Down Beat (8/92, p.52) - 4.5 Stars - Very Good Plus - "..well-recorded, hip, and musically modern...Waller had great fun, whether rolling out detailed piano jump motifs or swelling with tongue-in-cheek sentiment on pipe organ.."
Rovi
This CD has most of Fats Waller's best band recordings of the '20s, including eight selections by his "Buddies" (highlighted by "The Minor Drag" and "Harlem Fuss"), six (counting two alternate takes) from the Louisiana Sugar Babes (an odd quartet featuring Waller's organ and James P. Johnson's piano), and seven selections on which Waller sits in with cornetist Thomas Morris' Hot Babies in 1927. Surprisingly, other than his scat vocal on "Red Hot Dan," Fats Waller is heard strictly as a pianist but his talents were so giant as an instrumentalist that one never minds. With trombonists Charlie Irvis and Jack Teagarden and trumpeters Red Allen and Jabbo Smith among the strong supporting cast, the one word for this superior CD is hot. ~ Scott Yanow
Rovi