Fats Waller - At The Piano

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 46:14
Size: 105.8 MB
Styles: Ragtime piano
Year: 2002
Art: Front

[3:57] 1. Ain't Misbehavin'
[3:08] 2. Smashin' Thirds
[2:50] 3. Don't Let It Bother You
[4:31] 4. Honeysuckle Rose
[3:21] 5. A Porter's Love Song To A Chambermaid
[2:59] 6. Rosetta
[3:31] 7. Sweet And Slow
[3:10] 8. Keepin' Out Of Mischief Now
[3:31] 9. Willow Tree
[3:19] 10. The Jitterbug Waltz
[3:04] 11. Your Feet's Too Big
[3:08] 12. Squeeze Me
[3:09] 13. Then I'll Be Tired Of You
[2:30] 14. Mandy

Fats Waller was a jazz pianist and organist of extraordinary facile technique and seemingly limitless invention. He perfected and expanded the style known as stride; he was one of its three undisputed masters, together with James P. Johnson (often named the father of stride piano, with whom Waller studied) and Willie "the Lion" Smith. Stride is descended from ragtime, but incorporates a much more elaborate and decorative approach to the music, and is considerably more demanding to play in terms of technique. Its core is found in a standard left hand pattern, the beat-by-beat alternation between the interval of a tenth struck deep in the bass register of the keyboard and a complex, three- or four-pitch chord struck in the tenor or alto range (the center of the keyboard). Simultaneously, the right hand plays a highly embellished and syncopated version of the melody, often so completely altered as to be lost amidst the complex cascade of notes.

Waller's effortless execution of even the most difficult passages, however, was completely deceptive; it masked a brilliant and prodigious technique that enabled him to negotiate even the most complex gestures with perfection (see, e.g., his May 13, 1941 recording entitled "Honeysuckle Rose, à la Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Waller", matrix number 063890-1). Of his generation, only Art Tatum and Earl Hines could match his keyboard facility. ~Paul Machlin

At The Piano

---