Music » Jive Jazz Music

Release Date: 2000-11-07, Audio CD, RCA

Release Date: 1993-11-19, Audio CD, Biograph

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Best Of The Big Bands by Cab CallowayThis product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

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Release Date: 1993-05-25, Audio CD, Delta

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When he died in 1943, Harlem-born Thomas "Fats" Waller had taken all he'd learned from his mentor, the ragtime-stride pianist James P. Johnson, and established a reputation as an instrumentalist/songwriter/performer that dwarfed Johnson's, casting a long shadow over subsequent keyboard giants, including Erroll Garner, Count Basie, and Art Tatum. Though Waller's first recordings brought stride piano into the musical mainstream, they barely hinted at the greatness looming ahead. Waller's ascendancy began in 1927. Over the next two years, well documented here, he worked with small combos populated by many of the preeminent instrumentalists of the day, laying the foundation for the towering artistry he would deliver in the 1930s with the group dubbed Fats Waller and His Rhythm. Even the lesser moments here--primarily four songs recorded with the Louisiana Sugar Babes (featuring James P. Johnson on piano, with Waller on the pipe organ)--feature fascinating if cautious interplay and solos by cornetist Jabbo Smith and multi-instrumentalist Garvin Bushell. The cream of the cuts are those credited to Fats Waller and His Buddies, dating from March 1929, with Waller joined by the likes of Gene Krupa, Jack Teagarden, Pops Foster, and trombonist Charlie Irvis, who later would play a pivotal role in the development of Duke Ellington's "jungle style." Although deferential to his inspired accompanists, Waller's engaging, witty solos point the way to the outsized personality that blossomed in his music over the next decade. --David McGee

While the swing era has been strongly identified with big bands, few musicians of the period enjoyed the success of Fats Waller, who spent most of the period happily leading a sextet. While Waller's popularity was inevitably tied to his casual vocals and the scale of his personality--his verbal humor can become a running commentary on an instrumental--Waller was one of the greatest pianists who ever played jazz. Part of a comprehensive series of Waller's band recordings for RCA, this three-CD set covers his work from December 1936 to April 1938. As with every volume in the series, there's a mix of novelty vocals, sentimental ballads, and superior pop songs. What distinguishes all of it is the genius of the Waller piano, from animated stride to the most thoughtful chord, all of it delivered with a lightness of touch that inspired pianists like Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson. In the spirit of the times, Waller expanded "His Rhythm" to a 14-piece band for the final session, which includes rousing versions of "Sheik of Araby" and Duke Ellington's "Skrontch." --Stuart Broomer