Customer Reviews

Verve Jazz Masters 6

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I'm really thrilled by this compilation; first of all - it encompasses her golden era (records were cut from 1956 -1963), when her voice was at its strongest and most flexible... In adittion to that, there's a lot of variety - from more "stringy" arrangements to pure jazz, there's even some blues and the songs are really more than interesting - from her hits ("Mack the Knife", "I Loves You Porgy", "How High the Moon" ...) to the songs less often connected to Ella, but marveles nevertheless (Leroy Carr's "In the Evening - when the sun goes down" - my favorite track)...

Ella is represented here with a variety of orchestras (arranged by Nelson Riddle, Russ Garcia, Frank DeVol, Paul Weston, Billy May, Marty Paich), Duke Ellington's magnificent orchestra on one track and various smaller groups - lead by Paul Smith (+ Kessel, Mondragon, Stoller, or + Hall, Midlebrooks, Johnson), Oscar Peterson (+ Ellis, Brown, Bellson), on one track (Berlin's "I'm putting All My Eggs in One Basket") with Louis Armstrong.... One track (In the Evening) features Roy Eldridge, Wild Bill Davis (organ) + Ellis (g), Brown (b), Johnson(dm)...

There are live tracks (from "Ella in Berlin"), studio tracks (from "Ella Swings Brightly", "Ella F. Sings the Rodgers and Hart Song Book", "Ella and Louis Again", "Ella Swings Lightly"...)...

Verve Jazz Masters is, in my opinion, one of the best ways to approach jazz. This CD is, in my equally firm opinion, one of the best ways to approach Ella Fitzgerald.

BTW
"A-Tisket A-Tasket" is, luckily, given an ironic treatment, with mambo rhythms and Ella's self-parody....

If u have never met ella, u r in for a paradigm breaking treat, a cannonical woman in the jazz genesis: silk voice in a room full of curveous lipsticked gals and polished pointed-shoe gents, molecules of whiskey and perfurme scenting the air, and a fluttering of the heart and other body parts. she's an ointment of love, with a voice that bedevil, twirl, and enamours. u can either wake up with her, and embrace the lovely day, spend a stormy afternoon with the blues in high, or go to bed with her, her lips in a tune. ella, the ultimate dream girl, black blue or white.

this was my first experience CD through ella.&i'm thankful.

1. I Hear Music
.............
wonderful.
i dont know much about uptempo ella, but it's great.
i bet you can dance to the music (in your heart).

2. I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues
......pardon me, i dont remember this.

3. Ev'rything I've Got
guitar-main ballad song. very relaxin'. seems like combo.

4. I Loves You, Porgy(gershwin)
.....perfect. that piano decoration, ornament...you cant forget for ever.

5. Mack the Knife(kurt weill?)(from ella in Berlin)
.....very cheering.
every time i get down, i listen to this song.
&i always get up & survive & get by & come back.

6. I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket
7. Man That Got Away {from A Star Is Born}
8. Just You, Just Me
...excuse me, i forgot again.

9. I've Got the World on a String
...good. but you may be tired if you must repeat this song.
anyway, i like the title, that's enough for me.

10. A-Tisket, A-Tasket
...powerful & mischievous. Nasty Ella. i love it!

11. These Foolish Things
....beautiful melody. & emotional singing.

12. Heat Wave
...explosive, dynamite, dynamic, overwhelming,
you'll be conquerd.

13. I Never Had a Chance(irvin berlin)
....unforgettable tune. Berlin must have had been a magician.

14. How High the Moon(from ella in Berlin too)
.....uptempo, rhythmical, gotta groove,&
that phrase from "smoke gets in your eyes"......

15. In the Evening (When the Sun Goes Down)
16. Signing Off
....sorry i skip them.

..........no matter how the world is
(every single one of my friends say forever,
"it's old,It's old..." ,
but i never give my ear to them)
this music seemed "new itself" to me,
when i was 18 ,even in 1998.

isn't that a surprising fact?

& i still feel whole brand new, when i listen to this CD.