Fats Waller - The Chronological Classics '1992-1998

Tracks list

Not only was Fats Waller one of the greatest pianists jazz has ever known, he
was also one of its most exuberantly funny entertainers -- and as so often
happens, one facet tends to obscure the other. His extraordinarily light and
flexible touch belied his ample physical girth; he could swing as hard as any
pianist alive or dead in his classic James P. Johnson-derived stride manner,
with a powerful left hand delivering the octaves and tenths in a tireless,
rapid, seamless stream. Waller also pioneered the use of the pipe organ and
Hammond organ in jazz -- he called the pipe organ the God box -- adapting his
irresistible sense of swing to the pedals and a staccato right hand while making
imaginative changes of the registration. As a composer and improviser, his
melodic invention rarely flagged, and he contributed fistfuls of joyous yet
paradoxically winsome songs like Honeysuckle Rose, Aint Misbehavin, Keepin Out
of Mischief Now, Blue Turning Grey Over You and the extraordinary Jitterbug
Waltz to the jazz repertoire.

During his lifetime and afterwards, though, Fats Waller was best known to the
world for his outsized comic personality and sly vocals, where he would send up
trashy tunes that Victor Records made him record with his nifty combo, Fats
Waller & His Rhythm. Yet on virtually any of his records, whether the song is an
evergreen standard or the most trite bit of doggerel that a Tin Pan Alley hack
could serve up, you will hear a winning combination of good knockabout humor,
foot-tapping rhythm and fantastic piano playing. Today, almost all of Fats
Wallers studio recordings can be found on RCAs on-again-off-again series The
Complete Fats Waller, which commenced on LPs in 1975 and was still in progress
during the 1990s.


Tracks:


Fats Waller - 1922-1926 {The Chronological Classics, 664}

Fats Waller - 1926-1927 {The Chronological Classics, 674}

Fats Waller - 1927-1929 {The Chronological Classics, 689}

Fats Waller - 1929 {The Chronological Classics, 702}

Fats Waller - 1929-1934 {The Chronological Classics, 720}

Fats Waller - 1934-1935 {1993, Chronological Classics, 732}

Fats Waller - 1935 {The Chronological Classics, 746}

Fats Waller - 1935, Vol. 2 {The Chronological Classics, 760}

Fats Waller - 1938 {The Chronological Classics, 913}

Fats Waller - 1939-1940 {The Chronological Classics, 1002}

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