Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. All Through The Night - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman Orchestra, Alan Emig
2. Anything Goes - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman, Alan Emig, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
3. Miss Otis Regrets (She's Unable To Lunch Today) - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Alan Emig
4. Too Darn Hot - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Alan Emig, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
5. In The Still Of The Night - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman Orchestra, Alan Emig
6. I Get A Kick Out Of You - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz
7. Do I Love You? - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman Orchestra, Alan Emig
8. Always True To You In My Fashion - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman, Alan Emig, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
9. Let's Do It - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
10. Just One Of Those Things - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
11. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
12. All Of You - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman, Alan Emig, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
13. Begin The Beguine - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman, Alan Emig, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
14. Get Out Of Town - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz
15. I Am In Love - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman Orchestra, Alan Emig
16. From This Moment On - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman Orchestra

Disc 2:

1. I Love Paris - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman, Buddy Bregman Orchestra, Alan Emig
2. You Do Something To Me - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Alan Emig, Buddy Bregman, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
3. Ridin' High - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Alan Emig, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
4. Easy To Love - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz
5. It's All Right With Me - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Alan Emig, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
6. Why Can't You Behave? - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Alan Emig, Buddy Bregman, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
7. What Is This Thing Called Love? - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Alan Emig, Buddy Bregman, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
8. You're The Top - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Alan Emig, Buddy Bregman, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
9. Love For Sale - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
10. It's DeLovely - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman, Buddy Bregman Orchestra, Alan Emig
11. Night And Day - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman, Buddy Bregman Orchestra, Alan Emig
12. Ace In The Hole - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Alan Emig, Buddy Bregman, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
13. So In Love - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Alan Emig, Buddy Bregman, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
14. I've Got You Under My Skin - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Alan Emig, Buddy Bregman, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
15. I Concentrate On You - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
16. Don't Fence Me In - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz, Alan Emig, Buddy Bregman, Buddy Bregman Orchestra
17. You're The Top - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz
18. I Concentrate On You - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz
19. Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love) - Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Granz

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3758 in Music
• Released on: 1999-05-25
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Box set
• Dimensions: .33 pounds
• Running time: 122 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Long considered a jewel in Verve Records' very impressive crown, Fitzgerald's songbook collections of various composers--a series that was started by the success of this set--are all wonderful, but her natural wit and intelligence was at its most perfect with Cole Porter's erudite, urbane songs. While not as scat-oriented as her small group outings, these Porter sets offer her most realized pop performances. Also, the gold remastering does a fine job of bringing out the nuances in the arrangements, making this a treasure for the serious collector and the casual listener alike. A true American music gem. --Skip Heller

CD Description
From the Great American Songbook. Her coolly detached approach to lyrics is nowhere better displayed than on this albumof songs by one of the most sophisticated American songwriters.One of Fitzgerald's great assets was also, paradoxically, one of her failings as a jazz singer. Throughout her long career her voice was that of an innocent girl. This immaturity of sound, allied as it was to consummate musical mastery,weakened her jazz performances, especially in the blues where emotional intensity is of paramount importance. As if sensing this, Norman Granz heard in Ella's voice the ideal vehicle for a selection of readings.

Customer Reviews

Exquisite Ella: Perfect Porter
In any rational list of the 20th-century's top song-stylists, Ella Fitzgerald would have to rank in the Top 5. Ella had a wonderful, distinct voice and style. Many singers have great skills. Many have perfect pitch and great intonation. But very few singers can use their voice like a fine instrument. Ella was one of those select few.

Apart from having a wonderful voice, Ella was next to incomparable when it came to interpreting lyrics. It is no wonder that lyricists loved her and were ecstatic when she covered one of their songs. It is also no wonder that during the course of her career Ella recorded various "Song Books" in which she took the work of a great composer/lyricist and dedicated an album or two to their work. Ella did Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Rodgers & Hart, the Gershwins', and Jerome Kern song books among others. They are all wonderful to listen to, all 5-star performances (with the possible exception of the Gershwin song book) but my favorite of all her song books is this one: "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book".

Although the first half of the 20th century had a surplus of great songwriters (see the above) there was something about Cole Porter's that has kept those lyrics fresh and even edgy in the 21st-century. The pairing of Fitzgerald and Porter then is the equivalent of the perfect. A lyricist whose lyrics are funny, witty, charming and, yes, poetic and a singer capable of doing justice to those great lyrics makes for a memorable CD.

This is a 2-CD set (the product description lists it incorrectly as 4). It contains an awful lot of Porter's great songs. Anything Goes, Too Darn Hot, Let's Do it, and I'm Always True to You in My Fashion are my highlights for CD-1. Night and Day, I've Got You Under My Skin, Love for Sale, and You're the Top, top off CD-2. Ella recorded these in 1956, exactly half a century ago under the auspices of the wonderful producer Norman Granz. Verve Records has restored the masters and the sound quality is excellent for a re-mastered recording.

Cole Porter once said that "In olden days a glimpse of stockings, was looked on as something shocking, Now heaven knows, anything goes." Well, all these decades later these songs go great with anything. You can enjoy them "in the still of the night" or "all through the night". These songs "do something to me" and I can say nothing more than this CD is the tops, it's the Tower of Pisa, it's the smile on the Mona Lisa.

If you can find this available, do yourself a favor and buy it, then sit back and enjoy.

Ella & Cole Porter - Need I say more
Ella is always a pleasure to listen to, but Ella with classy material is something special. This is what you get on this double album. The "Song Book" series is renown and this is arguably the best.

I own the earlier CD releases as well as this later double album. There is a difference in the sound as a result of the re-mastering but I would not like to say which sounds the better. I do wonder why Verve bothered to re-master when the originals still sound wonderful but do not let this consideration of fine judgement prevent you from buying a great album.

Back to basics
If you are a jazz fan, you've heard most of the songs on this album a hundred times in a thousand different versions, mostly as instrumentals. Now is your chance to hear them as Cole Porter wrote them and, in particular, to pay attention to the lyrics. Porter's powerful poetry would often be banned in today's politcally correct world. Thank god we still have these recordings.

We all have a tendency to think that Sinatra put down the official american songbook soundtrack (please **** off, Rod Stewart, Jaimie whatsit, Bubley and all the rest of you new converts) but Ella's recordings sit side by side with the Chairman of the Board's.

None of Ella's fantastic scat here. Just plain straight forward singing of the songs of one of the 20th century's greatest composers with wonderful arrangements and a fantastic diction which makes printed lyrics unnecessary.

We can all complain about the Cole Porter songs that are missing from this set, but it is wonderful. A couple of tracks with 1950s latin feel have aged enormously, but the majority is just plain brilliant.

If you are a musician you will agree tha Cole Porter's are amongst the most difficult standards to play. Ella will give you a lesson in simplicity that you will never forget.
Just listen to Miss Otis Regrets. This is clearly a desert island disc.