30 by Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book (1959) {4CD Box Set Verve 539 759-2 rel 1998}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.40 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 604 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 325 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1959, 1998 Verve / PolyGram | 539 759-2 | Verve Master Edition | 20bit remaster
Jazz / Vocal Jazz / Standards

During the late '50s, Ella Fitzgerald continued her Song Book records with Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book, releasing a series of albums featuring 59 songs written by George and Ira Gershwin. Those songs, plus alternate takes, were combined on a four-disc box set, Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book, in 1998. These performances are easily among Fitzgerald's very best, and for any serious fan, this is the ideal place to acquire the recordings, since the sound and presentation are equally classy and impressive.

A previously unreleased Ella Fitzgerald live album, Ella at Zardi’s, has been unearthed from Verve’s vaults. The album, recorded more than 60 years ago, has been released on CD and digital via Verve Records and UMe, closing their year-long celebration of Ella Fitzgerald’s centennial.

Recorded in 1957, Ella & Louis Again re-teams Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong after the success of their first album and a popular series of concerts at the Hollywood Bowl the previous year. Stylistically, Fitzgerald and Armstrong had very different histories; he started out in Dixieland before branching out into classic jazz and swing, whereas Fitzgerald started out as a swing-oriented big-band vocalist before becoming an expert bebopper…

Though her career stretched from the '30s to the '80s and she's widely considered possibly the greatest female jazz singer or all time, Ella Fitzgerald will probably forever be best known for a mid-'50s collection of albums collectively called the Songbooks, where she devoted entire albums to the works of such composers as Harold Arlen, Cole Porter, and Duke Ellington. THE BEST OF THE SONGBOOKS: THE BALLADS is one of the many compilations based on these recordings, and one of the best. From its beautiful, informative packaging to its gorgeously remastered sound, this 16-track, 64-minute collection treats the material with the respect it deserves. The material, of course, is first-rate, wall-to-wall standards from Johnny Mercer's wistful "Laura" to Ellington's sly "Do Nothin' Til You Hear From Me." Fitzgerald's performances are equally outstanding, as are the mostly big-band arrangements. This is as good as jazz ballad collections get.