>Harlem-preacher's son turned pianist-organist and bar singer, Fats Waller defied the racial odds to become a pop star in the '30s. When he died at 39 in 1943, he'd scored more hits than fellow crossover virtuoso Louis Armstrong. But he's been poorly served by CD reissues until this three-disc collection. Legendary producer Orrin Keepnews avoids chronological mishmash by dividing Waller's immense output into originals, instrumentals and covers. A prolific tunesmith who wrote "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Ain't Misbehavin'" with the great black lyricist Andy Razaf, Waller got big by yakking up such supposed trivia as "Your Feet's Too Big" and "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie." And though his stride and swing were always muscular, he could tickle the ivories like the classical artist he yearned to be.

>Blender, Nov. 2006

>>126963248 (OP)
/mu/ doesn't know anything about Fats Waller. the fuck are we supposed to do with this thread?

>>126963484
The guy a different Fats who played a piano ripped off of and made better.

>>126963759
Thank god the real Fats Waller died back when she was a kid because otherwise he could have lived long enough to actually do a collab with her--dude was younger than Duke Ellington by several years after all.

>>126963759
not sampling this one. the Ellington album was enough, thank you