Ella Fitzgerald: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook (180g) [WAXTIME 500]

Why you'll love it

This limited WaxTime reissue is remastered and cut with Direct Metal Mastering on 180g vinyl. It gathers 14 Ellington classics sung by the First Lady of Song, a 14-time Grammy winner.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Remastered
• Direct Metal Mastering (DMM)
• Limited edition

About the album

When Norman Granz founded Verve to record Ella Fitzgerald, the plan was simple: put the greatest interpreter of the Great American Songbook in front of its greatest songwriters, one by one. Duke Ellington's turn came with a twist, since he and his band could join her in person, and between the big band sides she cut a set of intimate small-group performances. This LP gathers the best of those.

With a few players around her rather than a full orchestra, you hear every bit of that purity of tone, the crisp diction and the horn-like phrasing. "Cotton Tail" turns into a scat workout, "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" lives up to its title, and "Satin Doll" and "In A Mellow Tone" swing easily. On the ballad side, "Solitude," "Prelude To A Kiss," "Sophisticated Lady" and Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" are as tender as it gets, and "Mood Indigo" might be the loveliest thing here.

Ella worked with Ellington many times over the years, and the two remain one of jazz's great pairings. Fourteen songs, one voice and a few chaps keeping out of her way, which is the right arrangement.

Also at Kops: more Ella Fitzgerald on vinyl · browse Vocal Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On WaxTime (cat# 772303), a reissue of the 1957 compilation.