May 21, 1904, Harlem, New York, NY
Died:
December 15, 1943, On a train in transit from California.
Master Composer and Pianist
Fats Waller, born Thomas Waller in 1904, was an early contributor to jazz and the composer of the famous American standards "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose." Growing up in Harlem, the son of a Baptist preacher father Edward Waller and mother Adeline, Waller began his musical career playing the organ in his father's services. Soon, however, he turned to the new piano style developing in New York at the time: stride piano.
Waller began to study with James P. Johnson and eventually went on not only to become a talented performer and composer, making his first piano roll in 1922. By the time he died at age 39, Waller had performed, recorded or had his music performed by many of the most celebrated figures in jazz including The Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, Louis Armstrong, Sydney Bechet, Jack Teagarden, and Cab Calloway, among many others. At the time of his death in 1943, Fats was on the way back from a successful tour and movie shoot in Hollywood, and died of pneumonia related to his heavy-drinking and hard-working lifestyle.
Contributions to Jazz
Waller's contributions to the development of jazz lay in his many compositions and in his mastery of the stride piano style. He was regarded as a master by many other pianists who noted his technique, use of tension and release, and a wide dynamic contrast on the instrument. Waller's incredible output as a recording artist must also be noted, as there are few other musicians who performed so much music at such a high level at that time.
Though his musical accomplishments were many, Waller was known perhaps even more for his on-stage persona whose humorous banter, playful lyrics, and physical comedy played an equally prominent role with the music. This was common practice among many black performers of the time, who felt that pleasing the white audience by presenting themselves in this stereotypical fashion was the best way to win wider recognition for their music.
Lesser-Known Contributions
On a tour to Europe in 1939, Fats Waller recorded a series of six solo piano pieces all on related themes and named for different districts in London. The "London Suite" pieces show Waller's roots in ragtime music, but also lean more heavily towards the "impressionistic" music of Ravel and Debussy, the two French composers known for a more colorful approach to harmony and rhythm than most European classical composers before them. The pieces are gems of Waller's output, and give a broader picture of his musical personality. Waller was an incredibly prolific and creative performer and composer whose work contributed in a powerful way to the jazz tradition.
Sources:
- New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Oxford University Press
- "Fats Waller's Playful Jazz Piano Legacy" by Karen Grigsby Bates
- "Fats Waller and His Rhythm" by Mike Donovan
