Fats Waller - The Complete Recorded Works

[EKE BBB]

Stephen Taylor, author of "Fats Waller On The Air: The Radio Broadcasts and Discography" (Scarecrow Press), has just reported of this release on another list.

"Fats Waller, The Complete Recorded Works. Volume 2: A Handful Of Keys" on JSP928 is out now.

These series, remastered by Ted Kendall, will cover all the Fats Waller commercial issues with a total of 24 CDs. The first set (vol. 2) is for 1929-1934 and the next issue will cover up to 1928 (and hopefully it should be released soon).

Ted Kendall has used original recordings and includes tracks either not issued (alternate takes) or only issued on 78 rpm. Steven Lasker provided copies of vinyl test pressings for some of the early organ

and piano sides, with better sound quality than other issues. Stephen Taylor also provided copies of rare recordings from his own collection.

I think this is great news for us Fats Waller collectors: having all the commercial sides in one collection, with (hopefully) good remastering... At least for me, it will mean a lot of duplication (I have about 25 CDs of Fats Waller... and I´ve spent a lot of money to get all the Bluebird "Fats Waller And His Rhythm" box sets!), but it will cover some gaps in my collection.

EDIT: to correct the number of Fats Waller CDs that I already have... I was exaggerating!

Edited August 22, 2006 by EKE BBB

[EKE BBB]

[John L]

Wow. I didn't even realize that this was going on. The availability of Fats' recordings in recent years has been patchy at best. It will be great to have the whole ball of wax together.

[LAL]

I'll have to get this material all over again just for improved sound, if sold at the regular JSP budget price. The Classics series is terribly uneven and difficult to listen to at times.

[EKE BBB]

I'll have to get this material all over again just for improved sound, if sold at the regular JSP budget price. The Classics series is terribly uneven and difficult to listen to at times.

Same here. I have real hard times to listen to the Fats Waller´s 1920s material in the Classics series.

[brownie]

This is wonderful news!

Long overdue. Bout time I got rid of my various Black and White vinyls from French RCA that were issued several decades ago!

Kept away from the Fats Wallers Classics when I found out about the poor sound on those releases.

Let's hope Ted Kendall will do justice to the audio of these sides!

[jazzbo]

Well, Ted Kendall does really good work, these should sound nice.

Too bad Victor didn't do this themselves, or have Mosaic do this. . . .

I have a lot of King Jazz cds that I really enjoy that are looking scared on the shelf now.

[paul secor]

This is wonderful news!

Long overdue. Bout time I got rid of my various Black and White vinyls from French RCA that were issued several decades ago!

Kept away from the Fats Wallers Classics when I found out about the poor sound on those releases.

Let's hope Ted Kendall will do justice to the audio of these sides!

Same here. If Ted Kendall does for Fats' recordings what he did for Django's, I can free up some shelf space.

[LAL]

Still don't see any sign of the JSPs at my regular stores...

Anyone has this 3-disc set, not the JSP, but apparently a recent RCA release?

~66 tracks in all

[EKE BBB]

Another recent Fats Waller release, from our Andorran friends:

FATS WALLER: COMPLETE VICTOR PIANO SOLOS (Definitive/Disconforme)

[montg]

Still don't see any sign of the JSPs at my regular stores...

Anyone has this 3-disc set, not the JSP, but apparently a recent RCA release?

~66 tracks in all

here's an npr feature on this new disc from sony/rca:

fatswaller

Edited October 6, 2006 by montg

[brownie]

The JSP/Ted Kentall box is out here. Waiting for someone to confirm the sound is really good!

[paul secor]

Still don't see any sign of the JSPs at my regular stores...

Release date given on CD Universe is Tuesday, Oct. 10.

[Dr. Rat]

Still don't see any sign of the JSPs at my regular stores...

Anyone has this 3-disc set, not the JSP, but apparently a recent RCA release?

~66 tracks in all

here's an npr feature on this new disc from sony/rca:

fatswaller

We've got this at the station, and I think it's the best collection I've seen in terms of song selection (some of his own comps, good stuff he did by other composers (e.g. Sit Right Down), bad stuff by others he completely demolished (e.g. Panic Is On), keyboard pieces). A pretty good one-stop for people (unlike me) who don't feel they need EVERYTHING, but would like a lot of facets of Waller's talent represented.

