Alex Hill was, among many other things, an important part of the background scenery for Fats Waller, a pianist and vocalist whose talent was as large as the wild outdoors, not to mention his physical girth. While Hill had a career of his own, leading a band in a rollicking style similar to Waller, he is much better remembered for the material he came up with in his role as an all-in-one arranger, composer, and staff pianist for publishing houses supplying song material to their rosters of classic blues and classic jazz performers.

Waller worked his way to the top of these lists, having been plucked out of a department store song-demonstration gig by the enterprising publisher Joe Davis. Through the final years of the '20s, Waller's accomplices in a series of clever original hits included Hill as well as writers such as Andy Razaf and J.C. Johnson. These writers wrote together in various combinations and it is sometimes difficult to tell the work of one from the other. Hill came up with Shake Your Ashes in 1932; five years later, Razaf and Paul Denniker followed up with Shake Your Can. The Hill songwriting catalog is a hill on its own: this image would turn to reality if a mound of his song folios from the period were actually piled up. Such output required turning out ditties quickly, Hill and Razaf reportedly feasting on A Glutton for Love, felling Lumber Jack, isolating My Only One, and determining that Papa Ain't No Santa Claus all in the time it took a Tin Pan Alley messenger to get back to the office with a picnic basket.

Hill had come to the attention of music publishers through his own performing activities. He led his own band beginning in 1924, this outfit touring as well as taking on more extended engagements in Hollywood and Chicago. Hill was also in the rhythm section of Jimmie Noone's band in the latter city. Early in 1930, Hill gigged at the Savoy ballroom in New York City in the band of Sammy Stewart. As a songwriter and arranger he eventually moved from the Davis firm of Triangle to a position as a staff arranger for music publishing giant Irving Mills. Hill's collaborations with Waller include Be Modern, Thanks to You, and Draggin' My Heart Around. Hill also arranged material for Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders, among other groups. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi