Waller: Performances in Transcription, 1927–1943

Series: American Music  Publisher: A-R Editions, American Musicological Society
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Thomas "Fats" Waller
Performances in Transcription, 1927–1943

Edited by Paul S. Machlin

MU10/A041 Waller: Performances in Transcription, 1927–1943
978-0-89579-467-3 Full Score (2001) 9x12, xliii + 205 pp.
$120.00
In stock
SKU
MU10/A041
The seventeen transcriptions in this volume reveal the compositional artistry and comic play of Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (1904–43), virtuoso jazz pianist, organist, singer, bandleader, parodist, comedian, and composer in the Harlem stride tradition.  Using pairs of transcriptions of the same tune, this volume explores the creative process within Waller's improvisations by demonstrating the wide variety of gesture and idea captured at the moment of recording.  Alternate takes of "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," for example, show how deep the stylistic gulf between two versions of a song could become, even within the same recording session.  Alternate takes of "Waiting at the End of the Road," performed on piano and on pipe organ, demonstrate Waller's ability to exploit the different expressive possibilities inherent in the two instruments.
 
Drawn from recordings made throughout Waller's career, other pairs include a broad sampling of solo piano and pipe organ performances, popular songs, and small ensemble work: "Ain't Misbehavin'," "Gladyse," "Honeysuckle Rose," "I Ain't Got Nobody," "I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby," and "Rusty Pail Blues." A single transcription of Waller's little-known homemade acetate of "That Does It" from his 1943 show Early to Bed completes the volume.  The accompanying essay explores the nature of Waller's compositional and  lyrical ingenuity, illustrated by several recently discovered manuscript sketches that offer clues to Waller's musical imagination.  Serving both performers and scholars, this volume provides new insights into Waller's musical achievements.
1. Gladyse (2 versions for solo piano)
2. Rusty Pail Blues (2 versions for solo pipe organ)
3. Waiting at the End of the Road, Berlin (solo piano, solo pipe organ)
4. I Can't Give You Anything But Love, McHugh/Fields (piano/vocal duet/ensemble, piano/vocal solo/ensemble)
5. I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby, Waller/Hill (2 versions for piano/vocal)
6. Honeysuckle Rose, Waller/Razaf (2 versions for solo piano)
7. Ain't Misbehavin', Waller/Brooks/Razaf (solo piano, piano/vocal)
8. I Ain't Got Nobody, Williams/Graham (solo pipe organ, solo piano)
9. That Does It (solo piano)
Franz Krieger, Jazz Research News, 16, Dec. 2004.
_Atlantic Monthly_ pre-release article, March 2000; Alyn Shipton, American Music, Fall 2002
Alyn Shipton in _American Music_ 20:3 (2002): 344-46; Henry Martin, Music and Letters, 84:1; Stephen Bu