Fats Domino RIP

[Lonely Summer]

Grammys 2018: Watch Gary Clark Jr., Jon Batiste Salute Chuck Berry, Fats Domino
Blues-rock artist, 'Late Show' bandleader cover "Ain't That a Shame," "Maybelline"

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/grammys-2018-watch-gary-clark-jr-jon-batiste-salute-chuck-berry-fats-domino-w515915

Very good! Did Chuck or Fats ever get a Grammy? I mean, other than a lifetime achievement thing?

[Rocker]

Grammys 2018: Watch Gary Clark Jr., Jon Batiste Salute Chuck Berry, Fats Domino
Blues-rock artist, 'Late Show' bandleader cover "Ain't That a Shame," "Maybelline"

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/grammys-2018-watch-gary-clark-jr-jon-batiste-salute-chuck-berry-fats-domino-w515915

Very good! Did Chuck or Fats ever get a Grammy? I mean, other than a lifetime achievement thing?

I don't think so. It seems that the early Rock'n'Rollers' releases usually don't get much attention. Here's what I've found on youtube:

Chuck Berry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwf1UyYaDbM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqyo8kobAHQ

[Lonely Summer]

Grammys 2018: Watch Gary Clark Jr., Jon Batiste Salute Chuck Berry, Fats Domino
Blues-rock artist, 'Late Show' bandleader cover "Ain't That a Shame," "Maybelline"

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/grammys-2018-watch-gary-clark-jr-jon-batiste-salute-chuck-berry-fats-domino-w515915

Very good! Did Chuck or Fats ever get a Grammy? I mean, other than a lifetime achievement thing?

I don't think so. It seems that the early Rock'n'Rollers' releases usually don't get much attention. Here's what I've found on youtube:

Chuck Berry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwf1UyYaDbM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqyo8kobAHQ

Thanks for those! Pretty cool to see him up there with 2 of his proteges.

[Rocker]

Fats Domino: I’ve Been Around - The Complete Imperial and ABC Recordings (12-CD & DVD)


We could have taken the easy way out. The original 1993 box set was out of stock. We could simply have printed more copies and filled orders.

Of course, we didn’t. This is Bear Family Records and we don’t take shortcuts. We’ve invested more than 1000 hours in re-writing, recompiling and re-mastering this box. The brilliant engineering by Christian Zwarg will leave you shaking your head in admiration. You won’t quite recognize some of your favorite Fats Domino tracks because they’ve never sounded this good.
 
We’ve found a lot of new material – some things that were thought to be lost and other things that nobody knew existed. We have alternate takes that have never before been issued.  We’ve got new unedited and non-overdubbed versions of some familiar Fats songs and newly discovered overdubs of familiar songs. We’ve got the intact recording of Blueberry Hill without the tape glitch. We’ve got previously unreleased backing tracks. We’ve also included some examples of Fats working as a session pianist for other artists (including Joe Turner, Lloyd Price and Smiley Lewis) early in his career. And to show how influential Fats’s style was, we’ve included some examples of other performers imitating Fats during his Golden Era.

But the biggest news concerns the Speed-up. Everybody knows that some of Fats’s Imperial records were speeded up for release, making them both faster and pitched in higher keys. But how many of them? And which ones? And just how much were they speeded up? And, in case you wondered, how was it done back in 1955 and by whom? We didn’t have as good a handle on those questions when the original box set was compiled back in 1993, and we sure didn’t know the answers. But we do now. And we admit, back 25 years ago we screwed up some of the speeds on our original box. And when other companies tried to fix things with their Fats Domino reissues, they made their own mistakes and just added to the mess.

But now the mess is over. A lot of those 1000+ hours went into getting speeds exactly right so we can truly present Fats’s music as it was originally released. But what is completely new here is that we also present, for the first time anywhere, examples of Fats’s Greatest Hits as they were originally performed in the studio, at their original speeds and in their real keys. No speed-up. You can be a fly on the wall and hear songs like Ain’t It A Shame and I’m Walking as they actually sounded in Cosimo’s New Orleans studio. That addition alone makes this Box a landmark event.

