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Stride and Swing
Want to learn more about stride?
 Ain't Misbehavin' (Fats Waller/Andy Razaf/Harry Brooks)
One of the classics. This sequence was taken from the original sheet music.
Ain't Misbehavin' (Fats Waller/Andy Razaf/Harry Brooks)
Here's a very playful (not to mention incredibly acrobatic) Art Tatum interpreting another genius of the ivories, Fats Waller.
After You've Gone (Creamer/Layton; Art Tatum, arranger)
Listen to the rhythmic patterns and the subtle half-tone modulations that only Tatum could do.
Alligator Crawl (Fats Waller)
The piece begins with a strong left-hand statement and then moves into a series of wonderful "Wallerisms." From the original sheet music.
As Time Goes By (Herman Hupfeld; Donald Lambert, arranger)
Lambert, nicknamed "Muffin," "The Lamb" and "Jersey Rocket," was a great pianist who hasn't gotten the credit he deserves for some outstanding work. This arrangement of "As Time Goes By" is a case in point. He challenged and defeated Eubie Blake and Willie "The Lion" Smith in a cutting contest at the Piano Workshop of the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival. He once even asked Art Tatum to step into the ring. All of this, without being able to read a single note of music.
Bill Bailey (Hughie Cannon; Dick Wellstood, arranger)
Wellstood is one of the modern giants of stride piano. Try not tapping your foot to this one.
Blueberry Rhyme (James P. Johnson)
This composition demonstrates two things: one, stride piano need not be played at break-neck speed; second, stride piano can be introspective.
Cafe Society Rag (Pete Johnson/Albert Ammons/Meade "Lux" Lewis)
A tribute to Cafe Society, one of the hottest jazz spots in New York City during the late forties and fifties.
Frankie Carle Medley (Frankie Carle, arranger)
The medley includes standards everyone will recognize: "The Shiek of Araby," "Nobody's Sweetheart," "Margie," "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "When You're Smiling."
Carolina Shout (James P. Johnson)
James P.'s signature. It contains "tricks" galore. Fats Waller, Count Basie and Duke Ellington learned to play this note-by-note by listening to Johnson's piano roll version.
Crazy Rhythm (Meyer/Kahn/Caesar; Cliff Jackson, arranger)
Short, sweet and to the point.
Dinah (Harry Akst; Fats Waller, arranger)
Listen for Fats' variation on the theme.
Eccentricity: A Syncopated Waltz (James P. Johnson)
This light and bouncy waltz shows the reflective side of James P., demonstrating that the Father of Stride was not a one-dimensional composer.
Finger Buster (Willie "The Lion" Smith)
The Lion's contribution of a cutting contest killer.
Fingerbreaker (Jelly Roll Morton)
Don't try this at home. It starts off fast and gets faster and faster. Jelly Roll was an outstanding pianist (if you didn't know, all you had to do was ask him). That aside, the title of the composition says it all.
Gladyse (Fats Waller)
Mount Everest-like runs that cover the whole keyboard mark this delightful piece.
Handful of Keys (Fats Waller)
A Waller original. This is one of the Fat Man's most famous tunes . . . and one of the most difficult to play.
Happy Birthday To Pat (Cliff Jackson, arranger)
A variation on the most-sung song the world has ever known.
Harlem Strut (James P. Johnson))
This piece was originally transcribed and sequenced by Bob Pinsker from the 1921 QRS piano roll. He was kind enough to have passed his MIDI sequence on to me for further editing. Bob wrote to me: " . . . it may interest you to know a little more about how I did this transcription. I can do transcriptions from recordings, but not really to my satisfaction -- I'm always worried that I haven't got the chord inversions right, especially the offbeats in the left hand, and whether the guy played an octave or a single note is often hard to pick up. This MIDI was made from a transcription of the piano roll, which I did by hand -- I didn't have access to a player piano (still don't) at the time, circa 1976 -- and I'd never even heard the piece in this case -- so I measured the holes in the roll with a special ruler I'd made. Took forever -- about 2 weeks of work for a single roll."
Hello, My Baby (Joseph E. Howard and Ida Emerson; Dick Wellstood, arranger)
In this rendition of the popular song, Wellstood gives us a glimpse of it all: jazz, blues, ragtime and stride. Notice the backbeats in the third strain. A stride or ragtime "oom-pah" beat is usually played by the left hand as a single note (or octave or tenth) on the upbeat and a chord on the downbeat. A backbeat is the reverse of this (i.e., a chord on the upbeat and a single note (or octave or tenth) on the downbeat. This technique results in an interesting rhythmic variation in the accompaniment..
Honeysuckle Rose (Fats Waller; Art Tatum, arranger)
Art Tatum takes a Fats Waller standard and turns it into a frolicking, rolicking romp across the keyboard. Listen for several quotes from other well-known pieces of music.
Ida, Sweet As Apple Cider (Eddie Munson; Dick Wellstood, arranger)
Wellswood arranged this popular standard to be played in a relaxed manner, with happy laziness. Listen for his use of a "rolling bass," which was often used by early blues and jazz pianists, as a substitute for the more customary one-two stride step. Listen also for Wellstood's exploitation of the mid to low range of the keyboard.
