Ella Fitzgerald: Complete Songbooks

This Grammy Award-winning box set is the final word on the "songbooks" recorded by Ella Fitzgerald between 1956 and 1964. In order of their initial release, contained within are Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book (1956), Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers & Hart Song Book (1956), Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book (1957), Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Song Book (1958), Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book (1959), Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book (1961), Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book (1963), and finally, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Song Book (1964). The audio contents have been completely remastered and each title has been expanded -- wherever possible -- to include previously unissued material. In terms of packaging, the producers went to extreme lengths to create exact reproductions of all the vintage LP jacket artwork. Even going so far as to precisely miniaturize the entire hardbound text The Gershwins: Words Upon Music that accompanied their 1959 collection as well as the booklet that came with the Ellington anthology. The icing on the cake is the newly created 120-page tome that puts both the eight respective songbooks -- and their over 240 musical selections -- in proper context of Fitzgerald's luminous career. Readers are also treated to behind-the-scenes insights on the artist's interaction with the veritable who's who of arrangers. Among them are Buddy Bregman, who worked on Cole Porter as well as Rodgers & Hart; the dynamic duo of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn on the Ellington set; Paul Weston directed the Irving Berlin entry; Nelson Riddle was in charge of the George and Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, and Jerome Kern installments; and Billy May held the baton during the Harold Arlen sessions. There are a few sides that shouldn't be overlooked, especially as they are otherwise or formerly unavailable. Particularly worthy of mention are "You're the Top," "I Concentrate on You," and "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" from Cole Porter. Plus, a ten-minute rehearsal with Ellington and an alternate of "Chelsea Bridge" from the same. The Gershwin affair yielded an extra version of "Oh, Lady Be Good," while the Arlen catalog produced outtakes of "Let's Take a Walk Around the Block" and "Sing My Heart." As previously mentioned, The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books (1993) received the nod for Best Historical Recording at the 36th Grammy Awards in 1994. ~ Lindsay Planer, Rovi

The Ella Fitzgerald's Songbooks, a monumental tribute to the American popular song and its greatest composers, was recorded for Verve between 1956 and 1964. There is likely no other singer possessed of the mix of talents that Fitzgerald brought to the project, a combination of sheer vocal technique, creativity in phrasing and rhythm, and fidelity to lyrics and intent. The sheer scale of the project contributes to its value, for Fitzgerald went far beyond the standard repertoire, rediscovering little-known gems by many of her subjects: Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Rodgers and Hart, Johnny Mercer, Irving Berlin, and Duke Ellington. The discs of Ellington material still stand out, illuminated by the presence of Duke and his band. They put Ellington, a master melodist as well as a great composer, in his rightful place in the pantheon of American songwriters. --Stuart Broomer