Fitzgerald, Ella / Ella at the Hollywood Bowl: The Irving Berlin Songbook
Album: Ella at the Hollywood Bowl: The Irving Berlin Songbook   Collection:Jazz
Artist:Fitzgerald, Ella   Added:Jul 2022
Label:Verve Records  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2022-08-21 Pull Date: 2022-10-23 Charts: Jazz
Week Ending: Oct 23 Oct 16 Oct 9 Oct 2 Sep 25 Sep 11 Sep 4
Airplays: 2 1 1 1 2 3 3

Recent Airplay
1. Dec 31, 2022: Music Casserole
I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm, Top Hat, White Tie and Tails
4. Dec 03, 2022: Music Casserole
You're Laughing at Me
2. Dec 15, 2022: Traditions
How Deep Is the Ocean?
5. Nov 30, 2022: Run-Away Radio
Alexander's Ragtime Band
3. Dec 05, 2022: Dust and Bones
How Deep Is the Ocean?
6. Nov 09, 2022: The Mystery Machine
How Deep Is the Ocean?

Album Review
Be Sharp
Reviewed 2022-07-17
TRADITIONAL JAZZ VOCALS

Ella Fitzgerald’s recorded work includes much of the Great American Songbook; this includes famous studio albums covering the songs of the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Rogers & Hart, and Duke Ellington. In 1958 she released “Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Song Book.” Now we get a previously unreleased live concert with 15 of those songs, recorded in August 1958 with orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl.

FCC clean (of course)

1 mid-tempo & swinging; a past affair has left pleasant memories; a bit a scat singing (2:15)
2 * slow ballad; warm singing with lush strings and a nice trombone solo; no scat (3:26)
3 * slow dance number / love song; restrained acc’mt lets Ella’s gorgeous voice star (3:07)
4 ** mid-fast; a fun tune with brash horns in intro & bridge; play this on a hot day (2:01)
5 * slow & somber; a wife & mother reflects on her husband’s recent lynching; compare this to Ethel Waters’s famous, much sparser version (3:13)
6 ** mid-tempo & swinging; wonderful, joyous version of a classic (3:26)
7 very slow; short lullaby with harp accompaniment; skip it (1:52)
8 mid-tempo; this song is so associated with Fred Astaire it seems out of place (2:46)
9 * mid-fast; a bouncing & spirited version of a standard; play this in December (3:07)
10 very slow, a bit dreary; the singer struggles with her guilt of an illicit meeting (4:01)
11 slow intro then mid-tempo; a nice give and take with the band (2:50)
12 slow first verse, then mid-tempo & swinging; then slow again; ok but not great (3:16)
13 mid-tempo; this song wasn’t always a cliché, but… (2:02)
14 ** mid-tempo; a fun, swing era version of “dance like you just don’t care” (2:22)
15 *** mid-fast & very spirited; the finale & highlight; brass section mimics a Nola marching band; Ella’s melodic improvisations & bits of scat singing are delightful (3:02)

Track Listing
1. The Song Is Ended   8. Top Hat, White Tie and Tails
2. You're Laughing at Me   9. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
3. How Deep Is the Ocean?   10. Get Thee Behind Me Satan
4. Heat Wave   11. Let's Face the Music and Dance
5. Supper Time   12. Always
6. Cheek to Cheek   13. Puttin' on the Ritz
7. Russian Lullaby   14. Let Yourself Go
  15. Alexander's Ragtime Band