Description
Release Date: 2007
Label: JSP Records
Track List
1-1 Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller– Muscle Shoals Blues
1-2 Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller– Birmingham Blues
1-3 Sara Martin– ‘Taint Nobody’s Bus’ness If I Do
1-4 Sara Martin– You Got Ev’rything A Sweet Mama Needs But Me
1-5 Sara Martin– Mama’s Got The Blues
1-6 Sara Martin– Last Go Round Blues
1-7 Alberta Hunter– Stingaree Blues
1-8 Alberta Hunter– You Can’t Do What My Last Man Did
1-9 Anna Jones– Sister Kate
1-10 Anna Jones– You Can’t Do What My Last Man Did
1-11 Anna Jones– Trixie Blues
1-12 Clarence Williams And Sara Martin– I’m Cert’ny Gonna See ‘Bout That
1-13 Clarence Williams And Sara Martin– Squabbling Blues
1-14 Porter Grainger– In Harlem’s Araby
1-15 Jamaica Jazzers– You Don’t Know My Mind Blues
1-16 Jamaica Jazzers– West Indies Blues
1-17 Hazel Meyers– Maybe Someday
1-18 Hazel Meyers– (I’m Gonna See You) When Your Troubles Are Just Like Mine
1-19 Mamie Harris (Rosa Henderson)– You Get Mad
1-20 Mamie Harris (Rosa Henderson)– What’s The Matter Now?
1-21 Alta Browne And Bertha Powell– Nobody Knows De Trouble I See
1-22 Alta Browne And Bertha Powell– Couldn’t Hear To Pray
1-23 Caroline Johnson– Ain’t Got Nobody To Grind Ma Coffee
1-24 Caroline Johnson– Mama’s Losing A Mighty Good Chance
1-25 Fletcher Henderson And His Orchestra– The Henderson Stomp
1-26 Fletcher Henderson And His Orchestra– The Chant
2-1 Fats Waller– St. Louis Blues
2-2 Fats Waller– Lenox Avenue Blues
2-3 Joe Sims And Clarence Williams– What Do You Know About That
2-4 Joe Sims And Clarence Williams– Shut Your Mouth
2-5 Fats Waller– Soothin’ Syrup Stomp
2-6 Fats Waller– Sloppy Water Blues
2-8 Fats Waller– Messin’ Around With The Blues
2-9 Fats Waller– The Rusty Pail
2-10 Fats Waller– Stompin’ The Bug
2-11 Fats Waller– Hog-Maw Blues
2-12 Fats Waller– Blue Black Bottom Stomp
2-13 Fletcher Henderson And His Orchestra– Whiteman Stomp
2-14 Fletcher Henderson And His Orchestra– I’m Coming Virginia
2-15 Reverend J.C. Burnett– Preach The Word
2-16 Reverend J.C. Burnett– I’ll Just Stand And Ring My Hands And Cry
2-17 Reverend J.C. Burnett– True Friendship
2-18 Reverend J.C. Burnett– The Christian’s Trouble Is Ended
2-19 Alberta Hunter And Fats Waller– Sugar
2-20 Alberta Hunter And Fats Waller– Sugar
2-21 Alberta Hunter And Fats Waller– Beale Street Blues
2-22 Alberta Hunter And Fats Waller– Beale Street Blues
2-23 Alberta Hunter And Fats Waller– I’m Going To See My Ma
2-24 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– ‘Fats’ Waller Stomp
2-25 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– Savannah Blues
3-1 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– Won’t You Take Me Home
3-2 Maude Mills– My Old Daddy’s Got A Brand New Way To Love Me
3-3 Maude Mills– Anything That Happens Just Pleases Me
3-4 Maude Mills– I’ve Got The Joogie Blues
3-5 Juanita Stinette Chappelle– Florence
3-6 Carroll C Tate– Gone But Not Forgotten
3-7 Carroll C Tate– You Live On In Memory
3-8 Carroll C Tate– Bye-Bye Florence
3-9 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– He’s Gone Away
3-10 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– I Ain’t Got Nobody
3-11 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– The Digah’s Stomp
3-12 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– Red Hot Dan
3-13 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– Geechee
3-14 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– Please Take Me Out Of Jail
3-15 Johnny Thompson (Andy Razaf)– Back In Your Own Back Yard
3-16 Johnny Thompson (Andy Razaf)– Nobody Knows How Much I Love You
3-17 Dunn’s Original Jazz Hounds– What’s The Use Of Being Alone?
