Legacy Recordings

Producer: Joyride Media Reccomended:  Fats Waller:  If You Gotta Ask

Fats Waller’s famous compositions of the 1930s and 40s have attained an immortal, standard-level of recognition and have stood the test of time. But what is lesser known is that Fats Waller was also an entertainer par excellence, bringing the music he performed to life with jokes and asides to the audience.  As historian Dick [...]

Strangely enough, two things happened to Fats after he died: he essentially disappeared from our culture’s memory for over 30 years, and when he was talked about, it centered around his clowning and humor, which was sorely misunderstood. Despite his untimely death, Fats Waller spent nearly every day of his short life making the music [...]

Thursdays are Fats Waller day here at the Legacy Podcasts, in honor of Black History Month. Fats Waller is one of America’s great composers and performers of the 20th century. His songs, stride piano style and on-stage and on-screen antics were legendary and made him one of the first African-American superstars. Count Basie sat at [...]

With Host Dick Golden, Tony Bennett tells stories behind his most memorable recordings of the American Songbook classics, and the impact they have had our lives. In the second part of this podcast series, Bennett looks back on “The Very Thought Of You,” “A Foggy Day,” and “You Go to My Head” and the versions [...]