Irving Berlin

It is difficult to know where to begin when approaching an artist as wonderful as Ella Fitzgerald, especially when covering a revered recording like Sings the Irving Berlin Song Book from the late '50s. This set includes two CDs with 32 songs chosen from Berlin's collection of nearly 800 songs. These selections are perfectly suited for Fitzgerald's voice and her romantic sensibility; they are happy, occasionally sad, and full of swinging rhythm. A few of these songs - "Cheek to Cheek," "Puttin' on the Ritz," and "Blue Skies" - will be most familiar; others, "Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails," "Russian Lullaby," and "All By Myself" are as memorable but perhaps less known. Choices like "Isn't This a Lovely Day?" feature everything a listener would want in a song: intelligent lyrics, memorable melodies, and a strong emotional center…

Ella Fitzgerald’s Verve songbook albums of the mid-’50s to mid-’60s stand as cultural landmarks, but there’s scant documentation of her performing these composer-specific projects live in concert. This unissued Irving Berlin item, from the personal collection of Verve founder Norman Granz, is a head-turning exception. With a full orchestra arranged and conducted by Paul Weston (who worked on the 1958 studio album as well), the First Lady of Song offers 15 gems from one of the world’s greatest composers, Israel Beilin (1888-1989).