed Waller "the black Horowitz".[8] Waller is believed to have composed many novelty tunes in the 1920s and 1930s and sold them for small sums,[9] attributed to another composer and lyricist.[citation needed]


Standards attributed to Waller, sometimes controversially, include "I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby". Biographer Barry Singer conjectured that this jazz classic was written by Waller and lyricist Andy Razaf and provided a description of the sale given by Waller to the New York Post in 1929—he sold the song for $500 to a white songwriter, ultimately for use in a financially successful show (consistent with Jimmy McHugh's contributions to Harry Delmar’s Revels, 1927, and then to Blackbirds of 1928).[9][10] He further supports the conjecture, noting that early handwritten manuscripts in the Dana Library Institute of Jazz Studies of "Spreadin' Rhythm Around" (Jimmy McHugh ©1935) are in Waller's hand.[9][11] Jazz historian Paul S. Machlin comments that the Singer conjecture has "considerable [historical] justification".[12] Waller's son Maurice wrote in his 1977 biography of his father that Waller had once complained on hearing the song, and came from upstairs to admonish him never to play it in his hearing because he had had to sell it when he needed money.[citation needed] Maurice Waller's biography similarly notes his father's objections to hearing "On the Sunny Side of the Street" playing on the radio.[13] Waller recorded "I Can't Give You…" in 1938, playing the tune but making fun of the lyrics; the recording was with Adelaide Hall who had introduced the song to the world at Les Ambassadeurs Club in New York in 1928.[14]


The anonymous sleeve notes on the 1960 RCA Victor album Handful of Keys state that Waller copyrighted over 400 songs, many of them co-written with his closest collaborator, Andy Razaf. Razaf described his partner as "the soul of melody... a man who made the piano sing... both big in body and in mind... known for his generosity... a bubbling bundle of joy".[citation needed]Gene Sedric, a clarinetist who played with Waller on some of his 1930s recordings, is quoted in these sleeve notes recalling Waller's recording technique with considerable admiration: "Fats was the most relaxed man I ever saw in a studio, and so he made everybody else relaxed. After a balance had been taken, we'd just need one take to make a side, unless it was a kind of difficult number."






Waller played with many performers, from Nathaniel Shilkret (on Victor 21298-A) and Gene Austin to Erskine Tate, Fletcher Henderson, McKinney's Cotton Pickers and Adelaide Hall, but his greatest success came with his own five- or six-piece combo, "Fats Waller and his Rhythm".


On one occasion his playing seemed to have put him at risk of injury. Waller was kidnapped in Chicago leaving a performance in 1926. Four men bundled him into a car and took him to the Hawthorne Inn, owned by Al Capone. Waller was ordered inside the building, and found a party in full swing. Gun to his back, he was pushed towards a piano, and told to play. A terrified Waller realized he was the "surprise guest" at Capone's birthday party, and took comfort that the gangsters did not intend to kill him. It is rumored that Waller stayed at the Hawthorne Inn for three days and left very drunk, extremely tired, and had earned thousands of dollars in cash from Capone and other party-goers as tips.[15]


In 1926, Waller began his recording association with the Victor Talking Machine Company/RCA Victor, his principal record company for the rest of his life, with the organ solos "St. Louis Blues" and his own composition, "Lenox Avenue Blues". Although he recorded with various groups, including Morris's Hot Babes (1927), Fats Waller's Buddies (1929) (one of the earliest multiracial groups to record), and McKinney's Cotton Pickers (1929), his most important contribution to the Harlem stride piano tradition was a series of solo recordings of his own compositions: "Handful of Keys", "Smashing Thirds", "Numb Fumblin'", and "Valentine Stomp" (1929). After sessions with Ted Lewis (1931), Jack Teagarden (1931) and Billy Banks' Rhythmakers (1932), he began in May 1934 the voluminous series of recordings with a small band known as Fats Waller and his Rhythm. This six-piece group usually included Herman Autrey (sometimes replaced by Bill Coleman or John "Bugs" Hamilton), Gene Sedric or Rudy Powell, and Al Casey.


Waller wrote "Squeeze Me" (1919), "Keepin' Out of Mischief Now", "Ain't Misbehavin'" (1929), "Blue Turning Grey Over You", "I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling" (1929), "Honeysuckle Rose" (1929) and "Jitterbug Waltz" (1942). He composed stride piano display pieces such as "Handful of Keys", "Valentine Stomp" and "Viper's Drag".[citation needed]


He enjoyed success touring the United Kingdom and Ireland in the 1930s, appearing on one of the first BBC television broadcasts on September 30, 1938.[16] While in Britain, Waller also recorded a number of songs for EMI on their Compton Theatre organ located in their Abbey Road Studios in St John's Wood. He appeared in several feature films and short subject films, most notably Stormy Weather in 1943, which was released July 21, just months before his death. For the hit Broadway show Hot Chocolates, he and Razaf wrote "(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue" (1929), which became a hit for Ethel Waters and Louis Armstrong.


