It's a Sin to Tell a Lie

"It's A Sin To Tell A Lie" by Fats Waller (1936)

Fats Waller was one of few black musicians to enjoy moderate mainstream success in the early 1930's. Waller's interesting take on ragtime piano can be heard in this song. Fats Waller was a piano virtuoso who used the instrument's melodic and percussive capacities to their fullest-note the lightness of his touch and resulting bouncy, twinkling quality of the piano solo. His vocal growls along with sarcastic and playful lyrics, captured the renewed energy of the Swing Age. The trumpet solo near the end demonstrates how well orchestrated large bands were encouraged to be. Waller's adaptation of the Harlem stride piano style was influential on another master of the form, Cleo Brown ( "Lookie Lookie Lookie, Here Comes Cookie").