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Thomas "Fats" Waller was the first jazz organist. He also helped to develop and establish the style of music commonly known as swing; was possessed of an outrageous sense of humor; sang however the hell he felt like singing, and made a point of cutting up whenever possible, particularly when he had to navigate a seemingly endless stream of Tin Pan Alley lyrics. All of his traits and accomplishments sometimes seem to obscure what is perhaps the most important and enduring aspect of Fats Waller -- he was a gifted and powerfully expressive pianist who learned his craft from the originators of the Harlem stride style: James P. Johnson, Willie "The Lion" Smith and Luckey Roberts. Seldom have Waller's major piano solos been made available en masse to the public for any length of time. These three-minute nougats of wordless wonderment popped up between clusters of ensemble and vocal tracks during the LP era, adding significant depth to the RCA Victor Vintage series in particular. A 1977 Bluebird.double LP (containing 33 selections) presented most of the master takes recorded between 1929 and 1941, and a follow-up Bluebird double CD (40 selections) appeared in 1991 bearing the title Turn on the Heat. Both of these compilations disappeared after awhile, leaving the public to search through chronologies and compilations or to remain altogether ignorant of Waller's pianistic prowess. Definitive's 2006 double-CD reissue of the Complete Victor Piano Solos (with a whopping 52 selections) is the best compilation of its kind. The producers responsible for this package deserve highest praise for having assembled these precious recordings in an unprecedented chronological compendium. Beginning with the gutsy 1927 stomp "Blue Black Bottom" (which did not make it onto the 1977 LP two-fer), this edition omits Waller's two very first recordings, a pair of piano solos cut for the Okeh label in October of 1922. It does include all of the significant Victor solos with six alternate takes, and surpasses Turn on the Heat by dealing in the six-movement "London Suite" and six exquisite lesser-known radio transcriptions, including a gorgeous three-minute rumination on a theme from Faust, Charles Gounod's opera of 1859. These solos represent and reveal the very heart of Waller, and a significant portion of the collective soul of all humanity. If there were to be one Fats Waller album, or one jazz album, or one of a handful of sound recordings to speak for the world, this is it. It's that important, it's that beautiful, it's that essential. Honest to goodness. ~ arwulf arwulf
