Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book
Studio album by Ella Fitzgerald
Released 1959
Recorded January, March and July 1959
Genre Vocal jazz
Length 3:16:48
Label Verve
Producer Norman Granz
Ella Fitzgerald chronology
Ella Fitzgerald Sings Sweet Songs for Swingers
(1959)		 Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book
(1959)		 Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife
(1960)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[2]

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book is a 1959 (see 1959 in music) five album set by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, focusing on the songs of George and Ira Gershwin. It was recorded with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, marking the first time that Fitzgerald and Riddle had worked together. This album is the largest single recording project that Fitzgerald worked on, and it is considered to be one of the most ambitious achievements in Western popular music.

The album cover is an original portrait of Fitzgerald by the French artist Bernard Buffet, starting a tradition of using contemporary artists for Fitzgerald's albums, the artwork of Henri Matisse gracing the cover of her Harold Arlen Songbook (1961).

Riddle arranged 59 Gershwin compositions for the album, including the two orchestral suites which open the album. Though Fitzgerald was 20 years old at the time George Gershwin died in 1937, Ira Gershwin was still alive to see this project completed, and helped contribute lyrics and support to some songs on the album which had never been recorded before. It was this project that led Ira Gershwin to say that he had "never known how good our songs were until I heard Ella sing them".

Ella Fitzgerald was 41 when she recorded this album, and at the peak of her vocal powers, demonstrated in the earlier Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book, and her two greatest live albums from this period, Ella in Berlin (1960) and Ella in Rome (1958). Like the other songbooks devoted to the Broadway composers, Fitzgerald gets only a single outlet for her notable scat singing, on "I Got Rhythm".

Fitzgerald's recording of "But Not for Me" won her the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Female.

It is listed as one of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

For the 1998 4-CD set Verve re-issue, Verve 314 539 759-2

All Tracks composed by George Gershwin and all lyrics written by Ira Gershwin, unless otherwise indicated.

Disc One

  1. Ambulatory Suite (Instrumental) (George Gershwin)
    • "Promenade (Walking the Dog)" – 2:31,
    • "March of the Swiss Soldiers" – 2:04,
    • "Fidgety Feet" – 2:46
  2. The Preludes (Instrumental) (G. Gershwin)
    • Prelude I – 1:36,
    • Prelude II – 3:48,
    • Prelude III – 1:13,
  3. "Sam and Delilah" – 3:15
  4. "But Not for Me" – 3:31
  5. "My One and Only" – 2:36
  6. "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" – 4:26
  7. "(I've Got) Beginner's Luck" – 3:08
  8. "Oh, Lady Be Good!" – 3:58
  9. "Nice Work If You Can Get It" – 3:32
  10. "Things Are Looking Up" – 3:03
  11. "Just Another Rhumba" – 5:34
  12. "How Long Has This Been Going On?" – 3:45
  13. "'S Wonderful" – 3:28
  14. "The Man I Love" – 3:50
  15. "That Certain Feeling" – 3:07
  16. "By Strauss" – 2:29
  17. "Someone to Watch Over Me" – 4:30
  18. "The Real American Folk Song (is a Rag)" – 3:43

Disc Two

  1. "Who Cares?" – 3:05
  2. "Looking for a Boy" – 3:02
  3. "They All Laughed" – 3:02
  4. "My Cousin in Milwaukee" – 3:07
  5. "Somebody from Somewhere" – 3:06
  6. "A Foggy Day" – 3:50
  7. "Clap Yo' Hands" – 2:28
  8. "For You, For Me, For Evermore" – 3:23
  9. "Stiff Upper Lip" – 2:50
  10. "Boy Wanted" – 3:33
  11. "Strike Up the Band" – 2:33
  12. "Soon" – 2:20
  13. "I've Got a Crush on You" – 3:26
  14. "Bidin' My Time" – 2:40
  15. "Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?" – 3:28
  16. "Of Thee I Sing" – 3:07
  17. "'The Half of It, Dearie' Blues" – 3:45
  18. "I Was Doing All Right" – 3:25
  19. "He Loves and She Loves" – 2:46
  20. "Love is Sweeping the Country" – 3:24
  21. "Treat Me Rough" – 2:54

Disc Three

  1. "Our Love Is Here to Stay" – 3:52
  2. "Slap That Bass" – 3:23
  3. "Isn't It a Pity?" – 3:23
  4. "Shall We Dance?" – 3:08
  5. "Love Walked In" – 3:52
  6. "You've Got What Gets Me" – 2:13
  7. "They Can't Take That Away from Me" – 3:07
  8. "Embraceable You" – 4:49
  9. "I Can't Be Bothered Now" – 2:48
  10. "Boy! What Love Has Done to Me!" – 3:46
  11. "Fascinating Rhythm" – 3:22
  12. "Funny Face" – 3:23
  13. "The Lorelei" – 3:21
  14. "Oh, So Nice!" – 3:40
  15. "Let's Kiss and Make Up" – 3:49
  16. "I Got Rhythm" – 3:07

Disc Four - Tracks 3 to 16 are Alternate Takes and Remixes

  1. "Somebody Loves Me" (G. Gershwin, Buddy DeSylva, Ballard MacDonald) – 2:36
  2. "Cheerful Little Earful" (Harry Warren, Ira Gershwin, Billy Rose) – 2:06
  3. "But Not for Me" – 2:05 (45 rpm Take)
  4. "The Lorelei" (Alternate Take) – 3:00
  5. "Our Love is Here to Stay" (Partial Alternate Take) – 3:51
  6. "Oh, Lady be Good!" (Alternate Take) – 4:04
  7. "Oh, Lady be Good!" (Alternate Take) – 3:56
  8. "Oh, Lady be Good!" (Alternate Take) – 4:12
  9. "But Not for Me" – 2:05 (Mono Mix)
  10. "Fascinating Rhythm" – 3:21 (Mono Mix)
  11. "They All Laughed" – 3:02 (Mono Mix)
  12. "The Man I Love" – 3:50 (Mono Mix)
  13. "Nice Work If You Can Get It" – 3:32 (Mono Mix)
  14. "Clap Yo' Hands" – 2:29 (Mono Mix)
  15. "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" – 4:26 (Mono Mix)
  16. "I Was Doing All Right" – 3:25 (Mono Mix)
  17. "He Loves and She Loves" – 2:46 (Mono Mix)
  18. "(I've Got) Beginner's Luck" – 3:07 (Mono Mix)

Notes

  1. ↑ The booklet of the 1998 4-CD set is most probably misprinted. It gives "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George & Ira Gershwin Songbook Vol.1 Verve MGVS 6102", as the original issue for these tracks, but MGVS 6102 is the catalogue number for Get Happy, while MGV-4013 is the LP mentioned later in the same booklet as the original issue for the tracks.

Personnel

All tracks recorded in 1959 at Capitol Studios, Hollywood on January 5-8, March 18 and 26, and July 15-17.

Combined personnel listing for all tracks
String section

References

  1. ↑ "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book". AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-07-18.
  2. ↑ Swenson, J. (Editor) (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 78. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
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