Editing Fats Waller (section)

==Career==
Pianist and composer [[Oscar Levant]] called Waller "the black [[Vladimir Horowitz|Horowitz]]".<ref name="Palmer">{{cite book |last1=Palmer |first1=David |title=All You Need Is love: The Story of Popular Music |date=1976 |publisher=Grossman |isbn=0670114480}}</ref> Working with his long-time songwriting partner, lyricist [[Andy Razaf]], Fats also wrote the music and/or performed in several successful [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musicals, including 1928's ''Keep Shufflin''',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.playbill.com/personlistpage/person-list?production=00000150-aea1-d936-a7fd-eef5dd4b0004&type=op#oc |title=Keep Shufflin' |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=27 February 1928 |website=Playbill.com |publisher=Playbill, Inc. |access-date=26 January 2021 |quote=Keep Shufflin' – Music: Thomas "Fats" Waller – "On The White Keys"}}</ref> 1929's ''[[Hot Chocolates]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.playbill.com/personlistpage/person-list?production=00000150-aea3-d936-a7fd-eef7ea4e0002&type=op#oc |title=Hot Chocolates |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=20 June 1929 |website=Playbill.com |publisher=Playbill, Inc. |access-date=26 January 2021 |quote=Thomas "Fats" Waller – Music}}</ref> and (with lyricist [[George Marion Jr.]]) 1943's ''Early To Bed''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.playbill.com/personlistpage/person-list?production=00000150-ae93-d936-a7fd-eef749a60004&type=op#op |title=Early To Bed |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=17 June 1943 |website=Playbill.com |publisher=Playbill, Inc. |access-date=26 January 2021 |quote=Thomas "Fats" Waller – Music}}</ref>

Waller is believed to have composed many novelty tunes in the 1920s and 1930s and sold them for small sums,<ref name="Tyle">{{cite web|title=''I Can't Give You Anything but Love'' (1928)|author= Tyle, Chris|date= 2012| publisher= JazzStandards.com|url=http://www.jazzstandards.com/compositions-1/icantgiveyouanythingbutlove.htm|access-date=April 4, 2014}}</ref> attributed to another composer and lyricist.<ref name="maurice" />

Standards attributed to Waller, sometimes controversially, include "[[I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby]]". The song was made famous by [[Adelaide Hall]] in the Broadway show ''[[Blackbirds of 1928]]''.<ref name="Williams">{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Iain Cameron |title=Underneath a Harlem Moon |date=2002 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=0826458939}}</ref>

Biographer Barry Singer offered circumstantial evidence that this song 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{{snd}}he sold the song for $500 to a white songwriter 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]]'').<ref name="Tyle" /> He noted that early handwritten manuscripts in the Dana Library Institute of Jazz Studies of "Spreadin' Rhythm Around" (Jimmy McHugh 1935) are in Waller's hand.<ref name="Tyle" /><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XfzZcCcgk9QC&pg=PR5 |title= Annual Review of Jazz Studies 7: 1994–1995 |editor1-first= Edward |editor1-last=Berger |editor2-first= Henry |editor-last2=Martin |editor3-first= David |editor3-last=Cayer |editor4-first= Dan |editor4-last=Morgenstern |editor5-first= Lewis |editor5-last=Porter| publisher= Scarecrow Press |date=1996 |isbn= 978-0810831223 |access-date=June 27, 2014}}</ref> Jazz historian Paul S. Machlin commented that the Singer conjecture has "considerable [historical] justification".<ref>{{cite book| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=xFWIizMK-FkC&pg=PR34 |title= Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller: Performances in Transcription, 1927–1943, Volume 41|editor-first= Paul S. | editor-last= Machlin| publisher= A-R Editions| year= 2001| isbn= 978-0895794673}}</ref> According to a biography by Waller's son Maurice, Waller told his son never to play the song within earshot because he had to sell it when he needed money.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|author1=Maurice Waller|author2=Anthony Calabrese|title=Fats Waller|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bCp0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT24|date=2017|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-1452956671|pages=24 ff}}</ref> Maurice Waller wrote that his father objected to hearing "[[On the Sunny Side of the Street]]" on the radio.<ref name="maurice">{{cite book |last1=Waller |first1=Maurice |last2=Calabrese |first2=Anthony |title=Fats Waller |date=1977 |publisher=Schirmer |page=164}}</ref> The famous songwriting team of Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields said the song was inspired by their watching a young couple window shopping at Tiffany's.

