Album Reviews

Time was, and not that long ago (well a decade or so ago), when you could easily find original pressings of this breezy addition to Ella\\'s song book series, either as a double LP set or as two individual volumes. Fitzgerald was as much a popular singer as a jazz great, appearing often on popular venues like The Ed Sullivan Show, so her LP sales were brisk—especially the Verve songbooks. I found my original copies of these at a house in Hackensack, NJ fifteen years ago. What an Ella find that garage sale was!Time was, and not that long ago (well a decade or so ago), when you could easily find original pressings of this breezy addition to Ella's song book series, either as a double LP set or as two individual volumes. Fitzgerald was as much a popular singer as a jazz great, appearing often on popular venues like The Ed Sullivan Show, so her LP sales were brisk—especially the Verve songbooks. I found my original copies of these at a house in Hackensack, NJ fifteen years ago. What an Ella find that garage sale was! A real fan was jettisoning her LP collection and I was more than happy to oblige for a buck apiece.

Clean originals are harder to come by these days, so these Speakers Corner reissues cut by Willem Makkee at Universal's Berliner mastering facility in Hanover, Germany, probably from analog back ups, are a welcome addition to the current explosion of vinyl.

Ella's breezy vocalizing and Irving Berlin's blithe wordplay is a perfect match, propelled by Paul Weston's effervescent orchestral arrangements. There's not a person reading this who hasn't heard at least a few of these standards, which include “Puttin' on the Ritz,” “Let's Face the Music and Dance,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “Alexander's Ragtime Band,” (Berlin's 'breakthrough' hit), “How Deep is the Ocean,” “It's a Lovely Day Today,” and “I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.”

More interesting, however are the less known well songs like “Get Thee Behind Me Satan,” and “I Used to Be Colorblind,” though unfortunately that left no room for classics like “Blue Skies,” and a number of other standards that made it as “bonus tracks” to the double CD set issued a few years ago.

Fitzgerald was in supple voice back in March of 1958 when these songs were put to tape at Hollywood's legendary Radio Recorders located at 7000 Santa Monica Blvd. It was Elvis's studio of choice when in Los Angeles and it's where Louis Armstrong recorded …Plays King Oliver in 1957 using a single point stereo microphone.

Don't expect that kind of hair-raising sound quality here, though. The miking is somewhat distant and though it lacks immediacy, the string-drenched orchestra is rendered sweetly and spaciously, spread mostly left and right so the big woman's big voice would have plenty of room in which to operate.

Paul Weston's arrangements are light and open as the richly melodic and bouncy music demands, and the playing by crack left coast musicians is as inspired today as it was 47 years ago. Among the players were Barney Kessel (guitar), Harry “Sweets” Edison (trumpet) and Alvin Stoller (drums). The others deserve mention too, but that would require a long laundry list.

There's a joy and ingenuity to this music that will never date and you can bet people will be playing and enjoying these songs so easily delivered with such enthusiasm by the great Ella Fitzgerald for years to come as new generations discover them. Ironically, and sadly Ella's personal life was nowhere near as sunny as her musical disposition.

Sonically, this slightly bright reissue offers greater dynamics, clarity and immediacy compared to the original, but the original has a transparency, and soft suppleness as well as a ghostly purity the modern press can't touch. Tape hiss intrudes at song's end and during quiet passages, but otherwise it's sonic smooth sailing throughout. If you can find clean, quiet originals, of course go for them, otherwise this set is highly recommended, though neither version would be considered a sonic spectacular: the early stereo recording is merely very good, with glints of greatness.

While the Gershwin song book gets most of the attention, Berlin and Ella were probably a better musical match and this set will never cease to brighten your day.