A lot has also gone into updating and revising the accompanying, lavishly illustrated book by Fats biographer Rick Coleman, and by music historians Hank Davis and Scott Parker. That includes an updated Fats Domino Imperial Records Discography. And what’s more, we extended the Box to include two CDs with all of Fats post-Imperial recordings for the ABC Paramount label. Twelve CDs in all – an upgrade of 50% from the original box.

Even if you bought the first Bear Family box 25 years ago, Fats Domino: I’ve Been Around is a must for any serious Fats Domino collection. It’s not going to get any better than this.


https://www.bear-family.com/domino-fats-i-ve-been-around-the-complete-imperial-and-abc-recordings-12-cd-und-dvd.html?fbclid=IwAR1QodyyaMO5h3plIwJ50EDTv9b2dRVU-uz9QlpKw8AkMD6OZknAaNAFRPE

[Rocker]

Fats Domino's final performance captured on new Tipitina's Record Club release
His show at Tipitina's in 2007 was originally chronicled in WLAE documentary


Fats Domino did not know he was making a record at Tipitina’s on May 19, 2007.

That night, the rock ‘n’ roll founding father was simply focused on getting through – or out of – what turned out to be his final performance.

Fifteen years later, and five years after his death at age 89, that historic night has been etched into custom-colored, 180-gram blue vinyl.

“Fats Domino: Live At Tipitina’s” is the latest release from the Tipitina’s Record Club, the subscription service launched by the members of Galactic – who also own Tipitina’s – during the pandemic.

The Record Club licensed the live recording from WLAE, the New Orleans public television station that taped Domino’s farewell performance for the award-winning 2008 documentary “Fats Domino: Walkin’ Back to New Orleans.” Narrated by actor John Goodman, “Walkin’ Back to New Orleans” aired on more than 300 PBS stations nationwide.


Now the music from that night is available on brilliant blue vinyl.

Every two months, Tipitina’s Record Club subscribers receive a new vinyl release. Some are previously unheard live recordings, often taped at Tipitina’s, such as archival recordings of the Radiators and Etta James. Others are lovingly restored reissues of hard-to-find New Orleans classics, such as the record club’s recent resurrection of sublime New Orleans rhythm & blues vocalist Johnny Adams’ “After All the Good Is Gone.”

A limited number of Tipitina’s Record Club releases are also available at local record stores.

“Fats Domino: Live At Tipitina’s” features a throwback front cover and a vintage back cover photo of a smiling Domino sporting a tuxedo. In the liner notes, Dirty Dozen Brass Band baritone saxophonist Roger Lewis, who spent more than 35 years in Domino’s band, shares anecdotes about life onstage and on the road with the New Orleans icon.

On the album, just as they did at the show itself, Domino and his band bang out 11 classics in barely 33 minutes. Side A opens with a spry “I’m Walking” and then revisit “Blueberry Hill,” Hello Josephine,” “I’m In Love Again,” “Blue Monday,” “I’m Ready” and “Ain’t That A Shame.”

Side B features “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” “Valley of Tears,” “Jambalaya” and a mash-up of “So Long” and “I Done Got Over It.”

Domino would never perform publicly again. It’s something of a minor miracle that he even performed that night.


Up until the very last minute, no one – not the show's organizers, the audience or even Fats himself – knew for certain if he would actually take the stage.

Shy by nature, Domino in his later years also became increasingly anxious about his ability to perform up to his exacting standards. That anxiety contributed to the last-minute cancellation of his closing set at the 2006 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the first Jazz Fest after Hurricane Katrina.


In the spring of 2007, he approached the late Roland von Kurnatowski, the businessman who owned Tipitina’s at the time, about performing a benefit for the club’s nonprofit. Members of the Tipitina’s team were hopeful and excited, if a bit wary.

The night of the show, Domino's refurbished classic Cadillac couch, salvaged from his flooded home, adorned the Tipitina's stage. The Professor Longhair banner above the stage and the Longhair bust near the door sported replicas of Domino’s signature captain's cap. Fans had flown in from as far away as New York and Washington, D.C.