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". In the same notes are comments by clarinetist [[Gene Sedric]], who recorded with Waller in the 1930s. "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."

{{listen|filename= You Got Everything A Sweet Mama Needs But Me.ogg|title=<small>You Got Everything A Sweet Mama Needs But Me</small>|description = ''You Got Everything a Sweet Mama Needs But Me'', sung by [[Sara Martin]], with piano accompaniment by Waller in 1922|format=[[Ogg]]}}
{{listen|filename='tain't Nobody's Bus'ness If I Do.ogg|title='Tain't Nobody's Bus'ness If I Do|description ='' 'Tain't Nobody's Bus'ness if I Do'' sung by [[Sara Martin]] with piano accompaniment by Waller, 1922|format=[[Ogg]]}}

Waller played with [[Nathaniel Shilkret]], [[Gene Austin]], [[Erskine Tate]], [[Fletcher Henderson]], [[McKinney's Cotton Pickers]], and [[Adelaide Hall]].

According to Waller, he was kidnapped in Chicago while 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 taking place. With a 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 was relieved that the kidnappers had no intention of killing him.<ref>Waller-Calabrese, pp. 62–63.</ref>

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 (song)|St. Louis Blues]]" and his composition "Lenox Avenue Blues." Although he recorded with several 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 compositions: "Handful of Keys", "Smashing Thirds", "Numb Fumblin{{' "}}, and "Valentine Stomp" (1929). After sessions with [[Ted Lewis (musician)|Ted Lewis]] (1931), [[Jack Teagarden]] (1931), and [[Billy Banks (singer)|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 (trumpeter)|Bill Coleman]] or [[John "Bugs" Hamilton]]), [[Gene Sedric]] or [[Rudy Powell]], and [[Al Casey (jazz guitarist)|Al Casey]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://syncopatedtimes.com/fats-waller-profiles-in-jazz/|title=Fats Waller: Profiles in Jazz|last=Yanow|first=Scott|newspaper=Syncopatedtimes.com|access-date=2020-05-21}}
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Waller wrote "Squeeze Me" (1919), "[[Keepin' Out of Mischief Now]]," "[[Ain't Misbehavin' (song)|Ain't Misbehavin']]" (1929), "Blue Turning Grey Over You," "I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling" (1929), "[[Honeysuckle Rose (song)|Honeysuckle Rose]]" (1929) and "[[Jitterbug Waltz]]" (1942). He composed stride piano display pieces such as "Handful of Keys," "Valentine Stomp," and "[[Viper's Drag]]."

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, from the Alexandra Palace studios in London, performing "I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby," "Honeysuckle Rose," "Neglected," "Hallelujah," and "Truckin{{'"}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rutgers.edu/ijs/fw/people2c.htm|title=Fats Waller in Europe: London|first=Edwin|last=Vitery|website=Rutgers.edu}}{{Dead link|date=January 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> While in Britain, Waller also recorded a number of songs for [[EMI]] on their [[Theatre organ|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 (1943 film)|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 occasionally performed [[Bach]] organ pieces for small groups. He influenced many pre-[[bebop]] jazz pianists; [[Count Basie]] and [[Erroll Garner]] both revived his hit songs. In addition to his playing, Waller was known for his humorous 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. In April 1927, Waller played the organ at the Vendome in Chicago for movies alongside Louis Armstrong, where his organ playing was praised for "witty cueing" and "eccentric stop coupling."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0393065824|location=New York|pages=184}}</ref>

