Customer Reviews

The Complete Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The music gods smiled upon us several decades back when they permitted these two American treasures to pair up to create a number of memorable recordings. Happily, their efforts have been captured and reproduced on disc here. These discs capture the Verve recording sessions that are now legendary.

The contrast between the two of them is phenomenal. These contain Ella Fitzgerald when her voice was at its very strongest, and it was as clear as a bell. This contrasts with the unmistakable rasp that comes from Louis, but also is complemented by some of the most dynamic trumpet work this side of heaven. There is a wonderful juxtaposition of the two of them when they close out "Tenderly", and Louis scats and Ella's voice mimics his wonderfully identifiable voice.

"A Fine Romance", "They Can't Take That Away From Me" and "Stompin at the Savoy" are but a few of the classics here. Of course, nothing in the world is like their duet on the Gershwin classic "Summertime", which alone makes this worth the price of the set. These two classics together that cannot be beat.

I am quite sure that there are few duets of any musical genre, regardless of the artists, that can easily match the magical chemistry that these two performers exhibit on these wonderful tracks. I could be wrong, but I believe that much of the magic is due to the total musicality of Louis Armstrong, a giant personality who could probably duet with anyone and have the results cook. There is, I believe, an equal chemistry on the two tracks that Louis Armstrong recorded with Billie Holiday for Decca.

Not that there is anything wrong with Ella, long known as the First lady of Song -she's one of my favorites, and with good reason. The tracks that are presented on the "Complete" Ella and Louis - as others have noted, these are only the complete VERVE tracks - are utterly sublime. There is not a bad performance among them. As long as people are mentioning their favorite track, mine is Stars Fell on Alabama, but that just happens to be a personal preference.

Many have mentioned the Ella / Louis Decca duets. There is an import CD by Blue Moon Records called "Ella and Satchmo" which contains numerous solo tracks by both Ella and Louis, and five of their Decca duets (I don't know if there are more - I wish Decca would put out a CD of the complete Ella / Louis duets). For those who may be interested, the duet tracks on the Blue Moon release are Would You Like to Take a Walk, Dream a Little Dream of Me, Frim Fram Sauce, You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart) and Can Anyone Explain. Well worth the investment, since the performances (if not the accompaniment) are equal to the later Verve duets. Some of the solo tracks are quite interesting as well.

This set has every worthwhile song ever recorded by what may be the best musical duo ever. And even though the price tag may seem high for a collection of ancient standards that for the most part had already been remastered for single-CD collections, I see it as a good value for money given the quality of the packaging and the fact that almost everything Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong ever recorded is here.

That last part is what really earns this set five stars. There is no shortage of adjectives to describe this unlikely pair -- I've heard satin and sandpaper, for example, or honey and gravel -- and it is the unique contrast between their vocal styles alluded to with those descriptions and the chemistry they share that help them create what can only be viewed as magic.

By putting everything in one set, Polygram all but eliminates the need to accumulate any additional CDs from this duo. To wit: this is the only set I know of that includes Ms. Fitzgerald's and Mr. Armstrong's most playful song (Makin' Whoopee), their best known standard (Cheek to Cheek), and my personal favorite (Summertime).

If you have heard any of these songs and you enjoyed the music even partly as much as I do, then this is a must-have collection.

If you like music then you will love this compilation of songs by Ella and Satchmo. Ella's angel-like voice together with Satch's cultured rasp is like nothing that was ever done before or since. The orchestration showcases the two performer's remarkable ability to make the best music on earth sound so good that words can't describe the experience of listening to it. The harmonies and melodies are astounding in their ability to not only get under your skin but into your soul.

Ella, in her late thirties, was in her prime and sounded like an angel on earth. Satchmo was in his mid-fiftys but his style had evolved into a seemingly flawless continuum between vocal and instrumental that soothes and rejuvenates. What he couldn't say with his voice he said with his horn. The result of listening to these two perform this lovely earthy music this music gives one visions of paradise.

The combination of these two legendary artists is probably the best duet jazz vocal work ever recorded...and that is quite an understatement!

Ella & Louis never recorded Baby' it's Cold Outside together. Luois taped that with Velma Middleton. Many, many people get that mixed up, so that is NOT mising because it never was...

These are all the sessions with Louis and Ella:

1946, Bob Haggart's Orchestra
You Won't Be Satisfied
The Frim Fram Sauce

1950, Sy Oliver's Orchestra
Dream A Little Dream Of Me
Can Anyone Explain?