Shortly after 9 p.m., Domino's brother-in-law, singer Reggie Hall, kicked off the show. Backstage, it was still touch-and-go as to whether or not an anxious Domino would play. Several close friends, including retired judge Steve Ellis and his wife Haydee, as well as WWL-TV morning show anchor Eric Paulsen, were on hand to lend emotional support.

At one point, Paulsen stood at the side of the stage alone with Domino, a reassuring arm around his shoulders.

“Once you get up there, it'll be like the old days,” Paulsen later recalled telling Domino. “You'll be fine. Start with ‘I’m Walkin’ and it will go from there."


To huge cheers, Domino settled in at the piano at 10:45 p.m. and launched “I’m Walkin’.” His band, featuring a five-man horn section anchored by Roger Lewis and Herb Hardesty – a Domino sideman since the 1940s – fell in behind him.


Whatever his phobias, when Domino was finally at the piano, he was transported to 1955. His voice was as sunny as ever, his playing strong and laden with trills and other sonic trademarks.

As he barreled through “Blueberry Hill,” “My Girl Josephine” and “I’m in Love Again,” he grew more confident. After each song, Reggie Hall whispered the next title in Domino's ear; without hesitation, Domino plunged in like a human jukebox. Perhaps sensing the historic moment, even Hardesty took a moment to snap a picture.

But after reeling off four songs in 10 minutes, Domino attempted to flee. Paulsen intercepted him at the side of the stage and gently explained that maybe he should play a few more. Paulsen suggested the first song that came to mind: “Blue Monday.”

So Domino returned to the piano and launched “Blue Monday.” He beamed as he leaned into the microphone at his side, rolling his shoulders as he worked the keys. Warmed up, he played hard, showing off, finishing “I'm Ready” with a flourish.


Throughout the set, Hardesty and Lewis stepped up for multiple solos on tenor and baritone sax, respectively. But the night centered on the short, stout man in the patterned cream-colored sport coat, shiny chocolate-brown shirt and glittering jewelry.

“So Long” segued into “Natural Born Lover,” a modest hit from 1960. He returned to "So Long, " with its prophetic farewell lyrics: "So long, I'm all packed up and on my way."

With that, Domino headed for the exit. He and the band had spent a little more than 30 minutes onstage – about the length of an old-school album.

Fifteen years later, that album exists, courtesy of WLAE and the Tipitina’s Record Club.




Source: https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/music/fats-dominos-last-show-subject-of-tipitinas-record-club-lp/article_39e78c9e-763a-11ed-9f23-8bfdfd223c06.html?fbclid=IwAR3Mxlz_HjYP4AFIdVnA57_jfOl5-cqkH1KW4BZK4jprjFydaXVf-43s_gI

[All Summer Long]

I didn’t know about the 2018 Grammys tributes, the 2019 box set, or the new live album. Thanks to Rocker and all for sharing and commenting. The one thing I’m confused on: I thought the 1993 box set was released by EMI/Capitol and Imperial Records? The Bear Family Records team claims it here, though; did EMI/Capitol recruit the Bear Family team (or whatever lineup existed at that time) to compile the box? I just got a hold of a copy of the 1993 box set last year. Is it a “waste” now? And unfortunately, despite my best efforts to search for a copy of the new live album, they’re all gone.       The record club doesn’t have any, and the same is true of Discogs. I’ll have to keep periodically searching; I would love to have it.

[Lonely Summer]

I didn’t know about the 2018 Grammys tributes, the 2019 box set, or the new live album. Thanks to Rocker and all for sharing and commenting. The one thing I’m confused on: I thought the 1993 box set was released by EMI/Capitol and Imperial Records? The Bear Family Records team claims it here, though; did EMI/Capitol recruit the Bear Family team (or whatever lineup existed at that time) to compile the box? I just got a hold of a copy of the 1993 box set last year. Is it a “waste” now? And unfortunately, despite my best efforts to search for a copy of the new live album, they’re all gone.       The record club doesn’t have any, and the same is true of Discogs. I’ll have to keep periodically searching; I would love to have it.

Yeah, I'd love to have it, too. I do have his last studio album, Alive and Kickin', from 2006. Fats' music just had a great rhythm to it, it feels like breathing to me. Can't imagine my life without his music.