Fats Waller - Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child
I've been helping beaupepys with a project of hers by listening to lots of music from the 1940s. What I imagined might be a chore has turned out to be something of a fascinating journey for me. I've always been rather dismissive of much of the music from this era. Then again, I've always been dismissive of much of the music from every other era, so it was only fair to go into this with an open mind.

Here's the most startling discovery I've found. It seems like I've always known the name Fats Waller, and was quick to form a prejudice about the guy from what little I'd heard and seen: a novelty musician. Waller was always one of those guys who seemed all smiles and showbiz insincerity. There's probably some truth in that, but not nearly as much as I might have thought.

Here he is with a recording of the old spiritual number, Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child, and Waller forsakes his piano for a pipe organ. It's a truly remarkable interpretation, at turns virtuosic, spinetingling and far more radical than I'd had ever imagined. His influence on Sun Ra is unmistakeable. I believe this is taken from a recording session he made in 1942, a year before his untimely death from pneumonia. I'm left wondering what he might have become had he lived longer. Astounding.

Fats Waller - Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child