Fats Waller
Fats Waller, born Thomas Wright Waller on May 21, 1904, in Harlem, New York, was a significant figure in American music, particularly during the Harlem Renaissance. His upbringing in a musically inclined family, with a father who was a Baptist preacher, influenced his early engagement with music, as he began playing the harmonium at church services by age six. Waller emerged as a leading stride pianist, winning talent contests and studying under James P. Johnson, a key figure in the development of this style. By the 1920s, he was recording and performing alongside notable blues artists and had composed numerous songs, establishing his reputation in the music scene.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Waller's career expanded as he recorded hits like "Ain't Misbehavin'" and hosted his own radio show, where he showcased his talents as a musician and entertainer. His band, Fats Waller and His Rhythm, became known for its extensive recordings and popularity during the 1930s. Waller also aspired to be recognized as a serious composer, producing larger works like the "London Suite." Unfortunately, his life was cut short when he died of pneumonia in December 1943. Despite his brief career, Waller left a lasting legacy, celebrated for his contributions to the cultural landscape and his ability to bridge racial divides through music.
Subject Terms
Fats Waller
Jazz Musician
- Born: May 21, 1904
- Birthplace: Waverley, New York
- Died: December 15, 1943
- Place of death: Kansas City, Missouri
Jazz musician, composer, and entertainer
Waller, although perhaps best known for his comic entertainment style, was a gifted jazz musician whose greatest contribution to music lay in his virtuosic Harlem stride piano compositions.
Areas of achievement: Entertainment: vaudeville; Music: composition; Music: jazz; Music: swing; Radio and television
Early Life
Thomas Wright Waller (WAH-luhr) was born on May 21, 1904, in New York near Harlem—a city that was on its way to becoming the largest and most significant urban community of African Americans in the Northeast. In Harlem, Waller and other artists would launch one of the major cultural movements in American history, the Harlem Renaissance.
Waller’s parents—Edward, a Baptist lay preacher, and Adeline—migrated to New York from Virginia in 1888, and by 1902 had permanently settled in Harlem. Waller, who came to be known as “Fats” in his youth, was the youngest of the couple’s five children. Edward and Adeline were devout churchgoers and intensely musical; indeed, religious music was part of their everyday lives. This reverence for music had a tremendous impact on Waller. By the age of six, he was playing the harmonium to accompany his father’s sermons.
Waller’s musical education and professional growth intensified in his teenage years. In 1918, he won a talent contest for his rendition of James P. Johnson’s “Carolina Shout,” which was considered to be the barometer by which all budding stride pianists were measured. By 1920, he was studying with Johnson, the father of the Harlem stride piano style. Around that time, Waller also began to perform regularly at Harlem’s Lincoln and Lafayette theaters. During the next few years, as a result of his increasingly frequent public appearances, Waller came to be acknowledged as one of the most inventive and virtuosic of the younger generation of stride practitioners. He made his debut recording, “Birmingham Blues” and “Muscle Shoals Blues,” in October of 1922; other early performance activity included accompanying blues singers, such as Bessie Smith, on recordings and cutting numerous piano rolls in 1923 for the Victor, QRS, and Okeh labels. During the early 1920’s, he continued to play for rent parties, engaged in cutting contests, was an organist at movie theaters, and served as an accompanist for various vaudeville acts.
Life’s Work
While still in his early twenties, Waller composed dozens of songs (although some were not published) and began critical collaborations with songwriters such as Spencer Williams and, most important, Andy Razaf.
In 1927, Waller recorded his own composition, “Whiteman Stomp,” with Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra, one of the pioneering African American bands of the swing era. Henderson used other compositions by Waller as vehicles for his arrangements and improvisations, including “I’m Crazy ’bout My Baby” and “Stealin’ Apples.”
In 1928, along with Razaf, Waller contributed much of the music for Johnson’s all-black Broadway musical Keep Shufflin’. He also made his Carnegie Hall debut on April 27, 1928, when he was the piano soloist in a version of Johnson’s Yamekraw, a Negro Rhapsody for piano and orchestra.
