20th century Afro-americans Ballad Baroque Bluegrass Blues Brazilian/Choro Celtic Celebrations Classical Classical modern Contemporary National Anthems Jazz New age Opera Ragtime Renaissance Romantic Sonata Tango Traditional Waltz

Occitan song Song Chinese traditional Ethnic Klezmer Flamenco Folk Japanese traditional March Medieval Musette Orientale Pasodoble French popular Popular Dance Reggae Swing Latin/World

INSTRUCTIONAL:
Blank sheet music Children Dictionaries Instructional methods Music theory Musicology Rhythmic Solfege Solfeges Studies

SACRED:
African Hymns Chassidic Christian Christmas Gospel Gregorian Israeli Sacred Hymns Wedding

DIFFICULTY |

Beginner Easy Intermediate Intermediate/advanced Advanced Not defined (help evaluate)

TOP DOWNLOADS |

TOP DOWNLOADS TOP 100 SOCIAL RANKING

INSTRUMENTATIONS |

SOLO DUET TRIO QUARTET QUINTET ENSEMBLE ALL

ADVANCED SEARCH |

OTHER |

Interactive Score Reader Staff paper generator Online Tuner Online Metronome Game "NoteQuest" Web directory About License service Contact

Digital Sheet Music700,000+

| NEW ADDITIONS |

PIANO |

Piano sheet music Piano solo Piano, Voice, Guitar Piano duet Easy Piano

Piano Method Methods Studies

Organ sheet music Organ solo Organ duet

INSTRUMENTAL |

Strings Violin Viola Cello Doublebass Harp

Woodwinds Flute Clarinet Oboe Saxophone Bassoon

Brass Trumpet Horn Trombone Tuba

Guitar Guitar Tabs Piano, Voice, Guitar Bass

Folk Accordion Banjo Dulcimer Ukulele Mandolin

Chamber music String quartet Wind quintet Brass quintet Handbells

ORCHESTRA |

Concert Band Jazz Ensemble Jazz combo Brass band Marching band Methods

Orchestra String orchestra

CHOIR / VOICE |

Choir SATB TTBB SSAA 3-parts 2-parts

Voice Piano, Voice, Guitar Piano, Voice Voice solo Voice duet

GENRES |

20th century Asian Bluegrass Blues Broadway / Musicals Celtic Christmas Classical Children Country Fingerpicking Flamenco Folk Rock French songs Funk Gospel Halloween Instructional Instructional - Studies Jazz

Klezmer Latin / World Latin Pop Medieval / Renaissance Metal / Hard Movie / TV Movie Walt Disney New Age Patriotic Pop Reggae Rock Rock Alt. Sacred / Church Soul / Rap Tango Traditional Video Game Wedding / Love

CHRISTMAS |

All Christmas Christmas Piano Christmas Guitar Christmas Voice/Choir Halloween

DIFFICULTY |

Beginner Easy Intermediate Intermediate/advanced Advanced

ADV.SEARCH

Sheet Music Books500,000+

NEW ADDITIONS |

PIANO |

Piano (all) Beginner Piano Easy Piano Piano Solo PVG Best Sellers New additions

GUITAR |

Guitar (all) Beginner Guitar Easy Guitar Guitar TAB Guitar (without TAB) Best Sellers New additions

VOICE/CHORAL |

Choral & Voice (all) Solo voice Choral 2-Part Choral 3-Part Choral SATB Choral TTBB Choral SSAA Choral UNISON Best Sellers New additions

INSTRUMENTS |

KEYBOARDS ACCORDION HARPSICHORD ORGAN PIANO

GUITARS BANJO BASS DOBRO GUITAR UKULELE

VOICE CHOIR - VOICE

STRINGS DOUBLEBASS HARP VIOLA VIOLA DE GAMBE VIOLIN VIOLONCELLO

WIND BASSOON CLARINETT ENGLISH HORN FLUTE HARMONICA OBOE PANFLUTE RECORDER SAXOPHONE

ENSEMBLE ORCHESTRA MARCHING BAND

BRASS BUGLE CORNET EUPHONIUM FRENCH HORN TROMBONE TRUMPET TUBA

FOLK BALALAIKA BOUZOUKI CHARANGO CITHAR DULCIMER LUTH, THEORBE MANDOLIN

PERCUSSIONS DRUM HANDBELLS MARIMBA PERCUSSION VIBRAPHONE XYLOPHONE

OTHERS OTHER INSTRU… MUSIC COURSE BOOKS BLANK SHEET MUSIC

INSTRUMENTATIONS | BEST SELLERS | CHRISTMAS |

GENRES |

20th century African Asian Bluegrass Blues Broadway / Musical Celtic Christmas Classical Country Children Eastern Europe Exams Fingerpicking Flamenco Folk Rock French songs Funk Gypsy jazz Gospel Halloween Instructional Instructional - Studies Instructional - Chords/Scales

