Baby, Oh where can you be ? Fats Waller (1929)
One of the many black families settling in New York at the turn of the
20th century was the Waller family. In their quest to guarantee a better future for their children, they left their native
Virginia for the big city.
They had eleven children between the years of 1890 to 1920, of whom only five survived. Thomas Wright Waller was born on May 21, 1904.
He was a turbulent and restless boy.
He loved music from a very early age on.
His parents took him to church where he had the opportunity to listen to
religious hymns and to the organ of which he remained particularly attached for
the rest of his life. His father,
Edward Martin Waller, was pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.
Around
the age of six, he occasionally climbed up the stairs to his neighbour’s apartment
so that he could play their piano. He was
fascinated by the instrument and openly expressed his desire to become a
pianist. Very shortly after, a
piano appeared in the Waller apartment. Encouraged
by his mother, Thomas took several lessons from a certain Miss Perry.
He often played “by ear” because he found the music boring.
He also practiced on the church organ and He
soon joined the school orchestra where he claimed his first success; making his
classmates laugh. His father,
wanting him to become a Pastor like himself, took him to see the pianist
Paderewski, in concert, but
"Fats", as his friends called him because of his stoutness, preferred the ragtime
of Tom Turpin and Scott Joplin or the "stride piano" being heard in
jazz clubs.
Subsequently, Fats became acquainted with a Miss Maizie Mullins, the organist at Harlem's Lincoln Theater, and dreamt
of replacing her. She trained him and by 1919, Fats became the regular
organist there, accompanying silent films to the delight of the audience. Two
years later, he also became organist of Harlem's premiere Lafayette Theater for $50 a week.
At
seventeen, he married Edith Hatchett and had a son, Thomas Jr. In 1920, his
beloved motherdied and soon after that, he left the family after an argument
with his father. He was taken in by pianist Russel Brook's family.
Brooks had a player piano and numerous rolls by Luckey
Roberts and James P. Johnson. Fats
was in a hurry to learn these hits by heart, so he would place his fingers on
the keys while the piano played automatically. Fats divorced
Edith in 1923 and was plagued by her persistent alimony claims for the rest of
his life. In 1926 married Anita Rutherford. They had two sons Maurice and
Ronald.
It was during this period that Fats slowly built his life's dream. He met the piano celebrities
Willie Smith and James P. Johnson who both gave him solid training in the art of stride. He
practiced piano more and more and hung around the clubs in Harlem at night. He
never missed an opportunity to slide under the keyboard when the musicians took
a break. His dynamic and humorous character propelled him into the musical
meetings and rent-parties taking place in Harlem.
Fats probably made his first
recording in 1922, thanks to the intervention of Clarence Williams who also
encouraged him to compose. He first
recorded Muscle Shoals Blues, followed by Birmingham Blues, which
he spontaneously wrote while in the studio.
He was very much at ease with recording, and his astonishing tune-writing
qualities were revealed in the first session.
Their first song published was Wild Cat Blues.
IIn that year, he accompanied beginning blues singer Sarah Martin, and
continued to make recordings.
In
1923, he collaborated with J. Lawrence Cook to create player-piano rolls for the QRS company (Quality Reigns Supreme)
of Buffalo, NY. Piano
rolls were quite popular at that time. The
manufacturing process consisted of transcribing an imprint of each note onto a master roll. After
corrections and additions, a technician would then perforate the imprints.
The rolls were then mass produced.
In
1927, Fats
Waller met the talented poet and lyricist Andy Razaf. They co-authored a number
of successes together. The tiniest
melody inspired words for a song. The tandem regularly submitted their compositions to music
publishers. Relationships with the publishers were stormy. As a general rule, they would try to buy the rights to the song
for next to nothing, or they would "forget" to pay the royalties. In
reaction to these practices, Waller and Razaf would
either leave the office in an outrage and rip up their creation, or
accept the pathetic sum offered by the publisher and afterwards submit the same
song to a second, and then a third publisher.
Selling their compositions in this manner allowed them to have a decent
income. Fats was frequently victim of his own happy-go-lucky
attitude, and his total lack of organization in his business dealings. Occasionally, he sold his compositions
for next to
nothing ; compositions which were to become huge hits only shortly thereafter.