Waller performed Bach organ pieces for small groups on occasion. Waller influenced many pre-bebop jazz pianists; Count Basie and Erroll Garner have both reanimated his hit songs. In addition to his playing, Waller was known for his many quips during his performances.


Between 1926 and the end of 1927, Waller recorded a series of pipe organ solo records. These represent the first time syncopated jazz compositions were performed on a full-sized church organ.



Personal life


In 1938, Waller was one of the first African Americans to purchase a home in the Addisleigh Park section of St. Albans, Queens, a New York City community with racially restrictive covenants. After his purchase, and litigation in the New York State courts, many prosperous African Americans followed, including many jazz artists, such as Count Basie, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, and Milt Hinton.[17]



Death and descendants


Waller contracted pneumonia and died on December 15, 1943, while traveling aboard the famous cross-country train the Super Chief near Kansas City, Missouri. His final recording session was with an interracial group in Detroit, Michigan, that included white trumpeter Don Hirleman. Waller was returning to New York City from Los Angeles, after the smash success of Stormy Weather, and after a successful engagement at the Zanzibar Room, in Santa Monica California, during which he had fallen ill.[18]:6 More than 4,200 people were estimated to have attended his funeral at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem,[18]:7 which prompted Adam Clayton Powell Jr., who delivered the eulogy, to say that Fats Waller "always played to a packed house."[19] Afterwards he was cremated and his ashes were scattered, from an airplane piloted by an unidentified African American World War I aviator, over Harlem.[20]


One descendant is professional football player Darren Waller, who is Fats' great-grandson.[21]



Revival and awards


A Broadway musical showcasing Waller tunes entitled Ain't Misbehavin' was produced in 1978. (The show and a star of the show, Nell Carter, won Tony Awards.) The show opened at the Longacre Theatre and ran for more than 1600 performances. It was revived on Broadway in 1988. Performed by five African-American actors, the show included such songs as "Honeysuckle Rose", "This Joint Is Jumpin'", and "Ain't Misbehavin'".














Year Inducted
Title
2008

Gennett Records Walk of Fame
2005

Jazz at Lincoln Center: Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame
1993

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
1989

Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame
1970

Songwriters Hall of Fame

Recordings of Fats Waller were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame which is a special Grammy Award established in 1973 to honour recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance".





















Grammy Hall of Fame Awards[22]
Year Recorded
Title
Genre
Label
Year Inducted
Notes
1934
"Honeysuckle Rose"
Jazz (Single)
Victor
1999

1929
"Ain't Misbehavin'"
Jazz (Single)
Victor
1984

Listed in the National Recording Registry
by the Library of Congress in 2004.

Probably the most talented pianist to keep the music of "Fats" Waller alive in the years after his death was Ralph Sutton, who focused his career on playing stride piano. Sutton was a great admirer of Waller, saying "I've never heard a piano man swing any better than Fats – or swing a band better than he could. I never get tired of him. Fats has been with me from the first, and he'll be with me as long as I live."[23]


Actor and band leader Conrad Janis also did a lot to keep the stride piano music of "Fats" Waller and James P. Johnson alive. In 1949, as an 18-year-old, Janis put together a band of aging jazz greats, consisting of James P. Johnson (piano), Henry Goodwin (trumpet), Edmond Hall (clarinet), Pops Foster (bass) and Baby Dodds (drums), with Janis on trombone.[24]



In popular culture


  • Waller is the subject of the Irish poet Michael Longley's "Elegy for Fats Waller".[25]

  • Robert Pinsky's poem, "History of My Heart", opens with Waller walking into the 34th St. Macy's at Christmastime

  • He was caricatured in several Warner Brothers animated shorts, most notably Tin Pan Alley Cats.

  • In the 2008 film Be Kind Rewind, Waller is a major theme and influence for the storyline.

  • Italian comics artist Igort published a graphic novel about Waller entitled Fats Waller on Coconino Press in 2009.

  • His song "Inside This Heart of Mine", is used in the queuing areas of the ride The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

  • Some of Waller's music ("Jitterbug Waltz") is used in the video game series BioShock.

  • Waller's version of "Louisiana Fairytale" was used for many years as the theme song to the American television series This Old House.[26]

  • Waller's church organ music featured prominently in David Lynch's breakthrough film Eraserhead in 1977.[27]

  • Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, wrote the song "Fats" in their album Renegade. It is inspired in the figure of Waller.

