Best of the Songbooks

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Ella Fitzgerald
Best of the Song Books

Ella Fitzgerald sings on all tracks, accompanied by:

1. Something's Gotta Give 2:33
(Johnny Mercer)

Nelson Riddle's orchestra, including Buddy DeFranco (cl); Willie Smith (as); Frank Flynn (vb); Paul Smith (p); Riddle (arr, cond).

Recorded October 1964 in Los Angeles.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Song Book Verve V6-4067

2. Love Is Here to Stay 3:52
(George and Ira Gershwin)

Nelson Riddle's orchestra, including Don Fagerquist (t); Bob Cooper (ts); unknown strings; Alvin Stoller (d); Riddle (arr, cond).

Recorded January 5, 7, or 8, 1959 in Los Angeles.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book Verve MGVS 6082-5

3. Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered 7:02
(Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart)

Paul Smith (p); Barney Kessel (g); Joe Mondragon (b); Alvin Stoller (d).

Recorded August 29,1956 in Los Angeles.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers and Hart Song Book Verve MGV 4002-2

4. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm 2:56
(Irving Berlin)

Paul Weston's orchestra; personnel unknown; Weston (arr, cond).

Recorded March 18, 1958 in Los Angeles.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Song Book Verve MGVS 6005-2

5. The Lady Is a Tramp 3:21
(Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart)

Buddy Bregman's orchestra; personnel unknown; Bregman (arr, cond).

Recorded August 21,1956 in Los Angeles.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers and Hart Song Book Verve MGV 4002-2

6. I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good) 6:13
(Duke Ellington-Paul Francis Webster)

Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Cat Anderson, Willie Cook, Ray Nance, Clark Terry (t); Quentin Jackson, John Sanders, Britt Woodman (tb); Jimmy Hamilton (el, ts); Russell Procope (as, el), Johnny Hodges (as); Paul Gonsalves (ts); Harry Carney (bs, bel); Ellington (p); Jimmy Woode (b); Sam Woodyard (d).

Recorded June 25,1957 in New York.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book Verve MGV 4010-4

7. Miss Otis Regrets 3:00
(Cole Porter)

Paul Smith (p); Barney Kessel (g); Joe Mondragon (b); Alvin Stoller (d).

Recorded February 7, 1956 in Los Angeles.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book Verve MGV 4001-2

8. 'S Wonderful 3:21
(George and Ira Gershwin)

Nelson Riddle's orchestra; personnel unknown; Riddle (arr, cond).

Recorded July 16, 1959 in Los Angeles.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book Verve MGVS 6082-5

9. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea 2:21
(Harold Arlen-Ted Koehler)

Billy May's orchestra, including Larry Bunker (vb); Paul Smith (p); John Collins or AI Hendrickson (g); Joe Mondragon (b); Alvin Stoller (d).

Recorded January 16, 1961 in Los Angeles.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings v the Harold Arlen Song Book Verve MGV 4046-2

10. Love for Sale 5:53
(Cole Porter)

Buddy Bregman's orchestra; personnel unknown; Bregman (arr, cond).

Recorded February 8,1956 in Los Angeles.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book Verve MGV 4001-2

11. They Can't Take That Away from Me 3:09
(George and Ira Gershwin)

Nelson Riddle's orchestra, including Don Fagerquist (t); Bob Cooper (ts); unknown strings; Alvin Stoller (d); Riddle (arr, cond).

Recorded January 5,7, or 8, 1959 in Los Angeles.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book Verve MGVS 6082-5

12. Midnight Sun 4:51
(Francis J. Burke-Johnny Mercer)

Nelson Riddle's orchestra, including Buddy DeFranco (cl); Willie Smith (as); Frank Flynn (vb); Paul Smith (p); Riddle (arr, cond).

Recorded October 1964 in Los Angeles.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Song Book Verve V6-4067

13. Hooray for love 2:42
(Harold Arlen-Leo Robin)

Billy May's orchestra, including Ted Nash (as); Larry Bunker (vb); Paul Smith (p); John Collins or Al Hendrickson (g); Joe Mondragon (b); Alvin Stoller (d).

Recorded August 1, 1960 in Los Angeles.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book Verve MGV 4046-2

14. Why Was I Born? 3:44
(Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II)

Nelson Riddle's orchestra; personnel unknown; Riddle (arr, cond).

Recorded January 6, 1963 in Los Angeles.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book Verve V6- 4060

15. Cotton Tail 3:24
(Duke Ellington)

Ben Webster (ts); Paul Smith (p); Barney Kessel (g); Stuff Smith (v); Joe Mondragon (b); Alvin Stoller (d).

Recorded September 4 or 16, 1957 in Los Angeles.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book Verve MGV 4010-4

16. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye 3:32
(Cole Porter)

Buddy Bregman's orchestra; personnel unknown; Bregman (arr, cond).

