Ella Fitzgerald - The Complete Ella And Louis On Verve 1997 (2018)

Almost all of these summit meetings have been in print virtually since CDs first appeared in listeners' lives, but never in one package. Here, you get all of Ella and Louis, the double-album sets Ella and Louis Again and Porgy and Bess, and two live tracks recorded at the Hollywood Bowl in 1956 -- all in an unusual three-CD album that partially unfolds into an accordion-file (what will Verve's inventive packaging wizards think of next?). There are two booklets, one of which contains a rare recent interview with producer Norman Granz, and the other the notes from the original albums. Of the two wonderfully relaxed Ella and Louis albums, with their Oscar Peterson-driven rhythm quartets, the sequel seems a more diverse, more involving collection, although Satch doesn't play as much trumpet on Again as he does on the first album. Also, the two go it alone on several tracks, but one is not at all inconvenienced by the inclusion of solo gems like Armstrong's sly catalog of intercouplings on "Let's Do It." The Porgy session is an entirely different creature -- a big, formal presentation with Russ Garcia's lush yet atmospheric and even powerful orchestrations, reverberant sound (normally a Granz no-no), grandly moving vocal performances by the two, and a handful of tremendous trumpet solos from Pops. Alas, no unissued tracks turn up here, and of course, MCA still controls all of the earlier Decca duets (hence the disclaimer "Complete on Verve") -- so veteran Ella/Louis collectors may opt to hang on to earlier issues. But for those who don't have everything, this is irresistible.
Tracklist
[03:47] 01. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Can't We Be Friends?
[06:17] 02. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Isn't This A Lovely Day?
[03:43] 03. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Moonlight In Vermont
[04:40] 04. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - They Can't Take That Away From Me
[04:18] 05. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Under A Blanket Of Blue
[05:08] 06. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Tenderly
[04:34] 07. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - A Foggy Day
[03:35] 08. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Stars Fell On Alabama
[05:54] 09. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Cheek To Cheek
[05:42] 10. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - The Nearness Of You
[06:36] 11. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - April In Paris
[05:01] 12. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Don't Be That Way
[03:59] 13. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Makin' Whoopee
[03:50] 14. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - They All Laughed
[02:28] 15. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Comes Love
[05:57] 16. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Autumn In New York
[08:44] 01. Louis Armstrong - Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)
[05:16] 02. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Stompin' At The Savoy
[04:47] 03. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - I Won't Dance
[04:15] 04. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good To You?
[04:15] 05. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
[07:40] 06. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)
[03:12] 07. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
[04:21] 08. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Willow Weep For Me
[03:28] 09. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - I'm Puttin' All My Eggs In One Basket
[03:55] 10. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - A Fine Romance
[03:45] 11. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Ill Wind
[04:01] 12. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Love Is Here To Stay
[04:20] 13. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - I Get A Kick Out Of You
[07:10] 14. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Learnin' The Blues
[03:53] 15. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart)
[03:39] 16. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong Crummy Young Edmond Hall Billy Kyle Dale Jones Barrett Deems - Undecided (Live From The Hollywood Bowl/1956)
[10:49] 01. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Porgy And Bess: Overture
[04:59] 02. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Summertime
[04:35] 03. Ella Fitzgerald - I Wants To Stay Here
[04:00] 04. Ella Fitzgerald - My Man's Gone Now
[03:51] 05. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'
[02:56] 06. Ella Fitzgerald - Buzzard Song
[05:27] 07. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Bess You Is My Woman Now
[06:33] 08. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - It Ain't Necessarily So
[01:59] 09. Ella Fitzgerald - What You Want Wid Bess?
[04:46] 10. Louis Armstrong - A Woman Is A Sometime Thing
[01:58] 11. Ella Fitzgerald - Oh, Doctor Jesus
[03:27] 12. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - Porgy And Bess: Medley: Here Come De Honey Man / Crab Man / Oh, Dey's So Fresh And Fine
[04:53] 13. Ella Fitzgerald Louis Armstrong - There's A Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon For New York
[02:35] 14. Louis Armstrong - Bess, Oh Where's My Bess?
[02:57] 15. Louis Armstrong - Oh Lawd, I'm On My Way