Customer Reviews

Ella for Lovers

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Since UMG united Decca and Polygram, the issues of Ella's catalog have been an interesting mix of her Decca and Polygram recordings, something thought not possible a few years ago. This cd is not the first to put these two studio recordings together, however it's the first to present songs with a singular theme. Intimacy is the name of the game, this is a collection of the most intimate songs Ella's recorded. There are no strings here, this music is Ella with trio only, culled from all her albums including the songbooks. The mastering of this disc is excellent; Ella had a tendency to sing really close to the mike and it seems the producer of this disc chose only those songs with Ella up front. The Decca sides are presented here with the best sound to date; the songs are not too sanitized with noise reduction, so listening fatigue is avoided. Overall this is a great summary of her most emotional readings, something not usually associated with her.

Be advised that there are a lot of Ella's mono DECCA recordings included here and I did not expect that. Six selections alone are from the Decca Lp/Cd entitled "Pure Ella". Tha Cd is great, but it is not in stereo and the sound is off -- Ella's voice is recorded strangely and sounds much lower than it really was. These recordings simply do not fit in well with the others chosen. There are much better Fitzgerald compilations to chose, such as "The Jazz Sides" and the 3 cd "First lady of Song", both on Verve.

Ella's soulful, resonant voice and a collection of top standards

provide the perfect background for bubble baths, pedicures and well earned "me" time reading a juicy novel. I actually use this CD as background music when I'm cooking dinner after a long

day. Her voice sincerely resonates with a belief in the never-neverland of romantic love and the arrangements are set perfectly to join in on more familiar choruses. Ella was the best!