Track Listing

1. Someone To Watch Over Me - Ella Fitzgerald, Ellis Larkins
2. My One And Only - Ella Fitzgerald, Ellis Larkins
3. But Not For Me - Ella Fitzgerald, Ellis Larkins
4. Looking For A Boy - Ella Fitzgerald, Ellis Larkins
5. I've Got A Crush On You - Ella Fitzgerald, Ellis Larkins, Milt Gabler
6. How Long Has This Been Going On? - Ella Fitzgerald, Ellis Larkins, Milt Gabler
7. Maybe - Ella Fitzgerald, Ellis Larkins
8. Soon - Ella Fitzgerald, Ellis Larkins
9. I'm Glad There Is You
10. What Is There To Say?
11. People Will Say We're In Love
12. Please Be Kind
13. Until The Real Thing Comes Along
14. Makin' Whoopee
15. Imagination
16. Stardust
17. My Heart Belongs To Daddy
18. You Leave Me Breathless
19. Baby, What Else Can I Do?
20. Nice Work If You Can Get It

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40943 in Music
• Released on: 1999-03-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 63 minutes

CD Description
Throughout her long career, Ella Fitzgerald was usually accorded the full orchestral treatment. She rarely recorded with a straight trio except in live settings, and almost never appeared with piano accompaniment alone. It is for this reason that these Decca sessions with the superb pianist Ellis Larkins are so special.
The first eight selections on PUREELLA, which was originally released as the 10-inch LP ELLA SINGS GERSHWIN, find the singer beginning to explore the work of a composer she would thoroughly master a few years later on the more famous GERSHWIN SONGBOOK sessions for Norman Granz's Verve label. Still, these earlier versions and other purely rendered standards are hard to match for sheer loveliness, due in large part to the sympathetic stylings of Larkins, who unassumingly takes up the role of equal collaborator, his touch and tone so distinctive. The session belongs to Ella of course. Her burgeoning artistry was just coming intofocus at the time of this album's release, and PURE ELLA was certainly a harbinger of major achievements to come.

Customer Reviews

Pure it says and pure it is
A classic case of less is more; strong songs beautifully performed by Ella at the peak of her power and at the peak of her considerable taste. And Ellis Larkins's piano accompaniment is impeccable. In most cases Ella takes the songs totally straight and lets the strong melodies and lyrics speak for themselves - and it turns out to be a totally right decision. All these words like taste and impeccable tend to damn with faint praise, but this isn't the case here. If you want a textbook example of pure artistry then this is it. Beautifully reissued sound quality too.

Ella at her best
Like many people, I consider Ella to be one of the all time best jazz vocalists and this CD has some of her all time best recordings. To top it all there are plenty of classic Gershwin tracks. What better jazz combination can there be than Ella and Gershwin? This is a real classic

Extraordinary, beautiful
This is an extraordinary, beautiful album. Recorded with just a piano and Ella's voice, these are pared down versions but this just adds to their power. This is not an upbeat album, but rewards repeated listens with it's emotional intensity and perfect performances. From what I've heard of the songbooks' lavish orchestration this is quite a different type of album and should certainly not be overlooked. Buy this recording.