"Handful of Keys," Fats Waller (1929)

What is this?

The Ruth Reeves Electric coverlet seemed evocative of the Fats Waller recording “Handful of Keys” from 1929. The recording is a remarkable tour-de-force by Waller. Waller also performed this work during an infamous piano battle with Willie “The Lion” Smith, James P. Johnson, and Art Tatum when Art Tatum first arrived in New York to perform with Adelaide Hall in 1932. Text by James Saltzman, Faculty, Manhattan School of Music

http://www.folkways.si.edu/fats-waller/handful-of-keys/jazz-ragtime/music/track/smithsonian