Fat's Waller

Digah's Stomp ...

Digah's Stomp played on pipe organ, 1927.  Also appears on the Eraserhead soundtrack...

Fats Waller - Digah's Stomp...

"Thomas "Fats" Waller was the first jazz organist. He made the first jazz organ records inside a church in Camden, New Jersey that had been converted into a recording studio by the Southern Music Company. The organ solos came out on Victor Records. They form the basis for any true appreciation of Fats Waller's music, as without this dimension you're only getting your kicks from hot piano, solid ensembles and funny vocals. Waller was one of several outstanding Harlem pianists whose stylistic innovations radically altered the way popular music sounded during the 1920s and '30s. Transferring that energy on to a pneumatic church instrument was Waller's most individualistic achievement. The pipe organ jazz recordings gathered together on Classics 674 are as precious as emeralds and saffron. "St. Louis Blues" takes on a profundity that is almost startling. "Lenox Avenue Blues" allows the listener direct access to a private, personal region of the soul -- a place that Charles Mingus would one day describe as the artist's "innermost sacred temple." The sessions from January and February 1927 feature the pipe organ as a vehicle for rambunctious jamming. "Soothin' Syrup Stomp" is the definitive example of this wild aspect of Waller's personality. He pounds the keys of the instrument in ways that are wonderfully startling" (Allmusic.com)

Fats Waller at the Organ

Victor Records