1001 Albums

Producer: Norman Granz
Recorded: January, March and July 1959
Length: 194:10 (Phew!)
Label: Verve

Let me take a second to catch my breath here.

...

Ok. I can go on now. This album is a freakin' monster. So far I've been tooling along, ripping through albums and reviewing like mad. Then I hit the brick wall that is Ella Fitzgerald. It took me four different sittings to fully get through this thing. But I did it. I climbed Everest. Woot.

My previous statements should in no way detract from what Lady Ella did here. This album is epic (it clocks in at over 3 hours), and what makes it even more epic is that it's just one part of an enormous undertaking; The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Songbooks. No one in popular music today would set out to create a work like this. No one. Looking through her discography one would expect that this was all she worked on during the period, but no. She continued her live performances and put out somewhere between 2 to 4 albums a year in addition to the Songbook series. She was a beast!

But a beast with the perfect voice. I am truly jealous of those who haven't heard Ella sing before. I still remember the first time hearing her sing and everything just kind of slowing down. Her voice is absolutely flawless; its tone, perfect. Getting to hear her for the first time is definitely a spiritual experience. She truly is the best.

As for this album. It's super hard to give a review for this thing. There's a unifying thread here, sure, but other than each song is a Gershwin ditty we're really just dealing with song, song, song, song, song. After a while it does feel like every one of them is the same. Make no mistake, that "same" is superbly crafted fenditions of American popular songwriting...but even the best stuff is better when it's doled out in digestible chunks. There are tracks on here that swing really hard and make me smile every time I hear them, but there are just so many of them.

I guess to sum it all up, I will always listen to Ella and put her on during those quiet, lazy Saturday mornings when you're getting your weekend started. Will I ever sit down to listen to the entire Gershwin Songbook again? Not in my lifetime. Love the work, not so sure about the album as a whole. However, as a historical American document this thing is priceless and deserves its spot on this list.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Faves

• But Not For Me
  One of the best renditions of this tune. The definitive version, to be sure.
• Let's Call the Whole Thing Off, S'Wonderful
  Ira Gershwin was an amazing lyricist and these are two of the many examples.
• Love is Here to Stay
  I had a compilation album that culled tracks from the entire Songbook series onto one CD. This track was on it. Just a spot on originally beautiful album. The orchestration is fantastically dynamic as well. Oh snap, Nelson Riddle again!
• And so many more!