Keys to a music kingdom

One could make a good case for the piano as the first jazz instrument. Before the legendary trumpeter Buddy Bolden, before James Reese Europe’s jauntily swinging World War I Army band, before King Oliver and Louis Armstrong, there were the ragtime pianists.

Scott Joplin, Tom Turpin and Joseph Lamb were among the best known, playing and composing piano tunes whose spirited ragtime rhythms blended with the blues, marching band music and improvisation to serve as the wellsprings for the broad, flowing river of 20th and 21st century jazz.

Because it is a complete orchestra in itself -- an instrument that is simultaneously melodic, harmonic and rhythmic -- the piano has had endless jazz incarnations. Three new recordings reveal the remarkable range of both the instrument and the artists who play and have played it.

Fats Waller, who died in 1943 at age 39, was a direct descendant -- a few years removed -- of the ragtime era. In celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth on Friday, Bluebird Jazz is releasing “Fats Waller: The Centennial Collection.” The 21 selections survey the spectrum of his creativity as a pianist, entertainer, songwriter and inventive humorist.

In addition, the package includes a DVD featuring Waller video performances of songs such as “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’ ” and “The Joint Is Jumpin’ ” as well as an amusing cartoon based upon his rendering of “Your Feets Too Big.”

Instrumentally, Waller followed in the path of stride pianist James P. Johnson and Jelly Roll Morton, the self-styled “inventor” of jazz. And although his enormous presence as an entertainer sometimes dimmed recognition of his piano playing, the recordings reveal the marvelous combination of virtuosity and inventiveness at the core of his improvisational excursions. His versions of “Hallelujah” and Johnson’s “Carolina Shout” are stunning examples of stride-style virtuosity. And his own “African Ripples” is a brilliant, multisection work, often recalling Gershwin in a little over three minutes.

There are dozens of other Waller reissues in release, all valuable displays of a great American artist. But the “Centennial Collection” provides a fine overview of the full breadth of his art, enhanced by the inclusion of the video views of Waller, the slyly musical entertainer, in action.