Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Harold Arlen Song Book (Remastered) Ella Fitzgerald

• 1Blues In The Night07:14
• 2Let's Fall In Love04:05
• 3Stormy Weather05:16
• 4Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea02:26
• 5My Shining Hour04:02
• 6Hooray For Love02:47
• 7This Time The Dream's On Me04:39
• 8That Old Black Magic04:13
• 9I've Got The World On A String04:53
• 10Let's Take A Walk Around The Block04:02
• 11Ill Wind (You're Blowin' Me No Good)03:55
• 12Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive03:38
• 13When The Sun Comes Out05:09
• 14Come Rain Or Come Shine03:24
• 15As Long As I Live03:48
• 16Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe03:30
• 17It's Only A Paper Moon03:37
• 18The Man That Got Away05:23
• 19One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)03:58
• 20It Was Written In The Stars05:11
• 21Get Happy03:33
• 22I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues05:12
• 23Out Of This World02:46
• 24Over The Rainbow04:16
• Total Runtime01:40:57

Info for Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Harold Arlen Song Book (Remastered)

„Ella Fitzgerald's idea to sing the songbooks of major writers proved smart, savvy, and artful. By the time she began to record Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book in 1960, she had sung the songbooks of Duke Ellington, Rodgers & Hart, and Irving Berlin.

This relaxed and tastefully arranged set showcases Fitzgerald in her prime, confidently engaging 28 of Arlen's best songs. Familiar pieces like 'One for My Baby' and 'That Old Black Magic' make appearances, along with all-time classics like 'Stormy Weather' and 'Over the Rainbow.' On this latter tune, she adds the front verses, an appealing addition that few will be familiar with. Billy May's orchestra lays down a quiet mix of horns and strings that perfectly supports Fitzgerald on songs like 'When the Sun Comes Out' and 'Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe.' Four bonus tracks, including two alternative cuts, spice up the package. A particular oddity, 'Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead,' converts surprisingly well into big-band jazz.

The attractive CD set also includes the original album cover, an outline of a face drawn by Henri Matisse. Sings the Harold Alden Song Book is an exquisite album, a classic in vocal jazz, and one of Fitzgerald's best recordings.“ (Ronnie D.)

Lankford Jr. Conrad Gozzo, trumpet
Joseph Triscari, trumpet
Milt Bernhart, trombone
Dick Nash, trombone
Edward Kusby, trombone
Richard Noel, trombone
George Roberts, bass trombone
Justin Gordon, woodwinds
Wilbur Schwartz, woodwinds
Henry Beau, woodwinds
Jules Jacobs, woodwinds
Emil Richards, vibraphone
Paul Andrew Smith, piano
Lou Levy, piano
John Collins, guitar
Al Hendrickson, guitar
Herb Ellis, guitar
Joe Mondragon, bass
Wilfred Middlebrooks, bass
Alvin Stoller, drums

Recorded At Capitol Records and Radio Recorders Annex, Hollywood, California in August 1960 & January 1961
Produced by Norman Granz

Digitally remastered.

Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)
was, along with Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday, one of the most important vocalists to emerge from the big-band era. Her style is marked by a sunny outlook, a girlish innocence, and a virtuoso command of her voice.

Fitzgerald was born out of wedlock in Newport News, Virginia, to a laundress mother and a father who disappeared when she was three years old. Along with her mother and her mother’s new boyfriend who functioned as a stepfather, she soon moved to Yonkers, New York, where she began her schooling. Around the third grade she started dancing, a pursuit that became almost an obsession. In 1932, when she was fifteen, her mother died suddenly of a heart attack. Her stepfather treated her badly, but an aunt took the teenager to live with her in Harlem. This arrangement did not last long; Fitzgerald ran away in 1934 to live on the streets. Late that year she won a talent contest at the Apollo Theater; she had entered as a dancer, but nervousness caused her to sing instead. Several months later she joined drummer Chick Webb’s big band, where she mostly sang novelties like 'Vote for Mr. Rhythm'. In 1938 she recorded 'A-Tisket, A-Tasket', her own adaptation of a turn-of-the-century nursery rhyme, which took the country by storm and eventually sold a million copies. When Webb died in 1939 the band’s management installed Fitzgerald as leader.

In 1942 the band broke up and Fitzgerald became a single act, touring with various other popular names of the day. She also became interested in scat singing and the newly emerging style known as bebop, and in 1945 she recorded a landmark version of 'Flying Home.' Several tours with the Dizzy Gillespie band also contributed to her assimilation of the bebop style.

In the late 1940s Fitzgerald began to tour with the Jazz at the Philharmonic troupe, working with such leading musicians as saxophonist Lester Young, trumpeter Roy Eldridge, pianist Oscar Peterson, and bassist Ray Brown, to whom she was married for four years. JATP impresario Norman Granz became increasingly influential in her career, and in 1953 he became her manager.

Three years after that he became her record producer as well, recording her on his own Verve label. He wasted little time in having Fitzgerald record a double album of Cole Porter songs. Fitzgerald made many wonderful albums for Verve in the following decade, but the six songbooks occupy a special place in her discography. They were instrumental in expanding Fitzgerald’s appeal beyond that of a 'jazz singer' and creating a demand for her in venues not usually open to jazz artists.

For die-hard jazz fans, though, the well-polished jewels of the songbook series lack the raw energy of Fitzgerald’s live performances. Happily, Granz released several landmark concert albums by her as well. Especially exciting was a 1960 Berlin concert, which featured an electrifying performance of an impromptu take on 'Mack the Knife,' which became a Top 30 single. Fitzgerald usually performed with a trio or quartet, but there were also appearances with larger groups, such as the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras. By the 1960s Fitzgerald had become wealthy enough to retire, but the love of performing drove her on — she appeared regularly until just a couple of years before her death in 1996. Sidemen came and went, but except when health problems intervened she performed as much as humanly possible, sometimes singing concerts in two different cities in one day. Source: Verve Music (Phil Bailey). Excerpted from Ken Burns’ Jazz: The Definitive Ella Fitzgerald

This album contains no booklet.