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THOMAS
FATS
WALLER
piano
LIFELINE
1904-1943
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1904
Born in New York,
Thomas Waller plays the reed organ at open air church services conducted
by his father, a baptist lay preacher. He plays the piano at school
and aged 15 starts work as a theatre organist. It is not unlikely
that he receives, as he later claimed, piano lessons from Leopold
Godowsky and lessons in composition from Carl Bohm at the Juiliard
School.
1930s
Throughout the
1920s and 1930s his recording career gains
momentum, both as a soloist (a series of great recordings
in 1929) and with his band, which by 1934 has become known as 'Fats
Waller & His Rhythm'. The potential riches from his composing
are squandered or negated as he sells the royalties irresponsibly
for any short-term gain. He aspires to serious compositions, such
as the London Suite, six solo pieces recorded in 1939.
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1920s
Upon his mother's
death, Fats moves in with the family of pianist Russell Brooks and
thereby meets the great stride pianist James P. Johnson, who takes
Waller under his wing. He plays in cabarets and theatres; his recording
debut is in 1922 and he broadcasts first in 1923; he plays at the
Carnegie Hall in April 1928. As a composer
he begins to make his mark: Squeeze Me in 1923,
and thereafter a raft of highly popular songs, especially with lyricist
Andy Razaf, such as Honeysuckle Rose and Ain't Misbehavin'
(written for the Braodway musical Connie's Hot Chocolates
with Cab Calloway in 1929).
1940s
Waller is working
ceaselessly, with many arduous tours, broadcasts and, in 1943, a burgeoning
film career with a role in Stormy Weather. Pressures of work
and financial worries, compounded by a passion for food and alcohol,
seriously undermine his health, and he dies of pneumonia on a train
while returning to New York for Christmas in 1943. |
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"First
Mr Dupré played the God-box and then I played the God-box"
Waller's
account of his visit to the organ loft at the Cathedral of Notre
Dame with the French classical composer Marcel Dupré
STYLE
Waller was an outstanding pianist, capable
of great subtlety and dynamic expressiveness, with the
most delicate of touches. His influence on
all pianists of the swing era
was enormous, particularly Art
Tatum and Teddy Wilson, with his
use of passing chords, and on Count Basie
(whom he taught for a while). His own influences
were wide and varied: tutored by James P. Johnson he took
on board fully the Harlem stride piano patterns, but he also displayed
traits of the blues, boogie-woogie, ragtime and classical repertoire.
He was the first good jazz organist and he recorded on the celesta.
PERFORMER
The usual story is that Waller was a clown with a mask
that hid deep intent and studied seriousness. But Waller was no charlatan:
what you saw was what you got, at moments introspective and at moments
extravagant and ebulliant. His merciless satire, comic effects and
spoken asides, the overflowing sense of fun
he exhibited on tracks like Your Feet's Too Big, sprang from
the same well that penned his rather grandious London Suite
- and I doubt that Waller played only Bach when he visited Dupré at
Notre Dame! As in life, Waller's approach to his music was haphazard
and often topsy-turvey. And sad (and short) though his life was, to
the onlooker at least, I defy anyone not to enjoy his infectious,
glorious music. |
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