1951, Bing Crosby TV Show
Memphis Blues (Louis, Ella & Bing only available on The Wonderful Duets)

1951, Dave Barbour's Orchestra
Necessary Evil
Oops!
Would You Like To Take A Walk?
Who Walks In When I Walk Out?

1956, Live at Hollywood Bowl with an allstar band
You Won't Be Satisfied (available on this boxset & "The Best Of Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong")
Undecided (available only on this boxset)
When The Saints Go Marching In (never released)

1956, Oscar Peterson Group Ella and Louis
Can't We Be Friends
Isn't This a Lovely Day
Moonlight in Vermont
They Can't Take That Away from Me
Under a Blanket of Blue
Tenderly
A Foggy Day
Stars Fell on Alabama
Cheek to Cheek
The Nearness of You
April in Paris

1957, Oscar Peterson Group Ella and Louis Again
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
They All Laughed
Love Is Here to Stay
Learnin' The Blues
Autumn In New York
Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You
Stompin' At The Savoy
I Won't Dance
A Fine Romance
Don't Be That Way
I'm Puttin' All My Eggs In One Basket
I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
These Foolish Things (just Ella)
Ill Wind ( just Ella)
Comes Love (just Ella)
Makin Whoopie (just Louis)
I Get A Kick out of you (just Louis)
Lets Do it (just Louis)
Willow Weep fr me (just Louis)
(These last four tracks also on Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson, an excellent CD with more songs like these.)

1957, Russell Garcia Orchestra Porgy & Bess
Summertime
I Wants To Stay Here (just Ella)
My Man's Gone Now (just Ella)
I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'
Buzzard Song (just Ella)
Bess You Is My Woman Now
It Ain't Necessarily So
What You Want Wid Bess? (just Louis)
A Woman Is A Sometime Thing (just Louis)
Oh, Doctor Jesus (just Ella)
Medley: Here Come De Honey Man/Crab Man/Oh, Dey's So Fresh And Fine
There's A Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon For (just Louis)
Oh Lawd, I'm On My Way (just Louis)
Bess, Oh Where's My Bess? (just Louis)

So what's on this 3CD boxset? All the recordings on Verve that are also available on the 3 individual CDs, plus 2 live songs from 1956.

I gave it 4 stars rather than 5 only because it is an expensive box set, and it would not have killed them to license the 8 duets done on DECCA. The DECCA recordings are excellent.

The recordings before 1956 from DECCA are available on many CD collections. These CDs have all or most of them
Ella and Louis (Promo Sound)
The Wonderful Duets (Avid Records)
You Rascal You (Half Moon)
Ella and Satchmo (Blue Moon)
Historic (Black Label)

Ella and Louis shine in this collection. They are both flawless singers(in their own style) and Armstrong on the trumpet blows this set over the top. Great jazz combined with "Porgy and Bess." They are both laid back with the recordings. Great songs and lyrics.

This album is so musically beautiful it makes me cry. It's pure, unadulterated, unpretentious, mature, and always totally fresh. Two of the greatest musical artists of the 20th century, Ella and Pops, are here together supported by what represents the very best instrumetalists on the planet at the time like Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Buddy Rich to name a few. You can't do better than that. It was just such a rare outing. You can hear how relaxed everyone is and you can feel the joy of the performances. Louis is especially in the best form for this time period aka 1956. Everything is here, the best tunes, the finest swing performances, thoughtful arrangements, and a sensitive clean production. As soon as you hear the first few bars of the first tune "Why Can't We Be Friends" with Ella's pure and beautifully sweet crooning, you'll know you're in for something special. A privilege to have such a record of true greatness.

This is such a a wonderful collection, I had a double cd that had a huge collection of duets by Louis and Ella, it disappeared and I spent a long time trying to find another one that had all my favorite songs on it. There isn't anything missing from this collection, if they sang it together, its here! I love listening to the 2 most talented entertainers of their time, Highly reccommended!

I first heard this CD at a local swing dance place and fell in love with it after just a couple of songs. This 3-CD set is perfect for listening, dancing, or even background.

I have my CD changer programmed to mix this with some other stellar choices (including Stephane Grappelli, Getz/Gilberto, and Andres Segovia), and it never fails to relax. My favorite track is "Cheek to Cheek", an amazing duet and a pefect dance number.

You really can't go wrong with this.