RCA Victor
2006
If You Got To Ask, You Ain't Got It
About This Album
During his 21-year recording career, Thomas "Fats" Waller waxed so many hundreds of songs that only a dedicated few have heard them all even once, let alone often enough to understand the true nature of his legacy. While longtime collectors can attest to the awesome breadth and depth of Waller's massive discography, your average citizen needs and deserves a chance to investigate on a more modest level, which is what compilations are supposed to be for. Most Fats Waller samplers concentrate upon his highly developed sense of humor and his vital importance in the development of swing music; the best of them also highlight his pianistic prowess and -- if you're lucky -- his pioneering role as the first person to play jazz on the organ. Producer Orrin Keepnews has achieved what should be regarded as a major accomplishment in Waller studies both intensive and casual: an intelligently compiled three-CD set with superbly insightful liner notes by Dan Morgenstern, including a detailed biography, informative commentary on each of the 66 tracks, and more than 40 previously unpublished photographs from the Fats Waller archives. The conceptual framework of this compilation will help listeners to understand and feel the essence of Waller's music more clearly perhaps than ever before.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 2,3,4,5,6,7,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17 and 18)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,6,8,9,10,12,13,15,16,17,18,19 and 20)

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Disc 3 (try tracks 1,2,3,20,21 and 22)

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