Condition: Used
Ella Fitzgerald - The Duke Ellington Songbook
Label: Verve Records – VE-2-2535
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue
Includes insert: VG++
Record: VG+ VG++ few light scuffs
Cover: VG+ VG++ cornerwear, ringwear
Country: US
Released: 1980
Genre: Jazz, Pop
Style: Vocal
Tracklist
A1 Drop Me Off In Harlem 3:46
A2 I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good 6:08
A3 Caravan 3:39
A4 Day Dream 3:35
A5 I'm Beginning To See The Light 3:23
B1 Take The "A" Train 6:35
B2 I'm Just A Lucky So And So 4:09
B3 All Too Soon 4:18
B4 Everything But You 2:51
B5 Bli-Blip 2:59
B6 Chelsea Bridge 3:20
C1 Rockin' In Rhythm 5:14
C2 I Aint't Got Nothing But The Blues 4:36
C3 Clementine 2:36
C4 I Didn't Know About You 4:08
C5 Lost In Meditation 3:23
C6 Perdido 6:07
D1 Portrait Of Ella Fitzgerald 16:07
D2 The E And D Blues 4:46
Credits
Orchestra – Duke Ellington Orchestra, The
Ella's classic 1957 recordings with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
A piece of jazz heaven... The level of talent on this set is staggering. Ella is brilliant, for one. Then add in Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn and the band, all in great form. Then add a small ensemble that includes Oscar Peterson and Ben Webster. Yikes! Best of all, the pieces fit together beautifully.
1957: Ella Fitzgerald, jazz's best singer, records the songs of Duke Ellington, jazz's best composer. Duke and Ella never sound better. His orchestra is at its most elegant yet at its most swinging, her voice's is in its best form, so harmonically, rhythmically, and tonally sophisticated. Jazz's greatest event is happening. It is "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook," and it is too great to let pass you by.
Alright, this is all true. With Duke's big band behind her, Ella was divine. She was even classier with his suberb small groups. Most of all, it showed both of their eclecticism. Duke was still overlapping rhythms, harmonies, tones, and different musical styles to their most mesmerizing effect. Ella was at her career peak at Verve Records. And for the record: Any of the songwriters she covered in the classic Songbook Series never sounded as awesome.
She's the glue that provokes the Ellington Orchestra to outdo themselves once again. Their repertoire of jungle music, unique swing songs, lesser known songs, and more experimental songs is covered, and Ella fits these songs like a lace glove. Part of her incredible genius is her ability to adapt any type of music to her ebullient voice. (On the video of PBS's American Masters special about Ella, listen to her short takes on country and soul in a London Club. Dang!)
In comparison to the rest of Ella's stellar career: "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook" is her peak. It is the centerpiece in her career's greatest period at Verve Records and the landmark Songbook Series. Of all of them, it's the most jazz-oriented. All of her Songbook albums are first-rate, yet this is the best.
Duke Ellington - Ella Fitzgerald - Take the A Train
The A-Train is a New York City Subway that runs up Manhattan to 125th Street (Harlem) and continues on to Washington Heights. Harlem was the center of the great jazz night clubs when this song was written.
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