15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A definitive collection for every human being, August 2, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: For the Love of Ella (Audio CD)
The legend of the century's greatest vocalist lives on in this definitive collection of her best work. Appropriately, it is divided between the more famous 12 "monuments of swing" and 11 exquisite ballads. Only in this collection will you find the songs of Ellington, Gershwin, Berlin, and Gillespie (among others) packaged together in such an immaculate assembly.
Any Ella collection must include the rehearsed "A-Tisket-A-Tasket," the signature song "Mr. Paganini...," and the most legendary live performance of all time, Ella's improvised, spontaneous scatting of "Mack the Knife." Even teenagers such as myself who have recently latched on to the resurgence of swing will find this enormously entertaining. The masterful engineering here brings recordings half a century old into crystal-clear perfection, and placing Ellington's "Caravan" next to the equally sublime "A Night in Tunisia" is simply a stroke of brillia! nce.
The ballads are also phenomenal. The sonic complexities of "Midnight Sun" shimmers under Ella's voice; "Solitude" has never sounded so devastating, and "Summertime" and "Laura" have never been this haunting. While "How Long Blues" is misplaced, the conclusion---a classic duet with Louis Armstrong on "Autumn in NY"---brings a tear to the eye.
This collection - relatively compact for a jazz profile - makes a strong bid for Verve's Ella recordings as the very best. I couldn't argue.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
