Spreadin' Rhythm Around

Spreadin' Rhythm Around - Fats Waller And His Rhythm - So talented a musician and entertainer was Fats (his boundless energy and spontaneous wit seemed never-ending) that one tends to overlook the fact that he had something in excess of 300 compositions to his credit, many of them set to lyrics by his lifelong friend Andy Razaf. He studied piano under some of the finest classical teachers around at the time and although he was influenced by such jazz and ragtime greats as Willie 'The Lion' Smith and 'Lucky' Roberts, there is no doubt that the man who had the greatest effect upon his piano-playing was James P. Johnson, who taught him the rudiments of the well-known Harlem 'stride' piano and remained his revered friend and colleague to the end.