"Viper's Drag" is a stride piano composition by the jazz pianist, composer, and arranger Thomas "Fats" Waller.[1]

History/background

edit

"Viper's Drag" was written as a dance tune for a ragtime dance called a slow drag, often shortened to "drag" by songwriters of the day.[2]

The song has been performed by Waller and countless other jazz artists, including Cab Calloway, who recorded a big band swing version of the tune on November 12, 1930 as song 10246-1 on the DOMINO label, album 4686[3][4] and Judy Carmichael, who recorded it for her Grammy award-nominated Two-Handed Stride on the Progressive label in 1980.[5]

There are two versions by New Orleans piano masters Henry Butler and Allen Toussaint. It is the title cut to an album by Henry Butler/Steven Bernstein and the Hot 9, on Impulse (2014). It can also be found on "American Tunes"—the final recording from New Orleans jazz and R&B pianist Allen Toussaint, released on Nonesuch Records on June 10, 2016.

Appears on

edit

"Viper's Rag" appears on the following recordings:[6]

References

edit
  1. ^ Thomas "Fats" Waller Songwriters' Hall of Fame (website)
  2. ^ Ragtime Defined Arthur Collins
  3. ^ Print data on YouTube video
  4. ^ Jazz On Line (website)
  5. ^ Two-Handed Stride - Allmusic.com
  6. ^ Viper's Rag - Fats Waller - AllMusic.com
edit