Ella Live

Ella Fitzgerald was still very much at the top of her game in 1969, when this appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival was videotaped. Accompanied by the always swinging pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Frank DeLaRosa, and drummer Ed Thigpen, Fitzgerald works her magic with a number of favorites from her vast repertoire to the delight of her attentive audience, including "Give Me the Simple Life," "That Old Black Magic," and "I Won't Dance." But the singer was never one to stand pat with her song selection, so she was always looking at new material.

Classic performances by Ella Fitzgerald, the queen of the jazz/soul singers backed up by one of the biggest of the big band leaders, Count Basie, and his illustrious orchestra.
"The First Lady of Song," Ella Fitzgerald was arguably the finest female jazz singer of all time (although some may vote for Sarah Vaughan or Billie Holiday). Blessed with a beautiful voice and a wide range, Fitzgerald could outswing anyone, was a brilliant scat singer, and had near-perfect elocution; one could always understand the words she sang. The one fault was that, since she always sounded so happy to be singing, Fitzgerald did not always dig below the surface of the lyrics she interpreted and she even made a downbeat song such as "Love for Sale" sound joyous.

"The First Lady of Song," Ella Fitzgerald was arguably the finest female jazz singer of all time (although some may vote for Sarah Vaughan or Billie Holiday). Blessed with a beautiful voice and a wide range, Fitzgerald could outswing anyone, was a brilliant scat singer, and had near-perfect elocution; one could always understand the words she sang…

A 1971 live recording, from when Ella Fitzgerald was still at the peak of her vocal powers, Ella à Nice isn't one of the vocalist's all-time greatest live recordings, but it's a very nice set placing her in the company in which she felt most comfortable, a simple piano/bass/drums trio led by her longtime musical partner, Tommy Flanagan. Most of the set list's time is taken up by themed medleys such as "Aspects of Duke," "The Bossa Scene," and "The Many Faces of Cole Porter" that are perfectly nice but, as medleys tend to be, a little disappointing. One would rather hear Ella work her magic on the entirety of "The Girl From Ipanema" or "Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me" than be teased with a verse and chorus. On the other hand, the opening "Night and Day" is simply outstanding. Opening slowly with an extended vamp by Flanagan and bassist Frank DeLaRosa…

Ella Fitzgerald Live! was markedly different than the Songbook Ella. The self-possessed stylist could let her hair down and wail like a tenor player at an all-night jam. These 14 titles, recorded at six different venues with nine different ensembles, find her jamming and scatting and bubbling and reminiscing (in tempo, of course) with trios and quartets and all-stars and Ellington.

Ella Fitzgerald virtually invented the live album. The reason is simple: her performances were so consistently great that almost any live show was special enough to release as a record. In a sense, for Ella Fitzgerald, every night was The Moment of Truth. But this previously unknown concert stands out from the pack. In the summer of 1967 Ella Fitzgerald was in a particularly interesting place. She was in the middle of an especially rewarding three-year touring and recording collaboration with Duke Ellington and was incorporating hit pop songs of the late-60s into her concert repertoire—two of which are presented here for the first time on record.