Fats waller

From Harlem Renaissance

The Life of Thomas Fats Waller

Fats Waller was a musician during the Harlem Renaissance (see Main Page).Main Page Born in New York, May 21, 1904. He was one of the great stride pianoists of the twenties and known to be king of stride piano.He first began as an organ player because his dad was a preacher. He soon after won a talent contest in 1918 by playing James P. Johnson's Carolina Shout. Later on, Fats decided to learn piano.

As Fats Waller grew up learning organ and piano he first started his career in 1922 and he played for rent parties, movie theaters and he also accompanied Vaudeville acts as well. At the same time period 1922 his recording debut as a soloist for Okeh and In 1927, Fats and his and in the same year he had made many recordings as an accompanist for several blues players. Old piano teacher, James P. Johnson, wrote songs for James' show "Keep Shufflin."The young Fats Waller was later known as one of the legendary kings of Harlem stride piano. Fats Waller was known to perform in the Connie's Inn(Harlem night spot) with his jazz team. Connie's Inn was originally founded by Fats' parents, and was later turn into an area for broadways and jazz bands, here is where Fats Waller became a big hit.

The Fletcher Orchestra did many songs that Fats Waller made when he began to end his career at Connie's Inn when it only did Broadways. The Fletcher Orchestra played songs like the "Whiteman Stomp" that Fats Waller made and he began a partnership now with instead of his old piano teacher, James Johnson, a man named Andy Razaf instead and together they made songs like the "Honeysuckle Rose", which became very famous thereafter. Because of such a big hit, Razaf and Waller made many more songs, like Hot Chocolate with the very famous Louis Armstrong on trumpet in 1929. Not only was Fats a great musician but one of the finest Jazz composers of his time. An example such as "Ain't Misbehavin" was known to be inroduced by Louis Armstrong and had showed up again in 1978 on Broadway revue composed by Fats with the music.

They also made the song "Aint Misbehaven" that became so popular that the song in itself brought almost complete fame to the Waller-Razaf collaboration. Waller and Razaf also cooperated with James P. Johnson and made a musical out of "Keep Shufflin," a show that Fats Waller had made music for with Johnson. Some of his accomplishments included some appearances with the famous blues singer Bessie Smith a little after he wrote the music to the show, "Keep Shufflin." in Fats Waller began to have his unique kind of jazz and its stride to the music. It was a mix of ragtime, classical, blues, and boogie-woogie. When he was at a party, he played piano and impressed everyone there.

An executer of Victor Records was so impressed that he arranged a recording rehearsal with the company. Fats Waller began an arrangement with the record company which he was in until his death in 1943. For then on, most of the records that Fats Waller put out were under the name of "Fats Waller and His Rhythm." This group had 6 musicians that worked with him very often, including the semi-famous Zutty Singleton See Zutty[1] From thereafter he performed famously on radios, nightclubs, and other things. In the early 40s he went on a train from Kansas City and unexpectedly died of Pneumonia at only 39. See this video of the song "Ain't Misbehaven:" [2]

His Music

Fats Waller was in many bands and played many songs. He had his own songs and also played for silent movies and TV shows. Because he played in so many things, he had a lot of songs for only a 25 year career. Here are some of the songs he made: [3] Aint Misbehavin [4] This Joint is Jumpin [5] Your Feet Are Too Big [6] By the Light of The Moon [7] Honeysuckle Rose Fats Waller a master of stride music, along with James Johnson and Willie "The Lion" Smith. Swing was a descendant of ragtime its difference being that swing is much more elaborate. Swing took much more technique as well, which was what Fats Waller knew best. His career as an organist and pianist made him famous because of not only his singing but his musical perfection. A technique that Fats Waller commonly used was having an instrument, usually a bass, keeping to the beat of it. He would also have his left hand keeping the beat with the bass and the other playing, this was a common use for many swing musicians.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Fats Waller Forever, The Music of Fats Waller http://newarkwww.rutgers.edu/ijs/fw/music.htm

Article website from sfpl.org http://www.grovemusic.com.ezproxy.sfpl.org/shared/views/article.html?section=music.48692.2