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Satch Plays Fats: a Tribute to the Immortal Fats Waller By Louis Armstrong | 
| Artist: Louis Armstrong
Label: Sony Jazz
Category: Music
List Price: £6.99
Buy New: £4.87
You Save: £2.12 (30%)
New (15) Used (1) from £3.47
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 71007
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
EAN: 5099706492726
ASIN: B00004TL2E
Release Date: July 3, 2000
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Honeysuckle Rose | | • | Blue Turning Grey Over You (1) | | • | I'm Crazy 'bout My Baby (1) | | • | Squeeze Me (1) | | • | Keepin' Out Of Mischief Now | | • | All That Meat And No Potatoes | | • | I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling | | • | What Did I Do To Be So Black And Blue | | • | Ain't Misbehavin' | | • | Squeeze Me | | • | What Did I Do To Be So Black And Blue | | • | Ain't Misbehavin' | | • | Blue Turning Grey Over You | | • | Keepin' Out Of Mischief Now | | • | Sweet Savannah Blue | | • | Rhythm Man | | • | What Did I Do To Be So Black And Blue | | • | I'm Crazy 'bout My Baby | | • | Blue Turning Grey Over You | | • | I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Armstrong and "harmful little armful" Fats Waller played together briefly in 1925, then Louis performed many of the pianist's best-known tunes in 1929's New York revue, Connie's Hot Chocolates. It took him until 1955 (12 years after Waller's death) to record an album devoted entirely to the Fats songbook. This disc corrects a mistake made on the 1986 CD, restoring the original versions alongside four, previously unreleased, edited alternate takes. Apart from a couple of sensitively delivered ballads, "Blue Turning Grey Over You" and "(What Did I Do To Be So) Black & Blue". It's a session of high-spirited romping, Satch's controlled-vibrato vocals caught in rough-hewn detail, his trumpet solos springing forth with gleaming perfection, razor-edged even when muted. "Honeysuckle Rose" is one of several duets with Velma Middleton, charging through a sequence of solos that serves to introduce Trummy Young (trombone), Billy Kyle (piano), Barney Bigard (clarinet) and Arvell Shaw (bass). That only leaves out drummer Barrett Deems. Velma and Louis are at their bawdiest on "All That Meat And No Potatoes", while Young takes a wonderfully apoplectic solo on the fast-trotting "Ain't Misbehavin'". Producer George Avakian has also included seven more Satch-Fats interpretations from 1929, 30 and 32, providing a good opportunity to compare the two eras. --Martin Longley
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| Customer Reviews:
 ESSENTIAL AND BRILLIANT June 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I can hardly believe someone can give less than 5 stars to this masterpiece, enriched with glorious additions!
The connection between Louis Armstrong and that great pianist and composer (and not so great singer) Fats Waller is brilliantly documented on this CD:
in addition to the original tracks of the "Satch Plays Fats" album, and the several alternate takes, the producer, mr. Avakian, heavens bless him, chose several earlier recordings from the late 20s and the 30s, where younger Satchmo, mostly as the star of the big band, proves how inspiring Waller's songs can be for him.
On the original "Satch plays Fats" program, bursting with energy and quite comparable to "Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy" (which is not a minor compliment), Armstrong (tp, vo) is accompanied by the merry, extrovert and swinging bunch of musicians - Trummy Young (tb), Barney Bigard (cl), Billy Kyle (p), Arvell Shaw (b), Barrett Deems (dm) and Velma Middleton (vo). If someone still believes that Satchmo's All-Stars were just a dixielandish circus,
he should check songs like "Blue, turning Grey over you", but the prevailing mood is of jubilant swinging, and that's OK with me...
BTW, on one track Satch plays trumpet obligatto to his own vocal, on another track he scats behind his own verse-delivery... Check it out!
The alternative versions are more interesting than they sometimes get to be on CD reissues, while the older Waller-penned tracks are pure gold.
The first of those (earlier version of "Squeeze Me") is with 1929 "Hot Five" line-up that includes Earl Hines (dm) and Zutty Singleton (dm), the other tracks (earlier versions of "What Did I Do", "Ain't Misbehavin'", "Blue Turning Grey Over You" and "Keepin' out of Mischief Now, PLUS "Sweet Savannah Sue" and "That Rhythm Man") are with Armstrong's orchestra.
That means that the band is based on Luis Russell's or Carroll Dickerson's big band leadership, also featuring some excellent musicians (Paul Barbarin, Pops Foster, J. C. Higginbotham, Zutty Singleton...), but basically serving as the background to the first (or at least greatest) veritable solo-artist in the history of jazz...
Finally, if you like the All-Stars dixieland sound of, for instance, "Live at the 1958 Monterey Jazz Festival", "Satchmo the Great" , "Satchmo Meets Big T", etc., you'll LOVE this collection.
 Repetitions blunt the edge of this collection September 8, 2000
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
It should be made clear that this CD contains 20 numbers, but only 11 different titles, all but 4 of them repeated at least once. "Blue Turning Grey Over You" and "(What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue," are each presented in three different versions. There are two versions of each of the following: "I'm Crazy 'Bout my Baby," "Squeeze Me," "Keepin' Out of Mischief Now," "I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling," and "Aint Misbehavin." The following are singles: "Honeysuckle Rose," "All That Meat and No Potatoes," "Sweet Savannah Sue," and "That Rhythm Man." For the student of Jazz History, or the archivist, this collection may be a winner. But for normal listening, to experience this rash of subtly differing repetitions each time the CD is played defeats the purpose of listening to Louie, which is simply to enjoy this exuberant man.
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