Fats Waller - A Handful Of Keys: 1922-1935 - New Sealed CD 21 Songs!

Naxos Jazz

Vanguard Records (USA)

Tributee: Fats Waller.Personnel: Aki Takase (piano, toy piano); Eugene Chadbourne (vocals, guitar, banjo); Rudi Mahall (bass clarinet); Thomas Heberer (trumpet); Nils Wogram (trombone); Paul Lovens (drums).Audio Mixer: Rainer Robben.Arranger: Aki Takase.Pianist and vocalist Fats Waller composed many songs that have become standards known around the globe, and his freewheeling piano style has rarely if ever been equaled. Japan-bred pianist Aki Takase interprets Waller in a manner the old master himself might enjoy, with lots of zany, irreverent humor and amazing keyboard technique. Those seeking more straight-ahead versions of Waller classics might even be baffled by this disc. However, those tuned in to the lighter side of free jazz (Han Bennink, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Rahsaan Roland Kirk) will delight in this set of Waller gems turned upside-down/inside-out. The release also received German Record Critics Award in 2004.

Jazz Legends

Halcyon (UK)

West End Records

Like Hallmark's 1996 Fats Waller "best-of" collection, this label's Ain't Misbehavin' is a jumbled mass of Waller material, although tune for tune the selections are slightly stronger than on the earlier release. These recordings, made between 1929 and 1940, include solo essays on piano and pipe organ, two gutsy little jams from 1929 featuring the first band to make records as Fats Waller & His Buddies, and a rowdy rendition of Slim Gaillard's "Flat Foot Floogie" recorded in London by Fats Waller & His Continental Rhythm in 1938. Tossing Waller's Buddies' recording of "Harlem Fuss" into the middle of a batch of songs whipped off by his Rhythm band during the 1930s rather muddies the palette and smears the distinction between the Prohibition-era intensity of the hastily assembled Buddies and the more routine proceedings of Waller's Rhythm, a group that settled into a pattern of Bluebird record production that would only cease with the union-imposed recording ban of 1942. This is a good album to have around unl

Personnel: Fats Waller (vocals, piano, celesta, organ, vibraphone); Fats Waller (spoken vocals); James "Hal" Smith , James Smith (guitar); Benny Morton's All Stars, Benny Morton (trombone); Harry Dial's Blusicians, Harry Dial (vibraphone, drums); Elizabeth Handy (vocals); Albert Casey (guitar); Rudy Powell (clarinet, alto saxophone); Gene Sedric (clarinet, tenor saxophone); Emmett Matthews (soprano saxophone); Bob Carroll (tenor saxophone); Herman Autrey, Bill Coleman (trumpet); Hank Duncan (piano); Arnold Boling, Slick Jones, Yank Porter (drums); Charles Turner.Audio Remasterer: Ted Kendall.Recording information: Camden, NJ (11/16/1934-08/01/1936); New York, NY (11/16/1934-08/01/1936).Author: Ted Kendall.Arrangers: Don Donaldson; Alex Hill .The third volume in JSP's massive library of Fats Waller's Complete Recorded Works brings together all of the commercial studio recordings he made between November 16, 1934, and August 1, 1936. The first four tracks ("African Ripples, " "Clothes Line Ballet, " "Alligator Cr

Neatwork

Liner Note Author: Scott Yanow.Thomas "Fats" Waller was the complete entertainer during the Depression years, conveying a constant joyous presence as a singer, pianist, and organist, and as a superb songwriter -- his "Ain't Misbehavin', " for instance, is a timeless classic. Arguably his best work was done for Victor in 1934 and 1935, but Waller was always a steady performer, and the radio transcriptions on this two-disc set -- recorded between 1931 and 1943 -- are as delightful as anything else he ever recorded, and maybe even more so, thanks to his warm song introductions and occasional spoken asides; he introduces "Ain't Misbehavin'" here by saying "Ladies and gentlemen, this is just to let you know that I paid my alimony, and I ain't misbehavin'." Everything presented here is of a piece, full of a calm and sprightly joy, and tracks like his beautifully hushed interpretation of "Tea for Two" are nothing less than stunning. Again, Waller's studio work for Victor is the place to start with this marvelous musi