Kick-ass swing: Fats Waller – A Good Man Is Hard To Find

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This man is one of the staples of many DJ sets. He’s classic down to the last drop. Raw rhythms, a lot of them original, chunky piano, rag, stride… you name it he did it. Fats was the man. So much the man, in fact, that…

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.
Waller, Maurice and Anthony Calabrese. Fats Waller. Schirmer Books. 1977.

Tell me that isn’t badass!

Update: As per my father’s suggestion below, a great primer to Fats Waller is to start with his boxed set If You Got to Ask, You Ain’t Got It! ( CD | MP3).