Fats Waller

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. He 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 updated biography of Waller, revised in 2001, 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. In a newly written final chapter, there is a comprehensive survey of Waller's recordings as they have been reissued for the CD era.