If Dreams Come True (Edgar Sampson and Irving Mills; Dick Wellstood, arranger)
A Wellstood tour de force! The composition begins with a languid thematic statement. Wellstood then embellishes the melody, performs bluesy variations at medium-swing tempo, restates the melody and variations at double tempo, and concludes in a bluesy medium tempo. This is stride at its best. In a live recording of a 1980 concert in Munchen, Germany, Wellstood performed the stride variations at an incredible quarter-note tempo of 330. My version is played at a trifling 302.
I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling (Fats Waller)
A still popular song, the words and music were written by Fats in collaberation with Harry Link and Billy Rose.
Jingle Bells (J.S. Pierpont; Arr. Dick Wellstood.
Gimme a break! Who other than Wellstood could have taken a jaunty Christmas classic and made it even classier. Wellstood is stride.
Jungle Drums (James P. Johnson).
The probable source of this driving rhythmic piece is "Rhythm Drums (Drums -- African Themes and Rhythms Arranged For Orchestra)," one of Johnson's "serious" compositions. According to Riccardo Scivales, "it was structured in three movements, with some passages in four-part counterpoint, and was scored for English horns, oboes, bassoons, four horns, flutes trombones, trumpets and many other instruments." A piece similar in texture, called "Drums," can be found on the CD "Victory Stride: The Symphonic Music of James P. Johnson (MusicMasters Classics 01612-67140-2).
Keep Off The Grass (James P. Johnson)
James P. at his striding best.
Modernistic (James P. Johnson)
A wonderfully lilting piece published in 1930. Its full title is "You've Got To Be Modernistic." The composition features interesting chromatic runs and an outstanding trio section.
Mule Walk (James P. Johnson)
An oft-played piece. I added bass, drums and a couple of banjos.
My Blue Heaven (Arr: Alec Templeton)
The popular tune, played Templeton-style.
My Gal Sal (Paul Dresser; Dick Wellstood, arranger)
Starts off "freely with rubato" and grows to herculean proportion. Wellstood was a genius.
Nobody But My Baby (Clarence Williams/Andy Razaf; arr. Fats Waller)
Talk about a trio of geniuses! Williams, Razaf and Waller . . . can't get any better than that. Fats arranged this tune in his inimitable stride fashion. He cut it as a QRS piano roll (3997) in August 1927. You can hear the original versin on a Biograph CD (BCD 104). I was overwhelmed by Fats' use of the left hand as a melodic tool. This is good music!
Numb Fumblin' (Fats Waller)
A bluesy Waller composition. Listen for the exquisite extended "floating" right hand in the final chorus.
Once In A While (Teddy Wilson, arranger)
An excellent Teddy Wilson arrangement.
Outer Space (Luckey Roberts)
Roberts (1887 - 1968) was a link between the "fast shout" style and stride. He also wrote rags as well as orchestral music.
Over The Bars (James P. Johnson)
Classic stride.
Royal Garden Blues (Williams/Williams; Cliff Jackson, arranger)
A single-theme piece which builds to a rousing climax.
That's How Rhythm Was Born (Teddy Wilson, arranger)
Juxtaposition of the original music and Wilson's stride interpretation.
Riffs (James P. Johnson)
One of the most famous stride compositions.
Rippling Waters (Willie "The Lion" Smith)
Written in "The Lion's" lyrical stride style. A recording of Smith playing this piece can be heard on the CD "The Lion And The Lamb" (Topaz TPZ 1057). My MIDI derives from the sheet music, while the version on the CD features wonderful improvization by Smith.
Russian Fantasy (Fats Waller)
A major league tour de force. Waller's understanding of the musical subtlties of other cultures, coupled to his absolute mastery of stride piano, resulted in a meisterwerk that is not so well known.
Smashing Thirds (Fats Waller)
Fat's contribution to cutting contest literature. If you couldn't play "Smashing Thirds," you couldn't play stride.
Sweet Lorraine (Parish/Burwell; Art Tatum, arranger)
Thoughtful Tatum at his best.
Tea For Two (Caesar/Youmans; Arr. Willie "The Lion" Smith)
An arrangement of the classic soft-shoe.
Tea For Two (Caesar/Youmans; Arr. Art Tatum)
Art Tatum . . . sounding like he's playing two pianos at the same time. Tatum once played this piece for his buddy Vladimir Horowitz (they were good pals and attended each other's performances). Horowitz's reaction to Tatum's arrangement of "Tea For Two": "How in the world do you DO that??!?!!?
Valentine Stomp (Fats Waller)
Waller, as usual, kicking butt.
Viper's Drag (Fats Waller)
Published in 1934, this arrangement was sequenced from a transcription by Paul Posnak in "Thomas 'Fats' Waller: The Great Piano Solos, 1929 - 1941" (Hal Leonard).
Washington & Lee Swing (Thornton W. Allen; Dick Wellstood, arranger)
Wellstood gives this college song more than a college try. The arrangement is unusual in that it combines traditional chord structures with their modern derivatives.
When You And I Were Young, Maggie (James Austin Butterfield; Fats Waller, arranger)
Here's a wonderful, albeit short, rendition of the popular 1866 song in the inimitable stride style of Fats Waller.
Wild Cat Blues (Fats Waller/Clarence Williams).
This collaberation between Waller and Williams was published by Williams in 1923. The only recording of it I've heard is that by John Gill on his CD, "All By Myself" (PianoMania CD-110). The liner notes categorize the piece as "hot stride." Yes, indeed.
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