1027 - Mojo 5. Ella Fitzgerald - Sings the Cole Porter Songbook (1956)

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. All Through The Night
2. Anything Goes
3. Miss Otis Regrets (She's Unable To Lunch Today)
4. Too Darn Hot
5. In The Still Of The Night
6. I Get A Kick Out Of You
7. Do I Love You?
8. Always True To You In My Fashion
9. Let's Do It
10. Just One Of Those Things
11. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
12. All Of You
13. Begin The Beguine
14. Get Out Of Town
15. I Am In Love
16. From This Moment On




Disc 2:

1. I Love Paris
2. You Do Something To Me
3. Ridin' High
4. Easy To Love
5. It's All Right With Me
6. Why Can't You Behave?
7. What Is This Thing Called Love?
8. You're The Top
9. Love For Sale
10. It's DeLovely
11. Night And Day
12. Ace In The Hole
13. So In Love
14. I've Got You Under My Skin
15. I Concentrate On You
16. Don't Fence Me In
17. You're The Top
18. I Concentrate On You
19. Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)

Review

A long, long time ago... somewhere in 2006 I reviewed Ella's recording of the Gershwin songbook, which was much too long split between 6 albums and frankly a bit of an overkill not matter how good the versions were. Now we get a different item in her collection of songbooks... and it's much better.

It is not only better because it is more manageable at two CDs, but because Cole Porter was simply an endlessly amusing and interesting song writer, while I admire the Gershwins more for their compositional skills, even if Ira was indeed a great lyricist.

Each and every track here is precious, Cole Porter is at the same time touching and transgressive, often in the same song (Miss Otis Regrets), often extremely funny while still transgressive (Let's Do It), and just generally a free spirit. Ella brings to this a genuine enjoyment of the lyrics as well as her perfect diction which really shines with such great lyrics. The arrangements are standard, however, Ella is so amazingly expressive and clear as a singer that a majority of the songs here are definitive version. Highly recommended.

Track Highlights

1. You're The Top
2. Night and Day
3. Let's Do It
4. It's De-Lovely

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

This album inaugurated Fitzgerald's Songbook series, each of the eight albums in the series focusing on a different composer of the canon known as the Great American Songbook. Fitzgerald's manager, (and the producer of many of her albums), Norman Granz, visited Cole Porter at the Waldolf-Astoria, and played him this entire album. Afterwards, Porter merely remarked, "My, what marvellous diction that girl has".

You're the Top: