Fats Waller The Cheerful Little Earful

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.Shipton, Alyn is the author of 'Fats Waller The Cheerful Little Earful', published 2005 under ISBN 9780826476197 and ISBN 0826476198.