Joint Is Jumpin

Fats Waller | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000002W9A
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #302,963 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Handful Of Keys

2. The Minor Drag

3. Numb Fumblin'

4. Aint Misbehavin' (Piano Solo)

5. Smashing Thirds

6. African Ripples

7. Alligator Crawl

8. Viper's Drag

9. Lulu's Back In Town

10. I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby

11. S'posin'

12. Honeysuckle Rose

13. Blues

14. Tea For Two

15. I Ain't Got Nobody

16. The Joint Is Jumpin'

17. The Shiek Of Araby

18. Yacht Club Swing

19. (When You) Squeeze Me

20. Your Feet's Too Big

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

solo jazz piano, formative years, seminal piano player Fats Waller without whom modern jazz piano would not be. jazz, blues, jump blues, R&B

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good stuff, May 19, 2004

By 

Gail (Winsted, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Joint Is Jumpin (Audio CD)

This is a great album. The person who wrote the review comparing Fats to Elton John is freaking nuts. Fats Waller was ten times the musician Elton John could ever hope to be. And as far as piano playing there were few then and practically none now that that can compare with him. Elton John is a punk. This guy was a genius.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fats is a master., October 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Joint Is Jumpin (Audio CD)

This compilation has been slighted in reviews that I've read, which is unfortunate. This is a fine compilation of Thomas Waller. It's as good as the Time-Life LPs in presenting Waller who is unfortunately dismissed as merely popular a pianist or quaint curiosity. There wasn't anyone writing popular lyrics in the 30s and 40s that had his gift for invention and for melody. And that certainly includes the Gershwins. Nor was there anyone as prolific--Fats tossed away pop masterpieces (or sold them to hacks for ready cash). What I love about him is the sense of whimsy and the mother wit and satire in the face of the purely commercial aspects of Tin Pan Alley and American racism of his time. He inverts the crass nonsense that the label foists on him and makes it his own with the irony that comes from genius beset by idiocy and the joy that comes from genius celebrating its gifts. This compilation of Bluebird material is representative, and it's a worthy introduction to one of America's musical geniuses. You can't get away from Fats. Just listen to Prairie Home Companion. Better yet, listen to this CD. Go find some others. Then hear Pops play Fats.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great sampler of the piano/songwriting master's work, April 6, 2002

By 

Elizabeth Rosenthal - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Joint Is Jumpin (Audio CD)

Fats sure didn't take care of himself, what with his excessive eating and drinking. He died way too young.

In a way, he was the Louis Armstrong of the keyboards, his nimble skill married to joyous abandon, his smiling face and festive performing style etched in the minds of those who have enjoyed his music over the decades. But he was more than a great musician and performer. He was one of the 20th century's major songwriters. "Ain't Misbehavin'" has as important a spot in the pantheon of American song as anything by Gershwin or Berlin.

Fats' influence has extended past what people think of as jazz, though. A prodigious pianist/songster of the latter half of the last century, Elton John, now carries Waller's mantle and, if you don't believe this, all you need to do is hear him play "Bennie And The Jets" live. The point is, of course, that long after Fats' untimely death, his music lives on, fully and well, in the hearts and minds of other musicians and the listening public.

My only complaint about this thoroughly enjoyable CD is that it doesn't contain "Black And Blue," Fats' touching commentary on racism in the pre-civil rights era. Otherwise, I would have given this collection five stars.