Thomas "Fats" Waller is one of the more important of the modern pianist-composers. Born in New York on May 21, 1904, the son of a minister, "Fats" played the organ and sang in the choir of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, where his father preached until he was fifteen years old. Shortly after, the lure of the stage beckoned him to the interesting field of the Harlem cabaret, and he remained in that gay section of the city until 1924, occasionally doubling as a theatre organist and as a. piano-roll artist for the Q-R-S Company.
Some of "Fats' " other accomplishments include vaudeville appearances with the famous blues singer, Bessie Smith, soon after which he wrote the music to the show "Keep Shufflin'". In 1930, he composed the score for "Hot Chocolates," the hit song of which was "Ain't Misbehavin," and when this production closed, he subsequently appeared in leading supper clubs in London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna.
In 1932, he joined the artist staff of WLW at Cincinnati, where he instituted the famous "Fats" Waller Rhythm Club, which created millions of Waller fans throughout the country.
Mr. Waller is currently considered Victor's best record seller. He has been a feature in RKO films and at the time of this writing is in Hollywood for the filming of "King of Burlesque," a 20th Century--Fox production in which he will have an important role.
"Fats" is generally known as "Radio's Harmful Little Armful," and for many years studied under Godowsky in Vienna and Carl Bohn in New York.
We are happy to present this representation of original piano conceptions by "Fats" Waller, in which the famous piano stylist cleverly interprets, in the current idiom, some of songdom's foremost popular classics.
All of these are available as midi, .pdf files, printed sheet music recorded on tape or CD.
NOTICE
Until Licencing agreements are signed with ASCAP,
BMI and the FOX AGENCY, most midis will not be
available on line.
Many have two choruses (a) straight piano chorus, and (b) Waller Arrangement. When this is the case, I tried to leave the entire piano chorus + a piece of the Waller solo on the server.