Fats Waller at Carnegie Hall

AUTHOR: By Ken Lyon

Originally poster Dec 2010

One of the ships I served on during WW2 was assigned to convoy duty between New York and Ireland, which meant that I had some liberties in the Big Apple. An evening was not complete without a visit to Nick’s in the Village and an enlightening conversation with Eddie Condon. During one of these sessions I asked him about how he got Fats Waller to Carnegie Hall. Fats, known for his unreliability could be a problem. Condon related to me what had gone on that evening and later put some of this in a book.

The concert was arranged as a tribute to Fats; listing all the songs he had written, with a note stating that he would play such of them as he chose for an opening group. There were ninety-one of them, from Squeeze Me, written when Fats was fifteen, to All That Meat And No Potatoes, his latest hit. The note also said that some of the best of Mr. Waller’s popular songs are not credited to him simply because he sold all rights to them to unscrupulous Tin Pan Alley authors. Eddie said that they backed Fats up in the closing part of the program with himself, Gene Krupa, Pee Wee Russell, Bud Freeman, Max Kaminsky and John Kirby.

Condon said that when he arrived at the hall there were more people backstage than in the orchestra; Fats’ friends had dropped in to wish him luck. He had a drink with each of them. When the curtain went up someone turned him around, pointed the way, and he walked on stage and sat down at the piano. He played as he liked from his own compositions for an opening group.

For the second group he was to play spirituals on the organ. He did, but Condon said that he noticed every once a awhile Fats slipped into Gershwin’s “Summertime.” The third group consisted of improvisations and Condon said he again detected Summertime. After an intermission of some twenty-three minutes - one minute to get Fats off the stage and twenty two to get him back on - he played his London Suite and some variations on a Tchaikovsky theme. Afterward, it is alleged that Oscar Levant stated, “I never realized until I heard Fats tonight how much Tchaikovsky owes to Gershwin.”

After Tchaikovsky the program actually listed a group of Gershwin songs; this was the only time during the program when “Summertime” was not played; apparently Fats identified it with every composer but Gershwin.

Condon remembered John Hammond’s note in the program which said in part, “Waller’s great talent for the piano has never received the acknowledgment that it deserves. It was easier to exploit him as a buffoon and clown, rather than the artist he is..... Fats is undoubtedly a great entertainer and showman, but tonight there will be a chance to see primarily Fats Waller, the musician and composer.”