Fats Waller - All My Life

Recorded 1936 Fats Waller - 1904-1943 Fats Waller’s father, Edward Waller, was a Baptist lay preacher who conducted open air religious services in Harlem, at which as a child Waller played reed organ. He played piano at his public school and at the age of 15 became organist at the Lincoln Theatre on 135th Street. His father hoped that Waller would follow a religious calling rather than a career in jazz, but after the death of his mother Adeline Waller in 1920, he moved in with the family of the pianist Russell B. T. Brooks. Waller met James P. Johnson, under whose tutelage he developed as a pianist and through whose influence he came to make piano rolls — starting in 1922 with Got to Cool My Doggies Now. There is some evidence to support Waller’s claims that during his formative years as a pianist he studied with Leopold Godowsky and composition with Carl Bohm at the Juilliard School. In October 1922, Waller made his recording debut as a soloist for Okeh with Muscle Shoals Blues and Binningham Blues.