  • The story of Fats Waller's performance at Al Capone's birthday party was told in the Mysteries at the Museum Season 21 episode "Columbus and the Mermaid, Skyscraper Snafu and Stealing the Show".[28]

  • His song Ain't Misbehavin' is featured as one of the radio tunes played in the 2018 video game Fallout 76.


Key recordings


Source:[29]






















































































































































































Title
Recording Date
Recording Location
Company
"African Ripples"
11-16-34
New York, New York
Victor 24830 (reissued Bluebird B-10115)
"After You've Gone"
March 21, 1930
New York, New York
Victor 22371-B
"A Handful Of Keys"
January 3, 1929
Camden, New Jersey
Victor V-38508
Ain't Misbehavin'
February 8, 1929
Camden, New Jersey
Victor 22092, 22108
"All God's Chillun Got Wings"
August 28, 1938
London, England
Victor 27460
"Alligator Crawl"
November 16, 1934
New York, New York
Victor 24830 (reissued Bluebird B-10098)
"Baby Brown"
November 3, 1935
New York, New York
(only issued on LP)
"Baby, Oh! Where Can You Be?"
August 29, 1929
Camden, New Jersey
Victor rejected, issued on LPV-550
"Basin Street Blues"
November 3, 1935
New York, New York
Bluebird B-10115
"Because Of Once Upon a Time"
November 3, 1935
New York, New York
RFW
"Believe It, Beloved"
November 3, 1935
New York, New York

HMV
"Birmingham Blues"
October 21, 1922
New York, New York

Okeh 4757-B
"Blue Black Bottom"
February 16, 1927
Camden, New Jersey
Victor
"Blue Turning Gray Over You"
November 3, 1935
New York, New York
HMV
"California, Here I Come"
November 3, 1935
New York, New York
HMV
"Carolina Shout"
May 13, 1941
New York, New York
Victor
"Clothes Line Ballet"
November 3, 1935
New York, New York
Victor 25015
"I Can't Give You Anything but Love" (vocals by Adelaide Hall)
August 28, 1938
London, England
HMV B8849
"Deep River"
August 28, 1938
London, England
Victor 27459
"Goin' About"
November 9, 1929
New York, New York
Victor
"Gladyse"
February 8, 1929
Camden, New Jersey
Victor
"Go Down, Moses"
August 28, 1938
London, England
Victor 27458
"Honeysuckle Rose"[7]1934
New York, New York
HMV
"I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby"
1931
New York, New York
HMV
"I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling"
February 8, 1929
Camden, New Jersey
Victor
"Jitterbug Waltz"
March 16, 1942
Camden, New Jersey
Victor
"Keeping Out Of Mischief Now"
November 6, 1937
New York, New York
Bluebird 10099
"Lennox Avenue Blues"
November 17, 1926
Camden, New Jersey
Victor 20357-B
"Lonesome Road"
August 28, 1938
London, England
Victor 27459
"Minor Drag"
January 3, 1929
New York, New York
Victor
"Messin' Around With The Blues Blues"
January 14, 1927
Camden, New Jersey
Victor
"My Fate Is In Your Hands"
April 12, 1929
New York, New York
Victor
"My Feelin's Are Hurt"
April 12, 1929
New York, New York
Victor
"Numb Fumblin'"
January 3, 1929
Camden, New Jersey
Victor
"Russian Fantasy"
November 3, 1935
New York, New York
HMV
"Soothin' Syrup Stomp"
January 14, 1927
Camden, New Jersey
Victor
"Sloppy Water Blues"
January 14, 1927
Camden, New Jersey
Victor
"Smashing Thirds"
September 24, 1929
New York, New York
Victor
"Sweet Savannah Sue"
February 8, 1929
Camden, New Jersey
Victor
"The Rusty Pail"
January 14, 1927
Camden, New Jersey
Victor
"That's All"
August 29, 1929
Camden, New Jersey
Victor 23260
"Valentine Stomp"
February 8, 1929
Camden, New Jersey
Victor
"Viper's Drag"
November 16, 1934
New York, New York
HMV
"Zonky"
November 3, 1935
New York, New York
HMV


Filmography


Source:[29]














Title
Director
Year

King of Burlesque

Sidney Lanfield
1936

Hooray for Love
Walter Lang
1935

Stormy Weather

Andrew L. Stone
1943


See also


  • List of ragtime composers


References




  1. ^ Tenenholtz, David. "Waller, Fats (Thomas Wright)". JAZZ.COM. Archived from the original on April 6, 2009. Retrieved July 10, 2013..mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em


  2. ^ abc "Thomas Wright Waller". Encyclopedia of World Biography (vol. 16) (2nd ed.). Detroit: Gale. 2004. pp. 81–82.


  3. ^ Pelisson, Gerard J.; Garvey III, James A. (2009). The Castle on the Parkway. Scarsdale, New York: The Hutch Press. p. 40.