Jazz Klezmer Latin / World Latin Pop Medieval / Renaissance Metal Movie / TV Movie Walt Disney New Age Patriotic Pop Reggae Rock Rock Alternative Sacred / Church Soul / Rap Tango Traditional Video Games Wedding / Love

SECTIONS |

ARTISTS PUBLISHERS CLASSROOM GIFT IDEAS BOOKS ABOUT MUSIC PLAY-ALONG

ADV.SEARCH |

Music Equipment200,000+

GUITAR |

GUITARS Acoustic Guitars Classical Guitars Electric Guitars Electro-Acoustic Guitars Other Guitars

GUITAR ACCESSORIES Accessories Amps Care products Effect Pedals Pedalboards Pickups & Mics Spare Parts Strings

BASS GUITARS Accessories Acoustic Basses Amps Effect Pedals Electric Basses Spare Parts

OTHERS Bluegrass Instruments Ukuleles

KEYBOARD |

PIANO ACCESSORIES Amps Benchs and Stools Care & Cleaning Cases & Bags Caster Cups Keyboard Paths Lights Microphones Miscellaneous Accessories Pedal Expression & Volume Pedal Foot, Switches & Controllers Pedal Sustain Stands

PIANOS Acoustic Upright Pianos Digital Pianos Grand Pianos Kids Pianos Portables Pianos Portables Pianos (PACK) Roll-up Pianos Stage Pianos

KEYBOARDS Accordions Analog Synthesizers Keyboards MIDI Master Keyboards Numeric Synthesizers Organs: Electronic Organs: Liturgical Workstations

MODULES & SYNTH. Drum Machines Groove Boxes Modular Synthesizers Samplers Sound Modules

PERCUSSION |

STUDIO |

STUDIO Acoustic Treatment Accessories & Desks Analogue Mixing Desks Audio Interfaces Controllers Digital Converters Digital Recorders Digital Mixing Desks Effects and Signal Processors Headphones MIDI Equipment Preamps Studio Microphones Studio Packages Studio Monitors Studio Software Storage Media Summing Mixer Synchronizers and Clock Generators Tapes and Accessories

SOFT |

PA |

SOUND SYSTEM Audiotools Cables Communications Equipment Crossovers In-Ear Monitoring PA Accessories PA Equipment Stands PA Mixers PA Speakers Plugs and Adapters Power Amps Wireless Equipment Microphones

LIGHT |

Spotlights Spotlight Accessories Barndoors Video Lighting Battery operated floodlight Audience Blinders LED Outdoor Floodlight PAR Cans LED PAR White light LED PAR Pinspots Flood Lights Follow Spots Sets de Projecteurs Stroboscopes Theater Spotlights

Effects LED Strips LED Bars & Panels LED Instrument Lighting LED Lighting Effects Gyrophares LED Decorational Lighting Lasers Moving Lights LED Tubes

Deco Lighting LED Strips Mirror Balls Air Domes Indoor Deco Lighting LED Decorational Lighting LED Outdoor Floodlight Pinspots LED Tubes

Lighting Accessories Lighting Accessories Replacement bulbs Lighting Controllers & Dimmer packs Smoke Machines and other machines Lighting Hardware Pyrotechnics

DEEJAY |

DEEJAY DJ Accessories Grooveboxes DJ Headphones DJ Controllers DJ Effects DJ Software DJ Desks / Furniture Turntables DJ Sets DJ Mixers

MIC |

MICROPHONE ACCESSORIES Cables Bags & Cases Mic Preamps Stands & Mics Accessories

MICROPHONES Acoustic Microphones Boundary Microphones Broadcast Microphones Condenser Microphones DPA Microphone serie Dynamic Microphones Headset Microphones Installation Microphones Lamp Microphones Lapel Microphones Measurement Microphones Microphone Packs Reporter Microphones Ribbon Microphones Special Microphones Stereo Microphones Studio Microphones USB/Podcast Microphones Video Microphones

WIRELESS Separated Elements Wireless Wireless Devices for cameras Wireless Handheld Wireless Headset Wireless Guidesystems Wireless Guitar Wireless Lapell Wireless Wind Instruments

INSTRUMENTS MICROPHONES Accordion Mics Acoustic Guitar Mics Brass & Wind Mics Cello Mics Doublebass Mics Drum Mics Electric Guitar Mics Harmonica Mics Sax Mics Violin Mics

Fats Waller

1904 - 1943

United States (USA)

About Scores

Fats Waller (May 21, 1904 - December 15, 1943) born Thomas Wright Waller was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer and comedic entertainer. He was the youngest of four children born to Adaline Locket Waller, wife of the Reverend Edward Martin Waller.

