Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller Biography
Although his legacy is based largely upon his massive talents as a musician and composer, during his lifetime Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller (1904-1943) was best known for his abilities as an entertainer and comedian. A masterful stride pianist with a light yet forceful touch and a playful spirit, Waller also pioneered the use of Hammond organ and pipe organ in jazz, becoming the first musician to make those unwieldy instruments swing. He made memorable solo recordings using those instruments, and worked in a variety of other formats. But his most enduring recordings are the proto-swing tunes that he cut with his five- or six-piece combo, Fats Waller and His Rhythm. Those sides demonstrated the quality of Waller’s own witty compositions—such Waller numbers as “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’,'” “Keepin’ Out of Mischief Now” and “Blue Turning Grey Over You” would emerge as pop and jazz standards—as well as his ability to turn even the most lightweight Tin Pan Alley throwaways into exhilarating vehicles for his talents. Waller remained extremely popular for most of his 21-year career, both in the U.S. and in Europe.
The Harlem-bred Waller was the son of a Baptist lay preacher father and a mother who played piano and organ; he took up the piano at the age of six. As a child, Waller studied classical piano and organ with the music director of his Baptist church, and took lessons from the legendary stride pianists James P. Johnson and Willie “The Lion” Smith. In his teens, Waller earned his living playing at rent parties, movie theaters and clubs, and serving as a sideman with various blues performers. He was just 18 when he made his first record for the OKeh label, and he soon began to win attention as a composer. Waller’s collaborations with lyricist Andy Razaf spawned a trio of popular Broadway revues in the late ’20s: Keep Shufflin’, Load of Coal and Hot Chocolates.
Waller began recording for the Victor label in 1926, cutting a series of classic solo piano sides. In the ’30s, he began recording with Fats Waller and His Rhythm, producing such high-energy hits as “Your Feet’s Too Big,” “The Joint Is Jumpin’” and “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter.” He also became a frequent performer on radio, and appeared in several films. While touring in Europe in 1938, Waller recorded a series of organ sides in London, where he also appeared in one of the BBC’s earliest television broadcasts and recorded his ambitious piano-and-percussion composition “London Suite.”
As big bands rose to popularity in the ’30s, Waller made some attempts at working with large lineups, but quickly returned to a smaller band format. He remained popular into the ’40s, continuing to tour and record prolifically until December 1943, when the 39-year-old star died on a New York-bound train after completing a nightclub engagement in Hollywood.
During his life, Fats Waller’s abilities as a musician and composer were consistently overshadowed by his fame as an entertainer—a situation that was no doubt exacerbated by the racial prejudices of the times. In the years since, Waller’s work has continued to loom large over both jazz and popular music. Many of his compositions remain firmly ensconced in the Great American Songbook, and were the foundation of the Tony-winning 1978 Broadway hit Ain’t Misbehavin’, which ran for over 1600 performances and was successfully revived in the ’80s. Waller’s influence as a pianist is reflected in a wide range of subsequent players, including Count Basie, Teddy Wilson, Thelonious Monk, Erroll Garner, Dave Brubeck and Art Tatum.
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