FATS WALLER  
THE V-DISK RECORDINGS and rare RADIO ACETATES

recorded for V-discs on September 27,1943,

MP3 version sorry folks...
maybe in the future i will track dowm my flac source

01   Ain't Misbehavin/ two sleepy people
02   Slightly Less Than Wonderfull/Theres A Gal In My Life
03   What the bird said to me
04   Walter Jive /Hallelujah
05   This Is So Nice It Must Be Illegal/ Martinique
06   "You're A Viper (The Reefer Song)
07   Solitude
08   Bouncin' On A V Disc
09   Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child
10   By the light of the silvery moon
11   The lady that sing with the band
12   Instrumental acetate recorded at home
13   St. Louis Blues” by Mr. Handy
14   organ test ( acetate)

01-11   V disk recordings  1943
12-14   Acetate private recordings at home from RISTIC record

Most of the tunes included here were recorded for V-discs on September 27,1943,two months before Fats' untimely death in a night train.The piano solos tracks are a real delight : the humorous and incredibly human voice,the infectious laughter it suggests sometimes,and this amazing way of treating the 88 notes."two sleepy people","slightly less than wonderful" with his hilarous vocal,"there's a gal in my life","this is so nice it must be illegal" are some of his best recordings.The solo pieces,without vocal parts, are outstanding too : "Martinique","Hallelujah" and a treasury of stride,"Waller jive".Now, let's talk about the Hammond organ pieces, surely his greatest performances on this instrument: "bouncin' on a V-disc" swings like mad;"solitude" is a marvelous tribute to Duke Ellington; and there is this version of "sometimes I feel like a motherless child".This tune is one of the most extraordinary things I ever heard in music.Fats' playing here is beyond category,overwhelming all that can be done on organ.A piece of a terrific intensity,very introspective and incredibly violent at the same time.If Fats had only recorded this tune,he would deserve to be considered as one of the greatest musicians of all times.You have to own this record,even if you're afraid by Hammond organ (you'll see that Fats' playing is extremely different from Jimmy Smith or Jack McDuff).This is a milestone in Fats Waller's discography.


Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2000
These are literally the last records that Fats Waller recorded before he died. In that regard, they are historically significant. They are not his best, though - he gets progressively more "plastered" as the session wears on. It's similar to listening to the last Billie Holiday recordings; sublime, and yet painful at the same time.
As a collection, it is well re-mastered with only a few sides being noticeably scratchy. It is not a complete collection, however, since the unissued sides are not here (he recorded 22 sides for V-Disc, less than half of them were issued). The remaining selections, "It's a Sin", "Your Feets Too Big", "Frenchy", are dubs from the Bluebird sides. Better remasterings of these performances can be found on the BMG/RCA reissues.
Don't make this your first "Fats" CD. Buy the reissues of the Victor/Bluebird material first. Then you can appreciate this for what it is: a "twilight" performance of a legendary artist.
sometimes the atmosphere was too loose. The songs and lyrics on V-Discs had to be so clean as to not offend a general (or his wife). Even words like hell and damn were excised from V-Discs. Only half of Fats Waller's V-Disc recording sessions ever reached pressing stage - "Ain't Misbehavin'" got pressed, but not "You're A Viper (The Reefer Song)." "We did the session with Fats Waller," said DiGi, "we did about 22 selections. When he first got to the studio, he demanded a bottle of VAT-69, which is not hair tonic. And he started playing the piano, and he was okay for a while. Then he consumed the second bottle, and out of the 22 songs, we only used about 8 or 9 of them, because he got very sloppy and started using a few words you shouldn't use. The last records Fats Waller ever made were V-Discs. Then he went out to California, and on the way back from Los Angeles he died on the Super Chief train. So we have those final records of Fats Waller."


Fats Waller teasing Paul Robeson, suggesting that the famed actor/singer make some V-Discs for the troops (on "Too Sleepy People," V-Disc 32), not realizing that Robeson had included two gospel recordings in the very same V-Disc kit ("Deep River" and "I'm Going To Tell God All My Troubles," on V-Disc 51).



1 Ain't Misbehavin' 2:29
2 All That Meat And No Potatoes 2:15
3 Bouncin' On A V Disc 4:38
4 Hallelujah 1:38
5 Its A Sin To Tell A Lie 2:55
6 Martinique 1:41
7 Oh Frenchy 3:03
8 Slightly Less Than Wonderful 2:27
9 Theres A Gal In My Life 3:11
10 Solitude 4:31
11 Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child 4:32
12 This Is So Nice It Must Be Illegal 1:59
13 Two Sleepy People 3:02
14 Walter Jive 1:07
15 Your Feets Too Big 2:59
16 That Aint Right 3:2