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Fats Waller

Shows · Fats Waller

Composer 1904–1943

Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star in the jazz and swing eras, he toured internationally, achieving critical and commercial success in the United States and Europe. His best-known compositions, "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose", were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984 and 1999, respectively. Waller copyrighted over 400 songs, many of them co-written with his closest collaborator, Andy Razaf. Razaf described his partner as "the soul of melody... a man who made the piano sing.…

Also credited on1 work

Ain't Misbehavin'

These come off the person record, which names a work and not a production. So we can say this name is attached to the work and we cannot say which staging, or in what capacity. For a composer or a writer that is the whole career we hold; there is no cast list to find them in.

In the literature8 passages

  • 205 when Luther Henderson orchestrated Ain’t Misbehavin’ he wanted a true jazz band of Fats Waller’s time. This numbered considerably fewer than were called for by the Local 802 contract with Broadway’s Longacre Theatre. The idle musicians could always be found during performance time smoking cigars and involved in a hot game of poker in…ebooks/Citron, Stephen/Musical From the Inside Out, The - Stephen Citron.txt
  • “Murray Horwitz and I were working on a Fats Waller bio-musical using his songs—at least until we couldn’t figure out the second act. We’d decided to put it aside, and then Lynne Meadow,” he says, referring to the artistic director the Manhattan Theatre Club, “said, ‘Well, you’ve still got all his songs…’”ebooks/Filichia, Peter/B007L4OWCU EBOK - Peter Filichia.txt
  • What’s often been said about Best Musical Tony winner Ain’t Misbehavin’ is that director Richard Maltby, Jr., made it more than a revue by creating characters to sing Fats Waller’s songs. Nell Carter played a woman who believed that concept of the Big Beautiful Woman, while equally ample Armelia McQueen was a little less secure. Andre De…ebooks/Filichia, Peter/Strippers, Showgirls, and Sharks - Peter Filichia.txt
  • Barbra took a deep breath. Giving a nod to Peter Daniels, she launched into the first song of her set, Fats Waller’s “Keepin’ Out of Mischief Now.” The little love ditty became a “sexy, playful, naughty” flirtation with the audience, just as she and Barré had worked out. The applause at the end was heartier this time, and sailing on a bur…ebooks/Mann, William J_/Hello, Gorgeous_ Becoming Barbra Streisand - William J. Mann.txt
  • The week before Miss Saigon opened, I lunched with one of its authors, Richard Maltby, Jr. Aside from Saigon , Maltby also devised and directed the Fats Waller revue Ain’t Misbehavin ’, and, as we talked, I couldn’t help noticing Waller’s ‘Honeysuckle Rose’ drifting over the crowded restaurant, along with a swathe of other standards all t…ebooks/Steyn, Mark/Broadway Babies Say Goodnight_ Musicals Then and Now - Mark Steyn.txt
  • Not that a skilled author can’t give an artificially created score some dramatic propulsion and characterization. Richard Maltby Jr did with the Fats Waller catalogue in Ain’t Misbehavin ’. But there’s no attempt at dramatic function in autofloccinaucinihilipilifications like Buddy and Forbidden Planet . Such limited charm as Buddy posses…ebooks/Steyn, Mark/Broadway Babies Say Goodnight_ Musicals Then and Now - Mark Steyn.txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

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