At last a documentary on Thomas "Fats" Waller, one of the greatest and most colorful and influential musicians of the early 20th Century who lived fast and died young. But wait! "If You Gotta Ask" is not a "documentary" like Joyride Media?s other pieces on past musical heroes as very little about Fats? life actually makes an appearance. What we get is an appreciation of a virtuoso musician and entertainer whose comedic aptitude has obscured the fact that he was also an immense musical talent. A well-qualified somewhat academic cast explores his style and discusses what made him great. They also go to bat for Waller and explain how great he was and how history has criminally overlooked him, how great he was and how history has criminally overlooked him and...well...how great he was and how history has criminally overlooked him.
Larger-than-life Waller lived in a world that no longer exists and was the center of a hip, swinging and jumping New York nightlife that at various times encompassed prohibition, speakeasies, Harlem rent parties, piano duels and overflows with now-legendary characters and a million-and-one magical stories that would be a gift to any documentary. Though the piece only deals with Waller the under-rated virtuoso, it would have made all the difference to have an anecdote or two (the only one provided is weak) to remind us that there is an actual man in there somewhere. Astonishingly, although much is made of Waller as a composer and songwriter, credibility takes a knocking as there is not one solitary mention of Waller?s lyricist Andy Razaf and the Waller/Razaf songwriting partnership that produced so many wonderful songs, five of which are played in the piece. This is all the more amplified given the time spent on exploring three them - "Honeysuckle Rose", "Ain?t Misbehaving" and "Christopher Columbus". This - along with the praise lavished on Waller?s talent as a comedic wordsmith with no mention of whose words they actually were - is ironic given the piece?s emphasis on great-but-overlooked talent. Glaring omission notwithstanding, "If You Gotta Ask" would be a descent, entry-level primer for a portrait on the man behind the music.