3-18 Dunn’s Original Jazz Hounds– Original Blues
3-19 Louisiana Sugar Babes– Willow Tree
3-20 Louisiana Sugar Babes– ‘Sippi
3-21 Louisiana Sugar Babes– Thou Swell
3-22 Louisiana Sugar Babes– Persian Rug
3-23 Jimmy Johnson And His Orchestra– Chicago Blues
3-24 Jimmy Johnson And His Orchestra– Mournful Tho’ts
4-1 Alberta Hunter– You Can’t Do What My Last Man Did
4-2 Anna Jones– Trixie Blues
4-3 Fats Waller– St. Louis Blues
4-4 Joe Sims And Clarence Williams– What Do You Know About That
4-5 Joe Sims And Clarence Williams– Shut Your Mouth
4-6 Fats Waller– Soothin’ Syrup Stomp
4-7 Fats Waller– Sloppy Water
4-8 Fats Waller– Messin’ Around With The Blues
4-9 Fats Waller– The Rusty Pail
4-10 Fats Waller– Stompin’ The Bug
4-11 Fats Waller– Hog-Maw Blues
4-12 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– ‘Fats’ Waller Stomp
4-13 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– Savannah Blues
4-14 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– Won’t You Take Me Home
4-15 Maude Mills– My Old Daddy’s Got A Brand New Way To Love Me
4-16 Maude Mills– Anything That Happens Just Pleases Me
4-17 Maude Mills– I’ve Got The Joogie Blues
4-18 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– He’s Gone Away
4-19 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– The Digah’s Stomp
4-20 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– Red Hot Dan
4-21 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– Geechee
4-22 Thomas Waller With Morris’s Hot Babies– Please Take Me Out Of Jail
4-23 Louisiana Sugar Babes– Willow Tree
4-24 Louisiana Sugar Babes– ‘Sippi
4-25 Louisiana Sugar Babes– Thou Swell
Notes
Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller was born in New York in 1904. His musical talents were obvious early – as was his charm – aged six, Fats talked his way into unlimited access to a neighbor’s piano. His older brother Bob persuaded the family to buy their own instrument. Fats was sent to lessons, but soon dropped out – he could learn a tune simply by watching his teacher play it. It was at school that Fats first sensed the fun of playing to an audience. He found that he could easily work a crowd into a frenzy of stamping and clapping with a combination of humorous asides, knowing winks and artistry. By Fats’ fourteenth birthday it was obvious that his destiny lay in music. He quit school so that he could get a job to finance piano lessons. Before long, he gravitated to a food delivery company that specialised in the discreet supply of booze. This gave him an entree into Harlem’s clubs, where he was able to watch piano idols like James P Johnson. Fats inveigled himself into the Lincoln movie theatre. He sat in for both the pianist who accompanied the movies and the intermission organist. When the organist fell sick, Fats – then 15 – stepped in. Soon after, he was offered the job permanently. In 1920 Fats met James P Johnson who recognised the young man’s talent. Johnson coached Fats, introduced him to the jazz fraternity and got him gigs. By the time the first two tracks here were cut, Fats had married. The producer on the session had brought the sheet music for Muscle Shoals Blues to the studio – so this might have been the first time Fats had seen it. Already the mature artist is on display. Fats was asked to improvise a B-side. Birmingham Blues was the result. Not a bad morning’s work. Thus started a career in entertainment, which almost never faltered. Fats himself was in a continuous state of forward motion, his energy undimmed until shortly before the end. But that’s the future. In the meantime we have a heap of supremely entertaining music to enjoy.
