Most Requested Songs

This modest, single-CD compilation remains an excellent introduction to Duke Ellngton's work as composer and bandleader, two indistinguishable roles. It includes many of the original recordings of his most familiar songs, reaching back to the 1930s for the swinging "It Don't Mean a Thing" and the exotic "Caravan" and forward to the 1950s for "Satin Doll." The first 10 tracks appear here in their original monaural sound, and they're an authentic account of the early years of Ellington's marvelous band–with the rich, smooth saxophone textures of Johnny Hodges and Harry Carney, the soaring muted trumpets of Cootie Williams and Rex Stewart, and the unadorned musicality of Ivie Anderson's voice. If you want a CD with just the most famous tunes, or if you want to introduce someone to Ellington's music in all its regal brilliance, this is a good place to start.

There's something incredibly tragic and ironic in the strange reality that finds a beloved jazz singer taking her own life just after compiling a collection of her best loved interpretations. So loved by so many, but perhaps – as she wrote in her liner notes for her wistful reading of "If I Only Had a Heart" – she was one of those people who "have trouble experiencing their own emotions and yearn to feel something, anything." Also in this spirited mix of classics is "Look For the Silver Lining," and her version is, of course, cheery.

Simply a grand and eloquent performance put together by Verve records highlighting the best years of Ella Fitzgerald – that sassy, charming legendary singer in jazz. The Best of the Songbooks features a captivating lineup of some of jazz's greatest composers and arrangers. It is here that Fitzgerald records and sings songs of Cole Porter, Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, George & Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, and Johnny Mercer.