This was the case for the songs, On the Sunny Side of the Street, I
Can Give You Anything but Love, and If I Had You which, according to
musicians and close relation were most likely his compositions.
After a first unsuccessful marriage and the birth of his first son, Thomas Junior,
Fats remarried a woman by the name of Anita Rutherford.
They had two sons, Maurice and Ronald. In
1926, he began recording for the Victor company.
Abandoning rent-parties little by little, he began to compose music for
Broadway musicals. Keep Shufflin’,
followed by Load of Coal in 1928 were both hits and his fame spread far
beyond Harlem. The Waller-Razaf duo also
composed the music for Hot Chocolates in 1929, and wrote the most
wonderful Wallerian standards, Honeysuckle Rose, Ain’t Misbehavin, and What
did I do to be so black and blue. Unfortunately, Waller sold the
entire catalogue of songs from "hot chocolates" to Mills Music for a mere $500.
Fats bitterly regretted this later
Fats
went to Paris in 1931 and played in several clubs.
He then returned to New York and was discovered in 1934 by
RCA Victor recording executives at a party given by Georges Gershwin. He
began an intensive series of recording sessions with RCA Victor and began hosting
a weekly radio show,
performing in public and becoming an immensely successful and popular performer
and recording artist.
You're not the only oyster in the stew Fats Waller (1934)
Fats
made his first recording on May 16, 1934 with a small group called "FATS WALLER
and his Rhythm". He rarely performed
without this group. They played together without respite for 9 years, recording
more than 400 songs, playing for radio shows, and appearing in movies.
Fats directed the orchestra with his eternal good humour. His presence
and energy empowered each performance. He knew how to encourage each musician to
give the best of himself, all of this, with either a single word, a joke or a chorus on
the piano. All remained spontaneous with arrangements and rehearsals being
reduced to a strict minimum, as usual.
Your feet's too big Fats Waller (1939)
Fats
WALLER became a big star, drove around in a Lincoln, and wore tailor-made suits.
Each of his performances triggered off applause and laughter because of
his hilarious antics. You should have
seen this big man dancing around, and then shaking his bottom at the audience
before beginning his song once again with changed lyrics.
He emptied the bottle of gin beside his piano every night.
Fats was happy…well, almost. He still dreamed of playing in prestigious
concert halls for the same public that rushed to hear
George Gershwin, or any
other classical concert. He suffered from not being recognized for his qualities as a
pianist, and sometimes grew tired of his “jokester” image. He consoled himself by drowning himself in activities,
washing them down with gin or Old Grand Dad, his favourite bourbon.
Don't let it bother you Fats Waller (1935)
Fats
returned to Europe in 1939, and then continued his tours and recordings.
Still haunted by his image of being a concert pianist religiously
listened to, he performed at Carnegie Hall in New York … in tails.
It would not be his fondest memory
You're the Top - Russian Fantasy Fats Waller (1935)
In
1943, Hollywood produced the film Stormy Weather in which he appeared along with
Lena Horne and Bojangles Robinson. The
last Broadway show he composed for was Early to Bed. Once again, it was a hit.A
train returning to Los Angeles carried one exhausted Fats WALLER.
His last engagement at the Zanzibar Club had to be interrupted because of
a bad case of influenza. On the night of December 15, 1943, the train was immobilized in the
Kansas City train station because of a blizzard and icy winds.
Fats sat shivering and unconscious in his compartment.
He was declared dead in the wee hours of the morning by his manager, Ed
Kirkeby, and a doctor who had been called in emergency.
.
What stupor ! At the age of 39, Fats had closed his eyes for ever.
références :
Ain't Misbehavin, the story of Fats Waller by Ed Kirkeby - Da capo press,
NY
Fats Waller, Maurice Waller and Antony Calabrese - Schimmer books NY
Fats Waller, Alyn Shipton - Omnibus Press, London
Crédit photos : The Frank Driggs collection, M. Lipskin, S. Grossman, D.Schiedt
english version : Thanks to Jerry Zucker for his precious help
copyright 2000 - 2020 JCS