Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Cole Porter Songbook

Long considered a jewel in Verve Records' very impressive crown, Fitzgerald's songbook collections of various composers--a series that was started by the success of this set--are all wonderful, but her natural wit and intelligence was at its most perfect with Cole Porter's erudite, urbane songs. While not as scat-oriented as her small group outings, these Porter sets offer her most realized pop performances. Also, the gold remastering does a fine job of bringing out the nuances in the arrangements, making this a treasure for the serious collector and the casual listener alike. A true American music gem. --Skip Heller Amazon.com

polished to perfection...

Very polished performances, arrangements and recordings, make for two hours of listening pleasure, with these 35 songs from 1956. It's nice to have these mellow classics playing in the background. January 6, 2008

Best Female Vocalist

She is the best female vocalist of all time. I have been listening to her since I was a child in the 1970s. When she passed on in the mid 1990s, I was saddened. All the songs in this album is the best of all her song books and other singer's songbooks. Her voice is so marvelous, natural and smooth. She is simply the best and no other vocalists can beat her. December 5, 2007

I Love Ella in Paris!

I received this CD for Christmas. I never listened to
another Christmas carol after this started playing.
This not only has Ella's great vocals, but it has songs
that everyone, at least everyone of my age, knows
and loves. On a trip to Paris we listened
to it every evening in our apartment while sipping our wine and watching
the barges glide down the Seine. When Ella sang "I Love
Paris", that did it for my friend. She bought it as soon as she got back home. January 30, 2007

A Best Seller in Heaven

The de-lightful-est! The de-lovely-est! It doesn't get better than this!

Vaishali, Naples, FL January 5, 2007

The First Lady of Song Sings Cole Porter Gems

"In Ella Fitzgerald there is a basic purity of sound and of style; she sings truly and she sings honestly. She is the Hemingway of the singers. Is there another singer alive today whose work, like Hemingway, is so basic and simple on the surface and yet so meaningful? There are none, of course. In the jargon Hemingway loves so well, today it is Ella, the champion, against the field." ~ Norman Granz ~

"What it is we recognize and enjoy as distinctively "Cole Porter" in Cole Porter lyric? Actually there are many great things in Porter lyrics and this gives them a continuing charm by always giving us something new to discover. But there is a key trait or quality that is paramount in a Porter lyric. It is intelligence that is the reigning force in Porter, putting all his facts, facilities and philosophies into the right balance to make good entertainment. And that, after all, is his purpose." ~ Fred Lounsberry ~

This two-CD-set presents the very best of Cole Porter songs as interpreted by the legendary songbird, Ella Fitzgerald at her best, and arranged and conducted by Buddy Bregman so remarkably wonderful. It's one of the best-ever Songbook series she recorded. This set offers a compilation of the most popular Cole Porter gems from stage shows and motion pictures from 1929 thru 1954, except for one track, "Miss Otis Regrets," which is neither from stage nor screen.

Cole Porter was one of the few great songwriters who can creatively write a song by himself and didn't need a songwriting partner. He was at par with Irving Berlin and Frank Loesser in that category. In these recordings, his songs really shine through with Ella Fitzgerald's beautiful interpretations, from "Begin The Beguine," "Do I Love You" and "Every Time We Say Goodbye" to "You Do Something To Me," "Easy To Love" and "I Concentrate On You."

This is essential not only to all Ella Fitzgerald and Cole Porter fans, but also to anyone who loves the Songbook series.

A collector's item.

December 12, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...