Customer Reviews

Twelve Nights in Hollywood

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These cozy dates come from a Los Angeles club called the Crescendo in 1961 and 1962, two of Ella's peak years. Only one of the pristine tracks has ever been released. Why did Verve take nearly half a century to put out this treasure?

It's a case of more profitable material, a wealth of studio recordings, crowding out excellent performances that could have been a hit originally. Alas, producer Norman Granz gave them short shrift: a single poorly-selected and poorly-mastered album that flopped commercially.

The tapes sank into the vaults, not to be unearthed until jazz researcher Phil Schaap dug into the archives in 1988. He found 14 hours of California recordings made over 12 days, along with unheard live sets recorded in Rome and Chicago in 1958. At that point, Verve released a single CD, "Ella in Rome," which was a huge success, but then the label got busy with rereleases of her songbook series.

Finally, this year, Richard Seidel, the producer of this boxed set, listened to the tapes and decided to assemble four CDs containing 76 songs both swinging and sentimental. Ella is a joy throughout: creative and playful in her phrasing and scatting, by turns relaxed and spirited in her mood. She even succeeds at the blues, a form she was not particularly known for.

What are you waiting for? This is a glorious find and an essential acquisition for the Fitzgerald fan.

The one negative: The package. In addition to others' comments, I'll add that the package is "oversized", and will not fit into any standard CD rack or cabinet.

That said, this is Ella at her young, strong best. Vocals are lively and "clear as a bell", with strong, precise performances by her sidemen. Beautifully recorded and remastered, this is an intimate club date with the kind of dimension you just can't get in the studio (and quality you can't get on MP3).

This is a wonderful and vivid recording with the singer up-front, a supportive pianist and percussionists, fresh, light, and delightful. Crystal clear. What a treat -- who would've expected to hear more great Ella after all this time?

Ella shows in this treasure trove why Sinatra always said she was the best. In her prime, live in a cozy nightclub setting, with a jazz combo backing. And an excellent recording. Who could ask for anything more.

I have to say up front that I am a MAJOR fan of Ella. She's my number 2 favorite singer of all times. I can not get enough of her. Most of the time I use the internet, I am looking--praying--for any news on the next Ella Fitzgerald release. Not only was I over the moon when I head of Twelve Nights in Hollywood, I am beyond ecstatic now that I have finally gotten my hands on it (downloaded it)!! I am beyond LOVING it! The sound quality is excellent. The previous reviewers were so right, there is a real intimate quality to this box set. I feel as if I was right there in the club, seated in an excellent seat, enjoying the show, wonderful remastering job on the recordings.

And then there's Ella. She simply knocks 'em dead. She even slay me, all these decades after these recordings were made. Her voice is at its peek. She's groovin' and her band is groovin' right along with her. The song lineup will not surprise any of her loyal fans, but Ella is a real singer, so no matter how many times she sings Mack the Knife, (Give Me) The Simple Life, or Lorelie, the songs are always fresh and swinging. Naturally, she does mess up. Frankly, I was looking forward to the mistakes, for Ella's mistakes are when music, spirit join into one big swinging party. Listen to her stumbling through the lyrics of the song Candy, which was made popular by Big Maybelle, and that Ella magic is sprinkled all over that song the same way Ella does with Mack the Knife. Then there's the Ella chatter, that's what gives this box set its special charm. Wisely, the producer did not cut it, as with some of her other concert CDs. I LOVED IT!

All I can say is that if there was a way to rate this box seet more than 5 stars I would. I do know that I have played this set, all 4 CDs, and listen to it in one sitting! So, get it, sit down with a nice drink or glass of wine, sit back and enjoy. It don't get any better than this!

i agree with many who've commented so far - this collection is simply without peer. AMAZING. BREATHTAKING. it's a side of ella that simply is not revealed in this way in any other available recording. she's absolutely at the TOP of her game - and for FOUR CDS' WORTH of material! oh, it's just so joy-inducing. :-) and the recording quality is so amazing! luscious and warm and cozy and full - listening to it, i really do feel like i'm sitting right next to ella. :-) get this collection right now! i visited the hip-o select site to find out more about this set, and there it's labeled as being "limited edition: 8000 copies". so who knows if they'll be around for long.

