The Prince

It was 1919. World War One was over. The 'Hell Fighters' were being welcomed back to New York in a triumphant parade up Broadway. Bill "Bojangles" Robinson led the way as the high stepping drum major of James Reese Europe's band. The crowd along the way was estimated to be more than one million.

One of the spectators in the crowd was twenty-three-year-old Andreamenentania Paul Razafkeriefo. He was a descendent of the royal family of Madagascar. He was also a descendent of a former Missouri slave, his grandfather, John Louis Waller, who in 1891 had been appointed American counsel to the African country by President Harrison. Waller's daughter, Jennie Marie Waller, had married Henri Razafkeriefo, a nobleman, warrior and nephew of Queen Ranavalona III. In 1895, Madagascar became a French colony. In the midst of the political turmoil, John Louis Waller was imprisoned. His daughter Jennie Maria Waller Razafinkarefo, 16 fled Madagascar. In Washington D.C. on December 15, 1895, she gave birth to her only son, Prince Andreamenentania Paul Razafkeriefo.

Andreamenentania Paul Razafkeriefo was raised in Harlem. He worked as an elevator operator, butler, and custodian to help bring money into the home. He began writing songs at thirteen. The young prince's name was botched when he sold his first song for publication when he was seventeen. That incident prompted him to shorten his name to Andy Razaf.

Andy Razaf shortened his name but continued to take his royal African ancestors as his role models. He was a semi-professional baseball pitcher, (briefly for the New York Black Sox), wrote newspaper articles, speeches, poems, and ragtime songs all before becoming a fixture of Harlem's nightclub scene in the 1920's and a giant of the "Jazz Age."

Razaf was inspired by the new music of the day and began collaborating with many notable composers and players including James P. Johnson, Willie "the Lion" Smith, Eubie Blake (with whom he wrote Memories of You) and other Tin Pan Alley musicians. Razaf met and became friends with Fats Waller (not related to Razaf's grandfather). Together, they wrote some of the most popular songs of the twentieth century including Honeysuckle Rose, My Fate Is in Your Hands (1928), Ain't Misbehavin, Blue Turning Grey Over You (1929), Keeping Out of Mischief Now (1932), The Joint Is Jumpin (1938) and other classics of the American songbook.

Razaf was acutely aware of the racial conflicts in America. In 1929, he collaborated with Waller to produce one of the most famous and controversial songs of the century, Black and Blue. The lyrics displayed Razaf's longstanding concern with racial injustice. It also demonstrated Razaf's brilliant ability to tell his own story and the story of his people. Although Louis Armstrong's influential version interpreted the song in terms of White racism towards African-Americans, Razaf's original lyrics were also directed at interracial bias against darker-skinned Blacks.

The greatest vocalists and players of jazz and popular music performs Razaf's music during the roaring twenties and 1930's and throughout their careers. In the early 1940's Razaf moved to Englewood, New Jersey. He later moved on to Los Angeles and lived the remainder of his life in relative obscurity. Andreamenentania Paul Razafkeriefo died of kidney disease on February 3, 1973.

Prince Andreamenentania Paul Razafkeriefo was an activist, artist and prolific jazz musician. A great man. He has not acquired all of the recognition he deserves. Nevertheless, his monumental contribution to the jazz legacy and to American popular culture must not be forgotten.

"You may call me the Dreamer. I don't care if you do" (The Dreamer - Andy Razaf)