Today in Music History May 21, 1904: Jazz legend and piano master Fats Waller was born. His creativity and innovations in the Harlem stride style of piano playing influenced much of the jazz that followed. During his career, he copyrighted over 400 of his compositions. He started playing piano at age six. As a teenager, he studied with the stride piano master, James P. Johnson. In 1926, he was kidnapped by Al Capone’s men and forced at gunpoint to perform for the gangster’s birthday party. In the early 1940s, he became the first African American songwriter to compose a hit Broadway musical.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSNPpssruFY

#workingclass #LaborHistory #jazz #fatswaller #mafia #alcapone #racism #harlem #BlackMastodon

Fotografías de las calles de Nueva York durante el gran apagón en julio de 1977 en el que se produjeron multitud de saqueos e incendios provocados #NewYork #Historia #Blackout #Vintage #NuevaYork #Fotos #FotosAntiguas #Brooklyn #Harlem #Bronx

https://momentosdelpasado.blogspot.com/2026/05/fotografias-apagon-nueva-york-1977.html

Headed to see what this is all about

#nyc #harlem