Race has always played a disproportionate role in American popular music. Certainly, in the pantheon of American popular music, the place of Andy Razaf is assured, irrespective of color. Yet, it remains impossible to assess Razaf's achievements without addressing also the pigmentation of his skin. No black lyricist was more talented or accomplished nor finally more important. In fact, few lyricists of any race wrote as successfully as Razaf did during the years between the world wars. His collaborators included just about every black composer of significance, along with an impressive number of white composers. Primarily, though, Razaf is remembered for his work with two songwriting giants, both black: the ragtime pianist Eubie Blake and the Harlem stride piano player Thomas "Fats" Waller. The songs that Razaf wrote in collaboration with these two men--including, among many others, "Ain't Misbehavin'" (1929), "(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and...