Ella Fitzgerald – The Hits

One of the few great ladies of jazz song, Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) inflected each tune with her unique sense of swing. The songs selected here have been carefully chosen among her best works, composed by such names as Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart, and Duke Ellington. Many of these tunes were taken from the celebrated song books that gained her enormous prestige. These are all studio recordings with the sole exception of her celebrated reading of Kurt Weill s Mack the Knife which was an absolute hit in her Ella in Berlin LP. The version of A-Tisket a-Tasket presented here is a 1957 reworking of her original hit, which she had first recorded with the Chick Webb orchestra in 1938. Antonio Carlos Jobim s Desafinado was one of Ella s first bossa nova recordings, taped when that music style was starting to win adepts in the United States, especially thanks to Stan Getz s incursions in the genre. Summertime and A Fine Romance present Ella singing amazing vocal duets with Louis Armstrong. Sophisticated Lady, from Ella s Duke Ellington Songbook, showcases her in a small group format featuring such stars as Ben Webster, Stuff Smith and Barney Kessel. Misty is a wonderful voice/ piano duet with her long-time accompanist, pianist Paul Smith.