Waller's RCA Victor recording of "A Little Bit Independent," written by [[Joe Burke (composer)|Joe Burke]] and [[Edgar Leslie]], was No. 1 on ''[[List of Your Hit Parade number-one songs|Your Hit Parade]]'' for two weeks in 1935. He also charted with "Whose Honey Are You?", "Lulu's Back in Town," "Sweet and Low," "Truckin{{' "}}, "Rhythm and Romance," "Sing an Old Fashioned Song to a Young Sophisticated Lady," "West Wind," "All My Life," "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie," "Let's Sing Again," "Cross Patch," "You're Not the Kind," "Bye Bye Baby," "You're Laughing at Me," "I Love to Whistle," "Good for Nothing," "Two Sleepy People", and "Little Curly Hair in a Highchair."<ref>{{cite book |last=Fragias |first=Leonidas |author-link= |date=2017 |title=Your Hit Parade Charts: 1935–1940 |url=https://archive.org/details/YourHitParadeCharts19351940/page/n5/mode/2up |location= |publisher=Arts & Charts |page= |isbn=}}</ref>

===Soundies===
Today's audiences can see and hear Waller performing his own works in [[Soundies]] musical films. These three-minute selections were filmed in 1941 in New York, by producer [[Fred Waller]] (no relation) and director Warren Murray. Waller filmed four songs: "Ain't Misbehavin{{'"}}, "Honeysuckle Rose," "Your Feet's Too Big," and "The Joint Is Jumpin{{'"}}. The films originally played in coin-operated movie jukeboxes and were later reprinted for home movies, television, and video.<ref>[[Scott MacGillivray|MacGillivray, Scott]] and [[Ted Okuda|Okuda, Ted]], ''The Soundies Book''. New York: iUniverse, 2007, p. 275. {{ISBN|978-0-595-42060-5}}</ref>

=== Broadway musicals ===
Later in Waller's career, he had the distinction of becoming the first African-American songwriter to compose a hit Broadway musical that was seen by a mostly white audience. Broadway producer [[Richard Kollmar]]'s hiring of Waller to create the 1943 musical ''Early to Bed'' was recalled in a 2016 essay about Waller by [[John McWhorter]].<blockquote>Even as late as 1943, the idea of a black composer writing the score for a standard-issue white show was unheard of. When Broadway performer and producer Richard Kollmar began planning ''Early to Bed'', his original idea was for Waller to perform in it as a comic character, not to write the music. Waller was, after all, as much a comedian as a musician. Comedy rarely dates well, but almost 80 years later, his comments and timing during "Your Feet's Too Big" are as funny as anything on Comedy Central, and he nearly walks away with the movie ''Stormy Weather'' with just one musical scene and a bit of mugging later on, despite the competition of [[Bill "Bojangles" Robinson]], [[Lena Horne]], and the [[Nicholas Brothers]].

Kollmar's original choice for composer [of ''Early to Bed''] was Ferde Grofé, best known as the orchestrator of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," whose signature compositions were portentous concert suites. But Grofé withdrew, and it is to Kollmar's credit that he realized that he had a top-rate pop-song composer available in Waller. Waller's double duty as composer and performer was short-lived. During a cash crisis and in an advanced state of intoxication, Waller threatened to leave the production unless Kollmar bought the rights to his Early to Bed music for $1,000. (This was typical of Waller, who often sold melodies for quick cash when in his cups. The evidence suggests, for example, that the standards "I Can't Give You Anything but Love" and "On the Sunny Side of the Street" were Waller tunes.) Waller came to his senses the next day, but Kollmar decided that his drinking habits made him too risky a proposition for eight performances a week. From then on, Waller was the show's composer only, with lyrics by George Marion, whose best-remembered work today is the script for the Astaire-Rogers film ''The Gay Divorcée''.<ref name="McWhorter">{{cite web |last1=McWhorter |first1=John |title=The Fats Waller You've Never Heard |url=https://www.city-journal.org/html/fats-waller-youve-never-heard-14795.html |website=City Journal |access-date=27 April 2020 |date=14 October 2016}}</ref></blockquote>

Six months after the premiere of ''Early to Bed'', it was still playing in a Broadway theater; at that point, newspapers reported Waller's premature death.