Alley Cat Strut Oscar Holden Jun 2026
Holden allegedly wrote the piece after watching a stray cat in the alley behind the Washington Social Club in Seattle’s Jackson Street district. The cat moved with a paradoxical rhythm: three steps of caution, then a sudden dash, a pause to clean a paw, then a sprint for a fish bone.
The "Alley Cat" was a slang term of the era for two things: a stray, scrappy feline, but also a specific type of night-crawler—the musicians and hustlers who moved through the back alleys connecting jazz clubs to avoid the police. alley cat strut oscar holden
To play the "Alley Cat Strut" correctly, one must abandon polish for attitude . It is a piece that sounds best on a beat-up upright piano with a few sticky keys. Holden allegedly wrote the piece after watching a
"Alley Cat Strut" was first recorded by Holden's own band, the Alamo Dance Band, in 1932. However, it was the 1940 recording by the influential jazz pianist and composer, Fats Waller, that brought the song to a wider audience. Waller's version of "Alley Cat Strut" features a virtuosic piano solo and a swinging rhythm section, setting the tone for future interpretations. To play the "Alley Cat Strut" correctly, one
Holden allegedly wrote the piece after watching a stray cat in the alley behind the Washington Social Club in Seattle’s Jackson Street district. The cat moved with a paradoxical rhythm: three steps of caution, then a sudden dash, a pause to clean a paw, then a sprint for a fish bone.
The "Alley Cat" was a slang term of the era for two things: a stray, scrappy feline, but also a specific type of night-crawler—the musicians and hustlers who moved through the back alleys connecting jazz clubs to avoid the police.
To play the "Alley Cat Strut" correctly, one must abandon polish for attitude . It is a piece that sounds best on a beat-up upright piano with a few sticky keys.
"Alley Cat Strut" was first recorded by Holden's own band, the Alamo Dance Band, in 1932. However, it was the 1940 recording by the influential jazz pianist and composer, Fats Waller, that brought the song to a wider audience. Waller's version of "Alley Cat Strut" features a virtuosic piano solo and a swinging rhythm section, setting the tone for future interpretations.
