CD1
1. Blue Black Bottom
2. Handful Of Keys
3. Numb Fumblin’
4. Ain’t Misbehavin’
5. Sweet Savannah Sue
6. I’ve Got The Feeling I’m Falling (take 2)
7. I’ve Got The Feeling I’m Falling (take 3)
8. Love Me Or Leave Me (take 1)
9. Love Me Or Leave Me (take 2)
10. Gladyse (take 1)
11. Gladyse (take 2)
12. Valentine Stomp (take 1)
13. Valentine Stomp (take 2)
14. Waiting At The End Of The Road (take 1)
15. Waiting At The End Of The Road (take 2)
16. Baby, Oh Where Can You Be? (take 1)
17. Baby, Oh Where Can You Be? (take 2)
18. Goin’ About (take 1)
19. Goin’ About (take 2)
20. My Feelings Are Hurt
21. Smashing Thirds
22. My Fate Is In Your Hands
23. Turn On The Heat
24. St. Louis Blues
25. After You’ve Gone
26. African Ripples
CD2
1. Clothes Line Ballet
2. Alligator Crawl
3. Viper’s Drag
4. Keepin’ Out Of Mischief Now
5. Stardust
6. Basin Street Blues
7. Tea For Two
8. I Ain’t Got Nobody
9. Georgia On My Mind
10. Rockin’ Chair
11. Carolina Shout (take 1)
12. Carolina Shout (take 2)
13. Honeysuckle Rose
14. Ring Dem Bells
15. London Suite I: Piccadilly
16. London Suite II: Chelsea
17. London Suite III: Soho
18. London Suite IV: Bond Street
19. London Suite V: Limehouse
20. London Suite VI: Whitechapel
21. Poor Butterfly
22. Saint Louis Blues
23. Hallelujah
24. Tea For Two
25. A Handful Of Keys
26. Swaltzing With Faust
Fats Waller - Piano
Benny Payne - Piano (tracks I/24, 25)
Max Levin - Drums (track II/18)
In jazz, it doesn't always pay to be
a comedian. I suspect that Dizzy Gillespie has been underestimated
because of his comic antics. The same certainly applies to Fats Waller,
an irrepressible clown who loved to make fun of song lyrics and intersperse
his recordings with wild cries and outrageous ad-libs. Yet in truth
he was one of the finest pianists that jazz has ever known.
Waller learnt the essence of stride piano from James P. Johnson but his style was freer than Johnson's, often reducing the element of stride in favour of a
lighter approach. The difference between the two men can be heard in this album's two versions of Johnson's composition Carolina Shout. Whereas
Johnson's style looked back towards ragtime, Waller's is more in tune with the swing era. Even some of the earliest tracks in this collection - such as Handful of Keys from 1929 - have more the feeling of swing than of ragtime. You can trace the development of Waller's piano style on this double
album because the tracks are arranged chronologically, except for the bonus tracks added at the end of the second CD. These all date from 1939 and include
radio transcriptions (tracks 21 to 26) as well as Waller's London Suite, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London.
The London Suite is especially interesting because it shows a serious, tender side to Waller's character. There are none of the comical
interjections that one gets in many of Fats' group recordings. Instead, he depicts various aspects of London almost in the style of programme music. In
this Suite, Waller seems to have adopted English "reserve", particularly in the poignant "Chelsea" section. Waller's friend Ed Kirkeby said that
Fats only took an hour to compose the whole of this remarkable suite.
The London Suite also illustrates Waller's gift for melody, which is well-known from such compositions as Ain't Misbehavin' and Honeysuckle Rose. It is good to hear these in piano solo versions, as well as other richly melodic pieces such as Clothes Line Ballet
(with varying tempi) and Keepin' Out Of Mischief Now (full of trills and bell-like sounds). And the humorous side of Fats creeps in right at the
end with Swaltzing With Faust, which cheekily turns opera into jazz.
Tony Augarde
www.augardebooks.co.uk
CD Reviews
Phoenix 131591
