Customer Reviews

Best of Ella Fitzgerald

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I did not have the pleasure of listening to this album by the late, great Ella Fitzgerald, until after she had passed away about ten years ago. She is the queen of skat (i.e.: jazz vocal improvisation), and actually invented this style of singing when she forgot the words to a popular jazz song. The rest is history, and many more vocalists have gone on to emulate this popular style of singing in the jazz repertoire.

"The Best of Ella Fitzgerald" presents a great cross section of songs from Ella's expansive, eclectic and extraordinary body of work, spanning several decades. Her voice is best described of a warm, melodious mist that intensifies with emotional expression and incomparable interpretation. I feel her immense vocal talent is best showcased in the more upbeat numbers on this album ("Smooth Sailing," "Lullaby of Birdland," as two examples) You get the sense that Ella felt and experienced her songs in a way unlike any other artist. She truly LIVED the songs and you feel it through her music. Whether introspectively pondering the downside of love ("You Won't Be Satisfied Until You Break My Heart"), or more playful tunes that have nothing to do with romance ("A Tisket a Tasket," "You've Got to Swing It (Mr Paganini)"), where her freestyling and skatting are showcased, this woman will truly warm your heart.

This album is a great introduction to the masterful Ella Fitzgerald, and I reccomend that, whether you are a jazz enthusiast or just expanding your musical repertoire, you need to hear these beautiful songs!!!!!

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Ella's years recording for Verve Records captured some of her finest vocals, and
this album has some real gems from that time.
Under the watchful eye of Jazz Impressario Norman Granz, Ella's voice just
flowed beautifully from one classic hit to another.
This album is a MUST BUY for any fan of Miss Fitzgerald, of American popular
music or jazz.
BUY IT NOW!

This is a nice collection of Ella's recordings on the Decca label, from 1938-1955. The songs were selected from a list of producer Milt Gabler. The sound quality is good.

This is a rather good single CD retrospective of Ella Fitzgerald's beautiful and singular artistry. They certainly didn't call her "The First Lady of Song" for nothing! The only issue I have with this CD is not so much with the music but with the title "The Best of Ella Fitzgerald." Ella was so incredibly prolific and versatile during her decades long career that no single CD of her words and music could ever truly encompass all of her best work. I would view this as a strong single CD assortment of her songs but I caution the reader against assuming that she didn't do much, much more singing, concerts with her peers, television specials and even acting that always demonstrated her talent was exquisite, to say the least.

There are songs on this album that Ella was well known for; and we get some other songs that didn't quite get as much recognition although they're every bit as enjoyable. Her evergreen standards (and songs that she interpreted so well that they became her evergreen standards) would have to include "A-Tisket, A-Tasket;" "Undecided;" "Cow Cow Boogie;" "I'm Just A Lucky So and So;" "How High the Moon;" the very memorable "You'll Have To Swing It (Mr. Paganini), Parts 1 & 2;" "Lullaby of Birdland" and "Hard Hearted Hannah." Other numbers that Ella infused with so much passion, true heart and soul include the beautiful "Stairway to the Stars;" the Latin flavored "Stone Cold Dead in the Market;" "I Didn't Mean a Word I Said" and "Blue Lou."

Overall, this CD is best for newcomers to Ella Fitzgerald's magnificent artistry. Diehard fans will probably have most if not all of these songs in their collections so they would be best off continuing to look for more comprehensive box sets by the great Ella Fitzgerald.