Customer Reviews

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook

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

 

 

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.

Years ago I had the big-band material on LP, which I treasured until someone borrowed it for good. Just getting that music back in excellent-sounding CD was a treat, but the addition of the small group material was a wonderful bonus.

The set also includes some rehearsals and alternate takes. It's fascinating to hear Ella working out a part. She didn't do everything perfectly the first time -- it just seems that way!

This is an embarrassment of riches. Highly recommended.

Here's a newsflash:

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.

And it's also a taste of heaven, too good to let pass you by when you're alive. Get it now.

And hey, Chick Webb's orchestra was one of swing's greatest bands, but what if she had spent a part of her career in Duke's orchestra? That might have been even better. And even she didn't, isn't this album more than enough?

I listened to the first track, Rockin' In Rhythm five or six times before going onto the second track; and experienced the delight of discovering something truly good and remarkable from two artists, about whom I thought I knew everything good and remarkable. Back in the 1970's I collected Ella songbooks on vinyl (Gershwin, Porter, Rogers & Hart), but never got around to the Ellington collection. How fortunate that I inadvertently saved this little gem for a rainy day. Listening to it is like discovering Ellington and Ella anew. Except with the added appreciation of a fan. I would never tire of Rockin' In Rhythm, so reliable a source of joy it is...my soul smiles for the privilege to witness this collaboration.

I love Ella's Songbooks, especially the Rodgers/Hart, Cole Porter, Berlin, and above all this Ellington meeting.

The best meets the best right here, not only the whole band and Ella but also the trio sides on disc 2; Webster and Fitz fit perfectly, and to my ears are the only near-equal to the Billie/Prez duo in vocal/saxdom. OP is insanely great as always, and displays ears of gold in his accompaniment. And of course when the entire, incomparable Ellington ensemble is in full swing, with perhaps the finest jazz voice of them all floating above, that's about as close to jazz heaven as one can ask for.

But.

I think this cd package is a real ripoff. My vinyl of these sets sounds warmer than these remasters, and cost much less than half as much many years ago. The extra cd of outtakes is indeed interesting but nothing you'd want to hear over and over, unlike the first two discs. All three for 51 is outrageous in my estimation, not because the music ain't superb, but because the record company is keeping most of that money!

Ellington's and Ella's estates are getting miniscule royalty rates on these songbook sets, yet the prices are far above the average jazz cd sets. It's not as if these were specialty items in small press-runs; Verve has one of the most reliably-moving catalogs of all jazz cds, especially the Ella stuff. To compare, the three-cd Bill Evans Village Vanguard set is 20, as are many other fine collections of the best jazz. 10 a disc seems fair; 17 does not, especially when one of the discs is outtakes.

I truly love this music, and have since I first heard it in the 70s as a kid. But I completely abhor the unmitigated greed of Verve's parent company Universal Music Group, who are a front for Vivendi, the mega-conglomerate from France who prove again and again how miserably greedy they are (as when they fired 5/6 of UMG's staff a few years back and dumped many of their best acts...as if Vivendi needs to cut costs!).

When Norman Granz started Verve he began a tradition of musician-friendly label-artist relations that became the industry standard. Vivendi is doing the exact opposite, cutting costs and artist development to the bone while greedily milking the catalogs of true music/musician lovers like Granz. Please note that they wouldn't let this set be discounted here. That's pure greed. I'm just glad I already have the vinyl of most of these songbooks so I don't need to pay these punks one thin dime. This is the sort of media monopoly that whines about "piracy" while being the biggest pirates of all.

I'm so glad I can hear all these cds by simply going to my library. As much as I love Ella's music, no way will I support a company like Vivendi, who go out of their way to both overcharge the consumer and underpay the musicians' heirs at every turn.

To those looking at buying this, I can only say that it's a good thing used cds tend to be in good shape.

This set is about as good as it gets. Most of it is Ella with Duke's band, and as you'd expect everything is A1. The arrangements are stellar, the solists complement Ella to perfection. The opening reeds on "I got it bad" make my hair stand on end every time. There is also some beautiful small group stuff, notably with Ben Webster and Stuff Smith, which also swings like hell. (Squatty Roo, Cottontail ...) Finally you get a lot of outtakes of Chelsea Bridge ... OK, it's filler stuff to some, but some of us find it interesting to hear how Duke would fine tune the sound of the band as he went along ...

The packaging sucks (those irritating cardboard sleeves where you can't get the bloody CD's out properly) ... but hey ... jewel cases are cheap ...

If you can only afford one Ella songbook set, make Ellington the one. Ella and Duke are perfectly matched. Having her sing with the composer is a unique feature of this set. There is an exuberant spontaneity here which is unmatched by any other songbook album. This mean that there are some imperfections and improvisations, and that's what jazz is. The material is fabulous. The obvious reciprocal adoration and respect of these two legends permeate everything. It is one of the all time great jazz albums ever. Not to be missed.

Even if i could have done without the third disc,this tribute to DUKE ELLINGTON really hits home ,and is a must buy for anyone interested in these two legends of jazz.ELLA takes more chances here than in previous and later records of the series ,and this is probably due to DUKE himself who took an active part by creating new songs and rearranging a few of his classics.CARAVAN shows ELLA in a rare sensual mood ,and does she delivers?All the well known songs of ELLINGTON are present, from MOOD INDIGO to SOPHISTICATED LADY.The only songbook celebrating a non BROADWAY composer was indeed worth its price.

This is the songbook to get, period. Ella is the perfect match for many of these Ellington compositions, in fact, I'll go as far as say that this box set contains many definitive performance of the Ellington catalogue. Ella's bubbly, happy but complex vocals, are exactly what many Ellington/Strayhorn compositions call for. Plus, this is the only songbook where the composer is playing along with Ella, plus you get the Ellington band!! To make sure 3 discs is not much of the same, you get some change in the pace and get to hear Ella also on a small combo and in guitar duos. I am not the biggest Ella fan, and I love this box.

The big 'BUT' about this box is first the price. $50 bucks for 3 disc set is really pushing the envelope. And the packaging is just beyond words...I cant imagine anyone at Verve actually trying to get the discs out/in of their sleeves and saying that this is a fine product. The package is totally useless, you need to get either jewel cases or protective sleeves for your CD's or you will cause some serious damage to them. Still, I cant take stars out of this wonderful music this time

And this recording, "means a thing", because it swings when it's time to swing and sways when it's time to sway. A remarkable record of gigantic proportions. Of all the songbooks that Ella Fitzgerald recorded this is one of the very best, I rank it up there with the Rodgers and Hart tribute and the Cole Porter disc. There are so many great tunes in the Ellington Songbook, hard to pick a favorite but," Caravan" is amazing. Ella, Duke Ellington, Ben Webster,Oscar Peterson,Dizzy Gillespie,Stuff Smith an all star line, they could be pouring out of your hi fi anytime you cared to, if you add this to your collection.

duke and ella make the material on this set literally the best. her wonderful voice complements dukes musical genius, and makes it come wonderfully alive. the combination is absolutely the tops!