Jazz Life and Times: Fats Waller
Nonfiction, Entertainment, Music, Music Styles, Jazz & Blues, Jazz, Biography & Memoir, Composers & Musicians
| Author: | Alyn Shipton | ISBN: | 9780857128270 |
| Publisher: | Music Sales Limited | Publication: | April 6, 1989 |
| Imprint: | Omnibus Press | Language: | English |
| Author: | Alyn Shipton |
| ISBN: | 9780857128270 |
| Publisher: | Music Sales Limited |
| Publication: | April 6, 1989 |
| Imprint: | Omnibus Press |
| Language: | English |
Fats Waller (1904-1943) was an outsize man in all respects: five feet eleven inches tall, he weighed 285 pounds. He was the greatest of the Harlem "stride" pianists, he composed hundreds of songs, he led a band which made over 400 recordings and he wrote several Broadway shows. Waller is seen by jazz historians as a man of immense musical talent which was never fulfilled, in the interests of his career as a popular and humorous entertainer. In this fully revised and updated biography of Waller, Alyn Shipton re-examines his career, arguing that his talents as a songwriter, show composer and brilliant recording and broadcasting artist have not been fully appreciated. A new final chapter, provides a comprehensive survey of Waller's recordings as they have been reissued for the CD era
Fats Waller (1904-1943) was an outsize man in all respects: five feet eleven inches tall, he weighed 285 pounds. He was the greatest of the Harlem "stride" pianists, he composed hundreds of songs, he led a band which made over 400 recordings and he wrote several Broadway shows. Waller is seen by jazz historians as a man of immense musical talent which was never fulfilled, in the interests of his career as a popular and humorous entertainer. In this fully revised and updated biography of Waller, Alyn Shipton re-examines his career, arguing that his talents as a songwriter, show composer and brilliant recording and broadcasting artist have not been fully appreciated. A new final chapter, provides a comprehensive survey of Waller's recordings as they have been reissued for the CD era