  4. ^ Ivy, James (2011). "Waller, Fats (1904–1943)". In Price, Emmett G. Encyclopedia of African American Music. Santa Barbara: Greenwood. pp. 986–987.


  5. ^ "James P. Johnson | American composer and pianist". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved May 13, 2017.


  6. ^ ab Bromberg, Howard (2012). "Waller, Fats". In Rollyson, Carl. The Twenties in America. Ipswich, MA: Salem Press. pp. 904–905.


  7. ^ ab "Honeysuckle Rose" sung by Fats Waller in a 1941 Minoco Production Soundie


  8. ^ Palmer, David (1976). All You Need Is Love. Viking Press.
    ISBN 0-670-11448-0.



  9. ^ abc Tyle, Chris (2012). "I Can't Give You Anything but Love (1928)". JazzStandards.com. Retrieved April 4, 2014.


  10. ^ Singer, Barry (1992). Black and Blue: The Life and Lyrics of Andy Razaf. Shirmer-Macmillan. pp. 210f. Retrieved June 27, 2014.


  11. ^ Berger, Edward; Martin, Henry; Cayer, David; Morgenstern, Dan; Porter, Lewis, eds. (1996). Annual Review of Jazz Studies 7: 1994–1995. Scarecrow Press. Retrieved June 27, 2014.


  12. ^ Machlin, Paul S., ed. (2001). Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller: Performances in Transcription, 1927–1943, Volume 41. A-R Editions. ISBN 9780895794673.


  13. ^ Waller, Maurice and Anthony Calabrese. Fats Waller, Schirmer Books, 1977. ASIN B000JV3G1U, p. 164.


  14. ^ "Underneath a Harlem Moon: The Harlem to Paris Years of Adelaide Hall (Bayou Jazz Lives): Iain Cameron Williams: Amazon.com: Books". Amazon.com. Retrieved June 27, 2014.


  15. ^ Waller-Calabrese, pp. 62–63.


  16. ^ Vitery, Institute of jazz studies, Edwin. "Fats Waller in Europe: London". newarkwww.rutgers.edu.


  17. ^ "This Green and Pleasant Land" by Bryan Greene, in Poverty and Race, page 3.


  18. ^ ab Machlin, Paul S. (1985). Stride: The Music of Fats Waller. Springer. ISBN 9781349085675 – via Google Books.


  19. ^ "Waller, Fats (Thomas Wright)". Jazz.com. Archived from the original on April 6, 2009. Retrieved June 27, 2014.


  20. ^ The Book of Lists 3. Corgi. 1984. p. 425. ISBN 0-552-12371-4. From "Gone with the wind, sort of: ashes of 19 famous people – and 1 dog."


  21. ^ "Darren Waller". RamblinWreck.com. CBS. Retrieved October 30, 2015.


  22. ^ "GRAMMY Hall Of Fame". GRAMMY.org. Archived from the original on January 22, 2011. Retrieved June 27, 2014.


  23. ^ Schacter, James D. Piano Man: The Story of Ralph Sutton, p. 12, Jaynar Press, Chicago, IL.


  24. ^ Uhl, Jim. "For Conrad Janis, Acting and Jazz Share the Spotlight," The Mississippi Rag, pp. 1–9, Sept. 2002, Minneapolis, MN.


  25. ^ "Workshop Poems – The Belfast Group". Beck.library.emory.edu. Retrieved June 27, 2014.


  26. ^ "FAQs | This Old House TV". This Old House. Archived from the original on March 29, 2014. Retrieved June 27, 2014.


  27. ^ "David Lynch's Eraserhead Soundtrack". DavidLynch.de. Retrieved June 27, 2014.


  28. ^ "Travel Channel Schedule". Retrieved July 31, 2018.


  29. ^ ab "Fats Waller". Redhotjazz.com. Retrieved June 27, 2014.



Further reading


  • Machlin, Paul S., ed. (2001). Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller: Performances in Transcription, 1927–1943. Music of the United States of America (MUSA), vol. 10. Madison, Wisconsin: A-R Editions.

  • Taylor, Stephen (2006). Fats Waller on the Air: The Radio Broadcasts & Discography. Lanham: Scarecrow Press.
    ISBN 0-8108-5656-5.


External links



  • Fats Waller at Encyclopædia Britannica

  • Fats Waller piano rollography


  • Red Hot Jazz, a selection of Fats Waller's Recordings


  • Fats Waller Forever, a digital exhibit of Fats Waller's musical career


  • Fats Waller at Music of the United States of America (MUSA)

  • Fats Waller memorabilia


  • Fats Waller, a tribute to the King of Stride Piano (French and English)

  • Fats Waller Stride Piano & Sheet Music

  • Allmusic

  • MIDI sequences of 21 piano compositions and 29 piano arrangements by Fats Waller








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