Recorded February 7,1957 in Los Angeles.
Original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book Verve MGV 4001-2

Original recordings produced by Norman Granz

These selections are taken from The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books, a sixteen-CD box set. All recordings are newly remastered from the original LP sources.
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Ella Fitzgerald’s songbook series in ensured a place in history, not only for more than two hundred songs written by some of the greatest American composers of the twentieth century, but for the artist who brought those songs to life. This collection, offering a cross section of her songbook work, will satisfy both the novice and the discriminating listener.

From 1956 to 1964 Ella recorded, in order, the songs of Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, George & Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, and Johnny Mercer in songbook sets that were anywhere from one to five LPs in length. Enveloping her in those songs were arrangements by Buddy Bregman, Billy May, Nelson Riddle, and Paul Weston. Each set was lavishly produced by Norman Granz, with careful engineering by Val Valentin; some had extensive liner notes and original artwork too.

How to program a set of sixteen songs from such a field of work? Actually, it was easier than it might sound. Ella has always had masterful timing; her concerts have always been carefully crafted in choice and pace. These songs are presented in much the same way. All the listener has to do is sit back, enjoy, and provide applause.

An Ella concert always starts with a swinger; Nelson Riddle’s arrangement of Something’s Gotta Give is a rouser. The tempo is a finger-snapper, with enough brass to propel her across the finish line. She can swing anything, but when given such musical support with a truly inventive Mercer lyric, she just burns up the track.

The last song George Gershwin composed, Love Is Here To Stay, has for years been included in Fitzgerald concerts as the second number, a natural transition from the opening blast to the first ballad. With another able assist from Riddle, the singer and the song are one.

Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered is one of those love songs to which everyone knows the melody but some people lose the lyrics. Ella gives us the full intent of the song brought forth through her careful handling of Larry Hart’s meaning. Much of the treasure mined from these songbooks was in the lost or little-used verses and refrains that were then given recording posterity.

A change of pace usually fills the next slot on the bill. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm is arguably the best number from the Berlin songbook, Paul Weston zinging Ella through it like a champion racer. Balance this against Rodgers and Hart's The Lady Is a Tramp, a comedy song Ella finds humor in by singing with complete seriousness to at vivacious Buddy Bregman chart.

l Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good) is a piece of Ellingtonia that is deeply etched in the Fitzgerald mythos. The songbook it comes from was the only one in which the principal was actually involved in the recording. Contemplate the moan of Johnny Hodges's saxophone solo at the break to understand just how important Duke's involvement was to the success of this collection. Often, Ella would throw in Cole Porter's Miss Otis Regrets after such a ballad, as an almost internal encore. It has remained one of her most requested songs. Not written for any particular production, the dark humor of this number just came to Porter one day.

Shifting gears, the Gershwin’s ‘S Wonderful has an easy bounce with which the singer has always been comfortable, with Charleston-era slang adding charm to the verse. Harold Arlen's Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea had been done by Ella in the early Fifties; for this rendition Billy May had to create a new sound while allowing the singer the comfort of her familiar vocal line. Both allow Ella adequate swing time in the body of the song.

Love for Sale is one of the most haunting tunes Porter ever penned. Although Bregman's muted trumpets sound a little dated today, at the time of its release the Cole Porter songbook redefined this entire genre of LP, marrying theme and substance to produce adult music of the highest caliber.

Two Nelson Riddle-arranged songs follow, showing a top craftsman bringing the most out of tunes that have been recorded time and time again. In both cases, Ella's vocals get to the heart of the lyric's intent and raise these efforts well above the mundane versions of her contemporaries. They Can't Take That Away from Me has been included in Fitzgerald concerts for more than thirty years, always a crowd pleaser. Midnight Sun simply drips with Riddle's sound but never interferes with the incredibly fluid vocal line.

Hooray for Love is choice Arlen and choice Billy May. The tune allows Miss Fitz to do what she was perhaps best known for in these songbooks: swing. Conversely, the Jerome Kern songbook is perhaps the least satisfying of the collections: Poor song choices and the shift in the Sixties in record producing (from an adult to a teenage market) kept this collection to one LP. Why Was I Born? is choice; the lyric relies heavily on an American idiom that allows Ella to be the chanteuse.

Ella has always ended with a scat number. Cotton Tail gives her a chance to jam as she trades time with the musicians at hand; the vocalist here adapts a big-band swing chart for her personalized bop style. Cole Porter's Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye is the comely encore to our collection-as-concert, a song that means Ella Fitzgerald to many fans, especially the folks in Great Britain.

Coda

While this sampler tries to have all of the composers represented equally, Porter does make three appearances; not because his songbook is the best, but because it is the most important. His songbook was the effort that set the pace for all that was to come. Here was a genius composer with the broad spectrum of his efforts given their due by a top arranger and the greatest female singer of the century: Ella Fitzgerald.

Geoffrey Mark Fidelman
June 1993
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Geoffrey Mark Fidelman is the author of the manuscript "Ella: For the Record – The Fabulous Career of the First Lady of Song".