Stockholm Concert 1966 [Live]

Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Pablo
• ASIN: B000000XIF
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,581 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, August 28, 2000

By 

PDB (Redlands, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stockholm Concert 1966 (Audio CD)

If you're reading this review because you're in two minds about whether to buy a copy of the Stockholm Concert, let me cut right to the chase: buy it. If you're trying to decide between this and another CD of Ella's, then take this one (and buy the other next week).

If you're still reading, you obviously need to be given some more tangible reasons for making the purchase. What can I offer except a list of superlatives, all of which have been quite rightly applied ad infinitum to Ella before? To say that this concert finds her "at the peak of her powers" is really pretty meaningless, because this could be said of practically everything she recorded from 1950 to 1970 (and that's taking a very small-minded view of her career). To say that she exhibits formidable variety in this concert, from roaring swing and soaring scat to sotto voce wistfulness and tender reflection, is to say only that Ella was doing here what she always did while she was on that vertiginously high plateau of her career. It cannot even be claimed as remarkable that she is complemented here by an exceptionally good band performing exceptionally well, for this is, happily, one of many dazzling recorded collaborations with the Ellington orchestra. Nor, even, can it be said that the Stockholm jazzophiles were unusually responsive, for she was similarly feted at numerous venues, with even the notoriously demanding Berlin audiences whistling and stamping at her second concert there, in 1961.

So what are the defining qualities of this concert, that make it special? The short answer - putting aside issues like the wonderfully resonant acoustic of the venue and the excellent recording quality - is that there this is a performance of staggering intensity. After more than a generation, and even with the sound coming out of a metal box, there is something so electric about this Stockholm concert that it has the power to exhilirate anew, and to bring fresh joy and delight, even on the umpteenth hearing. Rarely, in any musical context, can the chemistry between a solo performer, a band and an audience have been so thrilling that it survives, seemingly in tact, the deadening impact of being recorded.

There is not one weak or badly misjudged number in this concert, and the ordering of the program is impeccable. Any possible gripes are so trivial as to be hardly worth making. Yes, it is true that, here as often in live performance, Ella occasionally fluffs her words, and her rendering of 'So Danco Samba' may swing a little too hard for the bossanova purist. The overpowering impression, though, is that every bar of every number is infused with pure delight by Ella and all her fellas.

If one number had to be singled out for special praise, it would have to be Ella's incandescent rendering of 'Let's Do It,' so breathtakingly brilliant that it must, surely, rank at least in her top fifty recorded numbers (and that's saying something). It is sometimes opined that Ella's vocal style was too artless and innocent to do justice to Cole Porter's archly suggestive lyrics: this infinitely knowing, bawdily roisterous performance reveals such a judgement for the hooey that it is.

Buy, buy, buy!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yet Another Great Performance from Ella and Ellington, January 2, 2002

By 

Michael R. Lachance (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stockholm Concert 1966 (Audio CD)

This classic recording is a testament to the natural chemistry between Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington. Recorded in 1966, the audio quality is superb Hi-Fi and the performances even better. Ella is without a miss here and Duke hits all the marks with pinpoint accuracy. My personal favorite remains 'So Danco Samba', with its mix of samba and jazz it illustrates just how proficient all members of these performances truly were. My only gripe is that with only 8 songs, this CD is rather short. Almost a teaser of a CD. Nonetheless, buy it ASAP!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Ella's best recordings, Ella at her peak., December 30, 2007

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Stockholm Concert 1966 (Audio CD)

Recorded in 1966 in Stockholm, Ella Fitzgerald (then aged forty-eight) and Duke Ellington are in perfect sync, and both are on top of the world, professionally. In this remarkable concert, Ella's trio of Jimmy Jones on piano, Joe Comfort on bass, and Gus Johnson on drums, becomes part of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, with Ellington's sax section, especially Paul Gonsalves and Johnny Hodges, adding dramatically to Ella's solos on this CD. Ella is relaxed, making free-wheeling changes to familiar songs, and having fun.

In the blockbuster opener, "Imagine My Frustration," Ella tells the tale of a wallflower at a dance--a narrative tour de force punctuated by wailing high notes, which are echoed by the trumpet section and a solo by Johnny Hodges. "Duke's Place," another hard swing song, includes a muted trumpet, which sounds like a voice, and Ella soaring and singing some scat.

She changes pace, slowing down dramatically with "Something to Live For," one of the most beautiful, slow songs she's ever recorded, her lovely phrasing of the lyrics ending with a whisper--one of my favorites of all Ella's recordings. "Let's Do It," sung with a sexy, growly voice, is wild, assertive, and ultimately very powerful, the tempo increasing as Ella varies the melodic line and sings with increasing crescendo.

The climax of the CD is "Cottontail," on which she sings scat so fast that it's impossible to imagine anyone covering so many notes so fast and staying on key. As she trades solo lines with Paul Gonsalves on sax, she hits warp speed, a performance so stunning that no one who hears it will ever forget it.

With two great jazz artists, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington, operating on the same wavelength throughout this magnificent concert, the energy is incredible, and as they swing, play with melodies and rhythms, and highlight each other's performances, the audience is the winner. This is one of Ella's best recordings--bold, assertive, and completely loose. Mary Whipple

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