Friday, December 12, 2025

Tempo De Zoot Suit Melancholia

Elaine found a folio of piano music at a library sale: Fats Waller’s Boogie Woogie Conceptions of Popular Favorites (New York: Mills Music, 1943). The ownership signature on the cover: J. Logan Gover, an insurance agent whose givewaway drinking glasses of yore sit on a shelf in our kitchen. The folio has sheet music for songs first as composed and then as (purportedly?) reimagined by Waller.

The folio includes seven songs, each in two versions, one labeled “Original” and one labeled “‘Fats’ Waller’s Conception.” The originals (two of them by Waller) have standard tempo markings. The conceptions make things more interesting:

“Idaho” (Stone)
Moderately Slow / Boogie De Fine Pint

“Ain’t Misbehavin’” (Razaf–Waller)
Moderato / Tempo De Naughty Groovy

“Shoe Shine Boy” (Cahn–Chaplin)
Moderato / Tempo De Patent Leather

“I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” (Fields–McHugh)
Andante con moto / Tempo De Basement Deluxe

“Blue” (Clarke–Leslie–Handman)
Moderato / Tempo Sloppy Deluxe

“My Sweetie Went Away” (Turk–Handman)
Moderato / Largo — De Morbid

“(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue” (Razaf–Waller)
Moderato / Tempo De Zoot Suit Melancholia

But it has to be said: Waller was a stride pianist, not a boogie-woogie pianist, and on at least one occasion he voiced his distaste for boogie-woogie when praising an Art Tatum recording of “Tea for Two.” From Paul S. Machlin’s Stride: The Music of Fats Waller (Boston: G. K. Hall, 1985):
“That’s music, subdued and not blatant. None of this boogie-woogie stuff that’s just monotonous. Boogie-woogie is all right if you want to beat your brains out for five minutes. But for more than that you got to have melody.”
Speaking of melody, here, from 1934, is my favorite Fats Waller solo piano performance: “African Ripples.” Enjoy.

By Michael Leddy at 8:38 AM

comments: 0

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)