Fats Waller was born on May 21, 1904. Waller was a pianist, singer, and songwriter whose innovations helped create the foundation of modern jazz piano.
Waller began playing the piano at the age of six; by the time he was ten, he was playing the organ in his father's church. At 15, Waller left school and began working full-time as the organist for a Harlem theater. He made his first recordings and piano rolls in 1922. Some of his earliest work can be heard in a collection of piano rolls from 1923-24.
Waller's piano playing was rooted in the Harlem stride style, characterized by a strong four-beat rhythm and alternation between bass notes and chords in the left hand (it's sometimes referred to as "oom-pah" piano), while the right hand plays syncopated melodies with lots of ornamentation and flourishes. Those flourishes were highly virtuosic in Waller's case, and he was praised for his rhythmic intricacies and melodic gifts. He also had a charming personality on stage, and the jokes and stories that came between songs were as much a part of the act as the piano playing.
Waller wrote more than 400 songs during his career. His most frequent collaborator was lyricist Andy Razaf; this collection of Razaf's work includes many of the best Waller/Razaf songs, including "Honeysuckle Rose," "Ain't Misbehavin'," and "(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue." Early in his career, Waller reportedly sold many songs to other composers when he was short of money. His son claimed that Waller did not like to hear the popular songs "On the Sunny Side of the Street" and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby" because they were actually his compositions, which he had been forced to sell. (Both songs are officially credited to Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields, and you can hear performances of both on this collection of songs by Fields.)
Most of Waller's recordings were for the Victor/RCA Victor label; he began recording with them in 1926, and they were his principal record company for the rest of his life. Waller's complete piano solos for Victor are collected here. They include piano versions of some of his songs, and showy display pieces like "Handful of Keys" and "Valentine Stomp." He also recorded occasionally on large pipe organs; the best of that work is gathered on The Organtastic Fats Waller.
In 1934, Waller began recording as the leader of a small band, Fats Waller and His Rhythm. The highlights of their work are gathered in the collection If You Got to Ask, You Ain't Got It.
Waller died in 1943 of pneumonia. More than 4,000 people attended his funeral at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. Waller was cremated, and his ashes scattered from an airplane over Harlem.
The 1978 Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin' brought a new generation to Waller's music. The show was a revue devoted to Waller's career, filled with his songs (and a few from other songwriters that were strongly associated with Waller. The revue has been popular enough to be repeatedly revived in national tours, and two of those tours have generated cast recordings of their own – a 1995 company featuring the Pointer Sisters, and a 2008 ensemble featuring Ruben Studdard and other singers from American Idol.
Several jazz musicians have recorded tributes to Waller and his music, including Dinah Washington, Jimmy Smith, and Jason Moran. Much more of Waller's music is available for streaming or download at Hoopla and Freegal.