Fats Waller

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
This needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2007)
Fats Waller
Image:Fats Waller NYWTS.jpg
Background information
Birth name Thomas Wright Waller
Born May 21 1904(1904-05-21)
Origin New York City
Died December 15 1943 (aged 39)
Genre(s) Jazz
Occupation(s) Pianist
Instrument(s) Piano

Fats Waller (born Thomas Wright Waller on May 21, 1904, died December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer and comedic entertainer.

A skilled pianist -- widely recognized as a master of stride piano -- Waller was one of the most popular performers of his era, finding critical and commercial success in his homeland and in Europe. Waller was also a prolific songwriter, with many songs he wrote or co-wrote still known to modern audiences, such as "Honeysuckle Rose", "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Squeeze Me". Fellow pianist and composer Oscar Levant dubbed Waller "the black Horowitz" in a favorable comparison to Russian pianist Vladimir Horowitz[1] In the 1920s and 30's Waller quickly sold some of his compositions just after they were written, and as they became hits, other songwriters had already claimed them as their own. Some standards are alternatively attributed to Waller, a matter of some debate.

Contents

[edit] Biography

He was born in New York City on 10th Avenue[2] to a Baptist minister father. In 1888, when the Waller family migrated from Virginia to New York City they chose Waverly Place in Greenwich Village in order to belong to the Abyssinian Baptist Church. When the church moved uptown to Harlem the family followed and settled eventually at 107 West 134th street.[3][2] Fats's grandfather, Adolph Waller, was an accomplished violinist.

Waller started his musical career at an early age. He studied classical piano and organ as a child, taught largely by the music director of his Baptist church, who insisted he also learn the organ works of J. S. Bach. As a young adult, Waller learned the latest piano style from following a player piano recording of legendary Harlem stride pianist James P. Johnson's "Carolina Shout." Subsequently, Waller took regular piano lessons from Johnson, a genius and pivotal jazz artist, and joined him making piano rolls for the QRS Music Roll Company. He also benefitted from legendary stride pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith, who gave Fats the nickname "Filthy".[3] The Lion's love for 19th Century impressionistic composers helped extend Waller's use of classical pianistic devices.

Johnson introduced Waller to the world of rent parties (parties with a piano player, designed to help pay the rent by charging the guests), and obtained his first piano roll assignments and recordings for Okeh Records when Waller was only 18.

On December 15, 1943, Waller died of pneumonia while stopped at the railroad station in Kansas City. He was in his private railroad car, returning to New York after a two week engagement in Los Angeles. He collapsed while talking with his manager, Ed Kirkeby. Waller was only 39.[4] His weight of nearly 300 pounds (136 kg) and perpetual drinking habit are believed to have contributed to his premature death.

[edit] Musical contributions

He was an excellent and much copied jazz pianist—now considered one of the very best who ever played in the stride style. He also had a touch that varied from subtle and extremely light to very powerful. He was a master of dynamics and tension and release. But it was his singing, songwriting, and his lovable, roguish stage personality that sold his hundreds of recordings for RCA Victor, in a day when much of society did not recognize jazz as "serious" music. He played with many performers, from Gene Austin to Erskine Tate to Adelaide Hall, but his greatest success came with his own five- or six-piece combo, "Fats Waller and his Rhythm". Fats Waller was such an impressive and talented pianist that he came to the attention of the rich and famous—- sometimes whether he wanted to or not. Fats Waller was in Chicago in 1926 and, upon leaving the building where he was performing, Waller was kidnapped by four men, who bundled him into a car and drove off. The car later pulled up outside the Hawthorne Inn, owned by infamous gangster Al Capone. Fats was ordered inside the building, to find a party in full swing. With a gun against his back, Waller was pushed towards a piano, whereupon the gangsters demanded he start playing. A terrified Waller suddenly realized he was the "surprise guest" at Al Capone's birthday party. Soon comforted by the fact that he wouldn't die, Waller played, according to rumor, for three days. When he left the Hawthorne Inn, he was very drunk, extremely tired, and had earned thousands of dollars in cash given to him by Capone himself and by party-goers as tips.[3]

Among his songs are "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" (1930). He collaborated successfully with the Tin Pan Alley lyricist Andy Razaf for a number of years. Waller also composed stride piano display pieces such as "Handful of Keys", "Valentine Stomp" and "Viper's Drag." His songs have become standards of the jazz repertoire.

Waller made a successful tour of the British Isles in the late 1930s, and appeared in one of the earliest BBC Television broadcasts. While in Britain, Waller also recorded a number of songs for EMI on their Compton Theatre organ located in their Studios in St John's Wood, London. He appeared in several feature films and short subject films, most notably "Stormy Weather" in 1943, which was released only months before his death.

For his hit Broadway show, "Hot Chocolates", with Razaf he wrote "What Did I Do (To Be So Black and Blue)?" (1929) which became a hit for Louis Armstrong. This song, a searing treatment of racism, black and white, calls into question the early accusations of "shallow entertainment" ignorantly leveled at both Armstrong and Waller.

Waller could read and write music well (from his classical keyboard studies) and would even, on occasion, perform organ works of Bach for small groups. He left his stamp on many pre-bop jazz pianists. Count Basie and Erroll Garner, for example, would have sounded very different absent the Waller sound. Today, Dick Hyman, Mike Lipskin, Louis Mazatier and other jazz pianists perform in the Waller idiom. Although the stride style, like all jazz, must be learned primarily by ear, many scholars have transcribed his brilliant improvisations from old recordings and radio broadcasts, in sheet music form. The pianist and keyboard professor Paul Posnak produced transcriptions of 16 of Waller's greatest solos, published by Hal Leonard, which Posnak uses in concerts worldwide.

In addition to his virtuosic playing, Waller was known for his many quips during his performances, including: "One never knows, do one?" "No lady, We can't haul your ashes for 25 cents, that's bad business." "Mercy!" "Well all right then!" "I wonder what the poor people are doing... I'd love to be doing it with them!" "Run into and stab me, but don't bruise me!" and "Wot's da matta wit DAT?!"

[edit] Grammy 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 honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

Fats Waller: Grammy Hall of Fame Awards[5]
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.

[edit] Revival and posthumous awards

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

[edit] Inductions

Year Inducted Title
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

[edit] References

  1. ^ Palmer, David. All You Need Is Love. Viking Press. 1976. ISBN 0670114480.
  2. ^ a b Krebs, Albin and Robert Thomas Jr. Plaque in Harlem a Memorial to Fats Waller. New York Times. 19 August 1981.
  3. ^ a b c Waller, Maurice and Anthony Calabrese. Fats Waller. Schirmer Books. 1977. ASIN B000JV3G1U.
  4. ^ Fats Waller, Negro Band Leader, Dies. San Antonio Light. 15 December 15 1943, p. 4.
  5. ^ Grammy Hall of Fame Database

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

de:Fats Waller et:Fats Waller es:Fats Waller fr:Fats Waller it:Fats Waller nl:Fats Waller ja:ファッツ・ウォーラー no:Fats Waller pt:Fats Waller sv:Fats Waller

Retrieved from "http://india.smashits.com/wikipedia/Fats_Waller"
Views
Personal tools

Toolbox