Clint Eastwood’s Love of Fats Waller

He still misbehaves though

Clint Eastwood may just be America’s most famous jazz fan. The director and actor has consistently used jazz songs throughout his films, including his most recent picture Sully, for which he collaborated with jazz singer Tierney Sutton on the composition.

A pianist himself, Eastwood has publicly been an admirer of the great Fats Waller, and has repeatedly said that he was inspired by the Waller records that his mother kept around the house.

“What I liked early on was jazz’s independence, the independence of the musicians, and the music’s democratic spirit,” he told the New York Times in 1996. “Everybody was included, if you could play. The musicians were interested in your achievements, not your skin color or your background.”

He went on to direct the 2003 documentary Piano Blues, in which he discussed Waller at length and his influence on him.

“When I was a kid music was a constant. After Fats Waller died, my mother brought home a whole collection of his records, saying that they would be the last of his music to be available. I learned to play the piano by listening to his records and trying to imitate other jazz and blues artists of that era,” he said.

Eastwood’s appreciation for, and connection to, Fats Waller was put on display in 2000, when he received the Kennedy Center Honors. With Billy Taylor on the piano, three of Clint’s friends- Forest Whitaker, Morgan Freeman, and Don Rickles — sang a rendition of “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” and honored both Clint and his love of jazz. Check out their performance below.