Ella Live

This wonderful DVD features Ella Fitzgerald, one of the great divas of jazz singing. This performance consists of the second half of a 1983 Tokyo concert. We begin with a set presenting Ella backed by her regular trio with Paul Smith on piano. The accompaniment is then augmented to a quartet with the addition of the great guitarist Joe Pass. The singer and guitarist had made a few unique albums together, and their magical chemistry can be seen here on an Ellington medley and a version of the Carmichael evergreen “Georgia on My Mind’. For a big finale, a number of jazz stars (Clark Terry, J.J. Johnson, Zoot Sims, Oscar Peterson…) join them on the classic “Flying Home”, ending the concert in the spirit of the great jazz jam sessions.

This two-CD set brings back a memorable Carnegie Hall concert that both features and pays tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. The great singer is joined on a few numbers by a Chick Webb reunion band that has a few of the original members (plus an uncredited Panama Francis on drums). Although the musicians do not get much solo space (why wasn't trumpeter Taft Jordan featured?), the music is pleasing. Fitzgerald performs three exquisite duets with pianist Ellis Larkins and then sits out while the Jazz at the Philharmonic All-Stars romp on a few jams and a ballad medley. Trumpeter Roy Eldridge's emotional flights take honors, although tenorman Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and trombonist Al Grey are also in good form…

Ella Fitzgerald - The Complete Decca Singles, Vol. 1: 1935-1939 (2017) {4CD Set, Verve Reissues, Digital Only Issue}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Digital Download -> 1.11 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 683 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 1935-39, 2017 Verve Reissues / UMG | Digital Only Issue
Jazz / Vocal Jazz / Bop / Standards / Swing

Come on folks, this is ELLA FITZGERALD we're talking about. Ella from her early years, recording for Decca Records. Oh the songs on this collection! Oh the memories! Every single song is fabulous and if you like music, you need to own this collection. Not just Jazz, not just Swing, not just Pop - but all Ella, all GREAT. Highly recommended.

A massively comprehensive look at the earliest years of Ella Fitzgerald on record – the legendary recordings she made with the Chick Webb orchestra at the end of the 30s and start of the 40s! Ella was way more than just another singer with a band – as her presence in the Webb group really dominated its recording history, so much so that there were nearly five times as many Chick Webb singles with vocals by Ella as there were instrumentals by the group! Fitzgerald's placement was for good reason, too – as her singing abilities were landmark – almost more with the deftness of an instrument than most other singers who'd come before, and developed amazingly over the course of the seven years presented in the set. If you only know Ella from all her later famous sides – and plenty of those are wonderful, too – you'll find even more to love here – a beautifully remastered presentation of 187 titles that were originally issued on 78rpm singles, all collected here for the first time ever – with amazing notes, photos, and details on all the music. The set's not only a great illustration of the strength of the Webb and Fitzgerald team, but also of the way that Mosaic's talents for compilation can work especially well for the pre-LP years of jazz!