Louis Armstrong and
Fats Waller only worked together twice, briefly in 1925 in
Erskine Tate's band and four years later in the New York revue Connie's Hot Chocolates. But
Waller made an indelible enough impression for
Satchmo to record the tribute album
Satch Plays Fats: The Music of Fats Waller in 1955, when such ideas were new. The nine tracks feature
Armstrong ably supported by his
All-Stars on such classics as "Honeysuckle Rose," "Squeeze Me," and "Ain't Misbehavin'." The mid-'50s was a fertile time for Armstrong, and this makes for a stellar package. [Some reissues deliver over twice the tracks of the original LP issue, with four edited alternate takes from the same session, plus seven more tracks of
Waller material recorded by
Armstrong in the 1920s and '30s.]
–
Cub Koda, Rovi