Waller’s star rose rapidly in 1929; in that year alone, he was involved in numerous extensive recording sessions that documented some of his finest songs, including “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” “(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue?,” “The Minor Drag,” and “Numb Fumblin’.” This exposure gained him cachet with record executives and he was permitted to use an interracial band, one of the earliest in recording history.
In 1930, Waller appeared on radio as one of the earliest African Americans hosts. From 1932 to 1934, he broadcast his own show for WLW in Cincinnati, Fats Waller’s Rhythm Club. When the WLW contract concluded in early 1934, Waller returned to New York, where he broadcast the Rhythm Club show over the CBS network to a larger audience. This experience would prove to be invaluable as it offered an unparalleled opportunity to sing, satirize, and provide commentary while he was playing—all traits for which he would become widely known.
Waller’s success on CBS persuaded Victor to sign him to his first recording contract; Waller decided upon a six-piece band format similar in organization to a typical Dixieland band ensemble: clarinet, trombone, trumpet, piano, bass, and drums. Maintaining the association with the Rhythm Club name, Waller dubbed the band Fats Waller and His Rhythm. Between 1934 and 1942, the group recorded about four hundred sides, well over half of Waller’s lifetime recorded output. Many critics consider the band’s best work the records issued in 1935 and 1936, and many of these releases sold millions of copies. In February, 1938, Victor extended Waller’s contract through May, 1944.
In 1938, Waller undertook a European tour and recorded in London with his group Continental Rhythm and made solo organ recordings for the HMV (His Master’s Voice) label. His second European tour, the following year, was terminated by the outbreak of World War II, but while in Great Britain, he recorded his London Suite, an extended series of six related pieces for solo piano: “Piccadilly,” “Chelsea,” “Soho,” “Bond Street,” “Limehouse,” and “Whitechapel.” It became Waller’s greatest composition in scale and magnitude and is indicative of his aspirations to be a composer of concert works, along the lines of his mentor, Johnson.
The final years of Waller’s life involved frequent recordings and extensive tours of the United States. In early 1943, he traveled to Hollywood to make the film Stormy Weather with Lena Horne and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, in which he led an all-star band. His professional responsibilities intensified in that year with more touring as well as collaborating with the lyricist George Marion for the stage show Early to Bed.
This exhausting schedule along with constant overindulgence in food and alcohol irrevocably damaged Waller’s health. He died of pneumonia in December, 1943, while returning to New York by train with his manager, Ed Kirkeby.
Significance
Waller, in his short life, served as an ebullient champion of African Americans’ contributions to the cultural fabric of the United States. Whether it was through his jubilant and virtuosic musical performances, his comedic antics, or his dapper sartorial taste, Waller was determined to celebrate his community and transcend the racial barriers put before him.
Bibliography
Kirkeby, Ed. Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Story of Fats Waller. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1966. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1975. This informal narrative of Waller’s life and music serves as a moving memoir of the musical genius as told by Waller’s personal manager, Kirkeby.
Machlin, Paul S. Stride: The Music of Fats Waller. Boston: Twayne, 1985. The first in-depth, scholarly examination of the work of this major jazz figure whose talents as an entertainer often overshadowed his considerable artistic contributions. It includes musical analysis of Waller’s idiomatic style and delves into some obscure Waller compositions, such as his works for pipe organ.
Shipton, Alyn. Fats Waller: The Cheerful Little Earful. Rev. ed. New York: Continuum, 2002. In this fully revised and updated biography of Waller, Shipton argues that Waller’s talents as a songwriter, composer, and recording and broadcasting artist have not been fully appreciated. Includes a comprehensive discography of Waller’s recordings as they have been reissued on compact disc.
Taylor, Stephen. Fats Waller on the Air. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2006. Examines the often overlooked aspect of Waller’s career—his years as a radio personality. The broadcasts, including tributes to Waller after his death, are covered in detail, featuring dates, times, songs played, and other artists who appeared on the program.
Waller, Maurice, and Anthony Calabrese. Fats Waller. New York: Schirmer Books, 1977. An exploration of Waller’s life as seen through the eyes of his son, Maurice.