Fats Waller Complete Recorded Works Vol. 1: Messin' Around With The Blues CD - Import

For decades Fats Waller's recorded legacy has found its way into the lives of jazz heads and regular folks throughout the world, most often in piecemeal fashion through "best-of" collections that fixate upon his most popular recordings from the 1930s and early '40s, or in mammoth "complete editions" inevitably peppered with gaps and flaws. "Messin' Around with the Blues" is volume one in JSP's Complete Recorded Works of Thomas Fats Waller. Spread across four compact discs, one-hundred vintage tracks map nearly every single recording session that Waller participated in between October 21, 1922 and June 18, 1928. Sound is good throughout, and some of the early pressings sound much better than they did when reissued by the Classics label. This comes very close to being the best early Fats Waller reissue project the world has ever seen. Beginning with his first two piano solos, JSP traces young Waller's progress with almost unprecedented thoroughness, following him from date to date as he accompanies vocalists (most notably Alberta Hunter and Rosa Henderson) and comedians (Clarence Williams and Clarence Todd); sits in with bands led by Fletcher Henderson, Thomas Morris, Jimmy Johnson and Johnny Dunn; convenes with Johnson, cornetist Jabbo Smith and multi-reed man Garvin Bushell to make chamber jazz records under the name of the Louisiana Sugar Babes, and establishes himself as the world's very first jazz organist. The rarest material presented here is so uncommon that even lifelong Wallerites might never have caught it before; on May 17, 1927, Waller played organ behind four sermons viscerally delivered by the Rev. J.C. Burnett, assisted in holy roller style by Sisters Ethel Grainger and Odette Jackson. These recordings pick up where Waller and church ladies Alta Browne

Audio Remasterer: Ted Kendall.

Liner Note Author: Ted Kendall.

Recording information: Camden, NJ (10/21/1922-06/18/1928); Long Island City, NY (10/21/1922-06/18/1928); New York, NY (10/21/1922-06/18/1928).

Director: Fletcher Henderson.

Arranger: Don Redman.

Personnel: Fats Waller (vocals, piano, organ); Fats Waller; Clarence Williams (vocals, kazoo); June Cole Orchestra (vocals, bass instrument); Joe Sims, Juanita Stinette Chappelle, Caroline Johnson, Anna Jones, Alta Browne, Bertha Powell, Sister Ethel Grainger, Sister Odette Jackson, Carroll C Tate, David Martin, Juanita Stinette Chappelle, Caroline Johnson, David Martin , Maude "May Crane" Mills, Sister Ethel Grainger, Bertha Powell, Carroll C. Tate, Odette Jackson, Alberta Hunter, Maude Mills, Andy Razaf (vocals); Bobbie Leecan (guitar); John Mitchell (banjo); Bert Howell, Howard Nelson, Bert Howell, Howard Nelson (violin); Don Redman (clarinet, alto saxophone); Coleman Hawkins (clarinet, tenor saxophone); Addington Major, Louis Metcalf (clarinet); Garvis Bushell, Charlie Holmes (alto saxophone); Joe Smith , Cootie Willams, Cootie Williams, The Russell Smith Orchestra, Joe "Fox" Smith , Russell Smith (trumpet); Johnny Dunn & His Band, Tom Morris , Jabbo Smith, Johnny Dunn (cornet); Herb Flemming, Benny Morton's All Stars, Jimmy Archey (trombone); Fletcher Henderson (piano); Joe Watts (upright bass); Eddie King , Kaiser Marshall, Kaiser Marshall (drums); Justin Ring (wood block, percussion); Justin Ring (percussion); Hazel Meyers, Rosa Henderson, Sara Martin, Porter Grainger (vocals); Perry Bradford (spoken vocals); Charlie Dixon (banjo); Clarence Todd (kazoo); Garvin Bushell (clarinet, bassoon, alto saxophone); Buster Bailey (clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); Tommy Ladnier (trumpet); Jimmy Harrison, Charlie Irvis (trombone); James P. Johnson (piano); Thomas Waller With Morris's Hot Babies, Lousiana Sugar Babes, Dunn's Original Jazz Hounds, Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra, Jimmy Johnson & His Orchestra.

Additional personnel: Tom Morris (cornet); Benny Morton (trombone); Clarence Williams, Coleman Hawkins, Don Redman, Fletcher Henderson, Jabbo Smith, Jimmy Archey, Alberta Hunter, Andy Razaf.