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Fats Waller 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".
He was born in New York City on 10th Avenue 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. Fats' 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 James P. Johnson's "Carolina Shout". Subsequently Waller took regular piano lessons from legendary Harlem stride pianist James P. Johnson, a genius and pivotal jazz artist and joined him making piano rolls for the QRS Music Roll Company. He also benefited from legendary stride pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith, who gave Fats the nickname "Filthy". The Lion's love for 19th Century impressionistic composers helped extend Waller's use of classical pianistic devices. nnbvcxcvzzbbcff bvvvbn
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.
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 very individual touch that varied from subtle and extremely light, to extreme power, 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.
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, and "Jitterbug Waltz" 1930, "Honeysuckle Rose" 1929. He also composed stride piano display pieces such as "Handful of Keys", "Valentine Stomp" and "Viper's Drag."
He collaborated with the Tin Pan Alley lyricist Andy Razaf and had a commercially successful career, which according to some music critics eclipsed his great musical talent. His nickname came about because he weighed nearly 300 pounds (136 kg). His weight and drinking are believed to have contributed to his death.
Waller also 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 also 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 levelled at both Armstrong and Waller.
On December 15, 1943, at age 39, Waller died of pneumonia aboard an eastbound train in the vicinity of Kansas City, Missouri, following a west coast engagement.
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 current jazz pianists perform in the Waller idiom. Although the stride style, like all jazz, must be learned by ear many scholars have transcibed his brilliant improvisations from old recordings and radio broadcasts, in sheet music form. The pianist and keyboard professor Paul Posnak has produced transcriptions of 16 of Waller's greatest solos, published by Hal Leonard, which Posnak uses in concerts worldwide.
A 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", "The Joint is Jumpin'", and "Ain't Misbehavin'". Some of Waller's favorite quips: "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 with them!" "Run into and stab me, but don't bruise me!" "Wot's da matta wit DAT?!"
Waller posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.
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