Fats Waller 3

Legacy Podcasts » BlackHistory

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 Hyman explains, “he was engaging in signifying - critiquing something while you are actually performing. Satirizing what he is singing in very sophisticated ways.” Playwrite and critic Murray Horowitz calls Waller “one of the greatest jazz musicians of the first 50 years of the music, but also one of the great comedians of the golden age of American comedy”!

Music included: “Ain’t Misbehavin’” “Bessie Bessie” “Christopher Columbus” “A Change in Me” “It’s a Sin to Lie” and “Your Feets Too Big”

Producer: Joyride Media

Reccomended: Fats Waller: If You Gotta Ask