European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 30, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Hit of the Seo Ormut resembling an old time speakeasy characteristic of fats Waller Broadway Waller hang onto the scenes with Armelia Mcqueen Nell Charlaine Woodard Ken inhales and exhales the vipers drag dreamed about a Reefer five foot who made his show stopping Broadway debut in e Allback Guys and sits himself Down at a bar table to thump his Glass in Majestic fury while Point ing out to his invisible female companion that your feets too the shows funniest Page combines with de Shields for an Al laugh Audi ence participation of fat and Greasy a highlight in a show filled with some of the songs Are performed As Skils and some of these Are very a baby is a crackling dance performed by de Shields and other songs in the show include these oldies Waller made Gonna sit right Down and write myself a utter two sleepy i cant give you any thing but and its a sin to Tell a lie the show was conceived and directed by Richard Maltby who won a Tony for Best director of a musical he also set lyrics to a few purely musical including the Jitterbug lounging at the Wal Dorf and handful of where the singers vocalize the pianos stride fats Waller a rare phenomenon in his has become a legend since he died in 1943 at the age of 39 on a and now 35 years after his he is being was one of the great jaw pianists of our non cd theater critic Clive Barnes mastered the style of the stride piano and made it into asps Al musical form of fun and like his need Louis he was a Conn Dun As Wel us a a comedian a Black soul and a Black Lewis a a style that and for Broadway and and a a Crickmer Anthony Calabrise the o Zane a publicly he was the Clown the Black Singer with the Willy Tor a fats attended de will Clinton High school in the but at is he there want any rhythm for me in he sex he got a Job playing the Organ at the a Harlem movie theater owned by Frank who would later open the fats realized that his self taught style limited his Harlem was loaded then with professors of the key among them James composer of the Charleston and the acknowledged master of the stride Calabrese wrote fats wanted to learn and so he turned to the Harlem musicians were leading a revolution in music and fats would be a Jor part of it Johnson aught him that boisterous style that was born out of a strange wedding of ragtime and the rent people who  pay rent hired pianists like John Lucky Roberts or Willie the Lioni Smith and then got the word around that they were having a admission was 25 cents and that entitled you to listen to the the Good food and Bathtub Gin were piano was the Only and it had in be loud and full it was How stride in the left hand plays the Bass note on the beat and the chord on the this leaves the right hand free to play the melodic line the left hand took the place of a Bass and and freed the right to function As an orchestra instead u a percussion instrument fats used stride because of its melodic and in  ik1 later advised it tis ton t have to shoot it out of a Cannon Johnson taught me Hal you Yot to hang onto the Nih Idy and never let it git bore Somo and am t Misbel Uiva is a musical Hal on pure spirit the stars and stripes Page 13