Significance
Fats Waller started playing the piano when he was six and graduated to the organ of his father's church four years later. At the age of fourteen he was playing the organ at Harlem's Lincoln Theater and within twelve months he had composed his first rag. Waller's first piano solos (Muscle Shoals Blues and Birmingham Blues) were recorded in October 1922 when he was just 18 years old.

He was a skilled pianist, and master of stride piano, having been the prize pupil and later friend and colleague of the greatest of the stride pianists, James P. Johnson. Waller was one of the most popular performers of his era, finding critical and commercial success in his homeland and in Europe. He was also a prolific songwriter, and many songs he wrote or co-wrote are still popular, such as "Honeysuckle Rose", "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Squeeze Me". Fellow pianist and composer Oscar Levant dubbed Waller "the black Horowitz".[1] Waller composed many novelty swing tunes in the 1920s and 30s, and sold them for relatively small sums. When the compositions became hits, other songwriters claimed them as their own. Many standards are alternatively and sometimes controversially attributed to Waller.

The anonymous sleeve notes on the 1960 RCA (UK) album 'Handful of Keys' state that Waller copyrighted over 400 new tunes, many of which co-written with his closest collaborator Andy Razaf. After Waller's death in 1943, Razaf described his partner as 'the soul of melody....a man who made the piano sing...both big in body and in mind...known for his generosity...a bubbling bundle of joy'. Gene Sedric, a clarinettist who played with Waller on some of his 1930's recordings, is quoted in these same sleeve notes recalling Waller's recording technique with considerable admiration. 'Fats was the most relaxed man I ever saw in a studio', he said, 'and so he made everybody else relaxed. After a balance had been taken, we'd just need one take to make a side, unless it was a kind of difficult number'.

Musical contributions
Waller's touch varied and he was a master of dynamics and tension and release. He played with many performers, from Gene Austin to Erskine Tate to Adelaide Hall, but his greatest success came with his own five- or six-piece combo, "Fats Waller and his Rhythm".[citation needed]

His playing once put him at risk of injury. Waller was kidnapped in Chicago leaving a performance in 1926. Four men bundled him into a car and took him to the Hawthorne Inn, owned by gangster Al Capone. Fats was ordered inside the building, and found a party in full swing. Gun to his back, he was pushed towards a piano, and told to play. A terrified Waller realized he was the "surprise guest" at Al Capone's birthday party, and took comfort that the gangsters didn't intend to kill him. According to rumor, Waller played for three days. When he left the Hawthorne Inn, he was very drunk, extremely tired, and had earned thousands of dollars in cash from Capone and other party-goers as tips.[2]

Waller wrote "Squeeze Me" (1919), "Keepin' Out of Mischief Now", "Ain't Misbehavin'" (1929), "Blue Turning Grey Over You", "I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling" (1929), "Honeysuckle Rose" (1929), and "Jitterbug Waltz" (1942). He collaborated with the Tin Pan Alley lyricist Andy Razaf. He composed stride piano display pieces such as "Handful of Keys", "Valentine Stomp" and "Viper's Drag".[citation needed]

He enjoyed success touring the United Kingdom and Ireland in the 1930s. He appeared in one of the first BBC Television broadcasts. While in Britain, Waller also recorded a number of songs for EMI on their Compton Theatre organ located in their Studios in St John's Wood. He appeared in several feature films and short subject films, most notably "Stormy Weather" in 1943, which was released months before his death.[citation needed] For the hit Broadway show, "Hot Chocolates", he and Razaf wrote "(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue" (1929), which became a hit for Ethel Waters and Louis Armstrong. This searing treatment of racism refutes the early criticism of Waller that his creations and performances were "shallow entertainment".[citation needed]

Waller performed [Bach] organ pieces for small groups on occasion. Waller influenced many pre-bop jazz pianists; Count Basie and Erroll Garner have both reanimated his hit songs (notably, "Ain't Misbehavin'"). In addition to his playing, Waller was known for his many quips during his performances, including:

* "One never knows, do one?" ...
* "No lady, we can't haul your ashes for 25 cents, that's bad business" ...
* "Mercy!" ...
* "Well, all right then!" ...
* "I wonder what the poor people are doing - I'd love to be doing it with them!" ...
* "Run in and stab me, but don't bruise me!" ...
* "Wot's da matta wit DAT?!" ... and - of a large lady vocalist -
* "All that meat and no potatoes!"

Waller contracted pneumonia and died on a cross country train trip near Kansas City, Missouri on December 15, 1943. Upon arrival at Kansas City, word of Waller's demise immediately spread throughout the station and onto another train headed west. On that train was Louis Armstrong who upon hearing the news cried for hours. (Collapse)... (Read more)

Source: Wikipedia