The Big Issue February 24, 2020

Ella Fitzgerald didn't lack for live recording opportunities in the late '50s, which on the surface, would make this first issue of a 1958 Chicago live club date an easy one to pass on. Verve label head Norman Granz recorded her often in the '50s with an eye to releasing live albums, which he did with her shows at Newport in 1957 and Los Angeles' Opera House in 1958 (not to mention another 1958 concert in Rome that was released 30 years later to wide acclaim). Those shows, however, differed widely from this one, which found her in front of a very small audience at Chicago's jazz Mecca Mister Kelly's (Sarah Vaughan's landmark At Mister Kelly's was recorded there four months earlier). Fitzgerald's artistry is basically a given in this situation, but much of the material recorded here was rare and obscure; "Your Red Wagon" had only been released as a single, her delightfully melodic "Across the Alley from the Alamo" never appeared elsewhere, and for a pair of Sinatra evergreens – "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" and "Witchcraft" – the former had never appeared, and the latter only appeared later, on a 1961 return to the site of her Berlin live landmark.

May 2022, due to numerous requests, and in the spirit of celebrating Creel Pone's 17th Anniversary with a bang, here is a completely revised replica edition of this time-tested title, with the original Kapp 10"/LP issue of "The Andromeda Strain" OST augmented with Melle's two other relatable issues of Jazz-Electronics from the vinyl era: "Tome VI" & "Waterbirds" across two discs (plus a short bonus track of a "Demo" of the Percusotron III!)

When Haydn first came to London in 1791 he was recognised as one of the greatest composers in the world, but his extensive operatic output was essentially unknown outside Eszterháza, where the works had originated. He was commissioned to produce a new opera to celebrate the opening of the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket, but political intrigue prevented its production. Although the resources in terms of orchestra and chorus (particularly in the final Underworld act) were far greater than anything he had known in Hungary, Haydn seems to have been unworried by the fracas, since his generous fee was already in his bank in Vienna, and his concerts were proving an outstanding success. But he never composed another opera. The official title, L’anima del filosofo, seems to have been a half-hearted attempt to distinguish it from the successful Gluck version of Orfeo.