Customer Reviews

Plays Fats Waller

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I first had this album on a Tops label in probably 1958..not sure. To hear this music come alive on this CD is haunting as this was my favorite childhood record. Sir Previn's chops on this album amazes to this day. I play this music every week..and of course masters Leroy Vinegar and Shelly Manne give you a feel of the Mannehole in Hollywood during its heyday in the late 50's and 60s. Highly recommended to anyone who appreciates intelligent, lightning fast piano work and the sound of that wonderful era.

Great music - no doubt. The album is on a level with the famous Previn Trio series of albums recorded by Contemporary. What I strongly doubt, however, is the purported release date (1953). Apart from a couple of odd exceptions that have a history of their own, no stereo recordings had been made (or published, at least) up to that time. I don't know about the technical facilities used by the "Tops" label, but I do know that the pioneering (and still stunning) Contemporary recordings were not done in stereo before 1956, a time when most of the major labels were still reluctant to embark on the new technology.
That said, I would still place these tracks among the better achievements of nineteen-fifties' jazz.