Reefer Song conspicuously missing, though.

[BruceH]

What does volume 1 look like?

[tatifan]

What does volume 1 look like?

I went searching for (I'm assuming you mean JSP?) Vol. 1, and they seem to have started with Vol. 2! I've got mine coming from Wherehouse.som, with the extra 30% off (code: bigsale) it's a steal. Finally picked up the Bear Family Nat King Cole tome for about $161 too!!

[EKE BBB]

What does volume 1 look like?

I went searching for (I'm assuming you mean JSP?) Vol. 1, and they seem to have started with Vol. 2! I've got mine coming from Wherehouse.som, with the extra 30% off (code: bigsale) it's a steal. Finally picked up the Bear Family Nat King Cole tome for about $161 too!!

Yes, volume 1 (covering up to 1928) will be the next one to be out. Guess they released volume 2 first because they managed to get all the material and do the remastering first.

[EKE BBB]

... Anyone has this 3-disc set, not the JSP, but apparently a recent RCA release?

~66 tracks in all

Quoted from the Fats Waller Yahoo group:

Bluebird/Legacy have issued a new 3xCD box set 82876-81125-2 "If You

Got To Ask, You Ain't Got It", produced by Orrin Keepnews.

The set includes a previously unissued Take-2 of "Hold Tight [Want

Some Sea Food Mama". This is not one of my favourite numbers, but

any "new" material is more than welcome.

Extensive liner notes by Dan Morgenstern include many rare and

previously unpublished photos from the Frank Driggs collection and

the Ed Kirkeby collection at the Institute of Jazz Studies,

including the 1943 "Last photo" of Fats which I've copied to the

photo section (under "Victor catalog").

On Monday 13th December 1943, Fats boarded the Santa Fe's Super

Chief train from Los Angeles en route to New York for a well-earned

rest and to spend Christmas with his family. The train was due to

depart at mid-day, and that night there was a party on the train.

Fats slept all the next day and died around 5 am on the morning of

Wednesday 15th December from influenzal bronchial pneumonia, as the

train was pulling into Kansas City station.

Thus, the "Last photo" must have been taken either on Monday 13th or

Tuesday 14th December.

The sound restoration is quite good but the source material is not

stated. The liner notes contain a number of errors on matrix take

numbers, which is not unusual for Bluebird/RCA (and other issues).

Stephen Taylor

[brownie]

Got the JSP volume 2 set and it's a really good job! I have listened to a few selected tracks to check the audio and must say I am very satisfied with what I hear.

John R.T. Davies started working on the project until the Grim Reaper caught up with him. Ted Kendall has done good on this.

Will be waiting for Volume 1 now!

[paul secor]

Thanks for offering your take, brownie. I'm sure it's a good one.

[brownie]

Another plus to this collection is that it does look quite complete. The alternate takes are gathered on disc 4 so if anybody is bothered by those takes, there is no need to skip them.

[Kalo]

The alternate takes are gathered on disc 4 so if anybody is bothered by those takes, there is no need to skip them.

I think I'll be getting this.

[BruceH]

The alternate takes are gathered on disc 4 so if anybody is bothered by those takes, there is no need to skip them.

I think I'll be getting this.

Me too.

[Big Beat Steve]

Does this series cover ALL his works (i.e. including those tracks recorded during his stay in Britain, for example, that I think were not included in the various French RCA box sets and Black & White single LP's from the 70s?) I, for one, won't get rid of this good old vinyl, that's for sure, but maybe the British tracks will make it to a separate CD in the series.

[brownie]

Volume 2 which is the first of the series to be issued includes ALL sides on which Fats Waller appears from the March 1, 1929 session to the November 7, 1934 one.

As mentioned before, volume 1 which should have the sessions up to early 1929 should be out next.

If it (and the next volumes) is as thorough and enjoyable as volume 2, I plan to get them all.

And discard the French RCA issues which were a bit of a mess!

The sides Fats Waller recorded in Britain were not included in the French vinyl collection because they had not been recorded for RCA.

The JSP vol. 2 includes everything (RCA, Okeh, etc... sides).