Album Reviews

Fats Waller had been gone twelve years when Louis Armstrong and his All-Stars recorded this tribute album in 1955. Sadly, the notorious overeater died at 39 of a heart attack.

Don’t let the recording date throw you off: the sound here is anything but moldy. It’s mono, yes, but so present, immediate and for the most part utterly transparent!

This is a producer’s concept record. Producer George Avakian obliges with scholarly annotation that includes a detailed Waller biography as well as song by song backstory.

Fats Waller had been gone twelve years when Louis Armstrong and his All-Stars recorded this tribute album in 1955. Sadly, the notorious overeater died at 39 of a heart attack.

Don’t let the recording date throw you off: the sound here is anything but moldy. It’s mono, yes, but so present, immediate and for the most part utterly transparent!

This is a producer’s concept record. Producer George Avakian obliges with scholarly annotation that includes a detailed Waller biography as well as song by song backstory.

Waller and Armstrong shared a playful, good natured musical disposition. Both were warm hearted, consummate entertainers as well as accomplished, serious musicians, which makes the fit seamless even though Armstrong shared a stage but once with Waller.

Like Armstrong, Waller was equally comfortable in the jazz and pop worlds, writing some of the most enduring and tuneful pop songs including “Honeysuckle Rose” and of course “Ain’t Misbehavin’.”

“All That Meat and No Potatoes” is guaranteed to improve your outlook (not to mention remind you of “You Know My Name, [Look Up the Number]”). There’s not a less than enjoyable track on this relatively short set that swings comfortably between traditional jazz instrumentals and vaudeville/Broadway give and take vocalizing by Armstrong and Velma Middleton.

You can look at this reissue as a one stop education into both Armstrong and Waller made possible by an incredibly enjoyable curriculum that includes great recorded music as well as informative liner notes, or as that plus as a portal to an exploration of these two enduring musical presences. You can add dozens of great discs to your collection from both of these greats.

Either way, you can’t go wrong buying this mood altering, natural sounding Gray/Hoffman mastered disc. It's guaranteed to leave you smiling.