BUT - and this is a "but" that i agree with on many others - the packaging is a huge fail. i'm a designer myself, and something i always consider when designing something is the context. have the designers of this "book" ever seen a CD shelf? could they really not have made it four jewel-box CDs with perhaps an accompanying jewelbox-sized booklet? also, i, like others, find the way the CDs are held in the book to be very problematic. the CDs are hard to get out or put back in; impossible to take out without touching the optical side of the disc; and i'm worried that the CDs may get scratched while i pull them out/in. annoying, to say the least.

but, i still gave it 5 stars - because otherwise, it would've been worthy of 6! :-)

In the sixties and seventies it was possible to go to a small supper club and for an investment of twenty bucks get a decent dinner, a seat right next to the stage, and entertainment from the likes of Getz and Oscar Peterson, Ahmad and Coltrane, Sarah and Ella. By 1980 the party was over, and I'm not quite sure why the economics had suddenly changed so dramatically from the previous two decades. But the music--and entertainment--has never been the same. All the more reason to take advantage of this opportunity to return to a time that was.

One of the most-played albums in my collection is "Sarah Vaughan at Mr. Kelly's," which now is likely to get some competition from this new Ella set. Even though Ella is slightly more relaxed and informal than the live recordings done in epic-scale venues--the Opera House, the Rome and Berlin (Mack the Knife) concerts, the Hollywood Bowl and Los Angeles Civic Auditorium recordings--the energy level might be described as "without governors." She's swinging harder than ever yet, as usual, is able to bring it down instantly for those mellow, intimate ballads. As for some of the carping about this collection, it's hard to be sympathetic with the complainers after hearing the quality of the music. The audio is good enough to put me in the actual audience's space, right down in front, where Ella's voice, the distinct notes of the walking bass, the zing of the cymbals and chic of the hi-hat are equally clear. True, it's not quite the equal of a "more perfect" studio recording, which would probably tone down the rhythm section and throw away the moments when the mic momentarily distorts or picks up a few unwanted sibilants. But that's live music, folks, and for my money, the music, not to mention the listener's experience, is all the better for it.

My other Ella albums feature celebrated accompanists like Jimmy Jones or monster jazz pianists like Tommy Flanagan and Paul Smith. This one has Lou Levy, who also frequently worked with Peggy Lee and is certainly one of the West Coast's all-time best. There are a few pauses, acknowledgements of celebrities in the audience, moments of indecision about a lyric or the next song--all of which humanize arguably the singer who could live up to the description bestowed upon her by Mel Torme as the "the greatest who ever lived." I'll refrain from the hyperbole but go so far as to pick one of the numbers--"It Had to Be You"--as the best interpretation available on record.

In sum, this one may not be quite up to the "Sinatra-Vegas" box, which includes a DVD with the 4 CD's covering two decades of live performance (few people realize that Sinatra released only two live albums during his lifetime), but it's close to being as indispensable.

This is a set of four CDs made up from early 60's live recordings of Ella Fitzgerald. She was at her exuberant best and her music making, rapport with the audience, and song selection could not have been better. Sound was variable, as sound often is a live recording. The one thing that keeps me from giving it a 5 star review is that there was glue from the packaging on each CD. The packaging was very elegant, with four cardboard envelopes among the hard pages explaining the sessions and listing the songs. Each one of those envelopes had glue on the inside that stuck to the CD. After cleaning the CDs, they were playable, but we could not put them back in the envelopes for fear of them picking up more glue. Sad for such a great set of Ella's.

I'm speechless, you have to hear it to believe! 5 stars are not enough! She's still the chairwoman of the board!

At 44, these CD's are to this point the most satisfying listening experience I've ever had. I already own a very large collections of Ella recordings and have all but worn them out. This collection out does them all. I thought had exhausted my admiration for Ms. Fitzgerald. I am flabbergasted nay, gobsmacked at her talent and ability to reach out from the great beyond and make me feel like I am in that night club. If anyone is on the fence as to whether or not to go for the box set, do it. The distilled single CD won't come close.