This performance at the Hollywood Bowl was incredibly unique for her.
While Ella’s live appearances had evolved over the years from her early big band years where she primarily sang in ballrooms with the Chick Webb Orchestra to supper clubs, theaters and concert halls, she mostly stuck to a nightclub format of performing a selection of songs accompanied by a trio. Directed by Alberto Baroni, the video for “Puttin’ On The Ritz” cleverly brings the song and Giulia Pelizzaro’s dynamic album art to life while the video for “Cheek To Cheek,” directed and animated by Sharon Liu, is a whimsical, beautifully hand drawn and painted video that pays homage to the world-famous venue which played such a pivotal part in Ella’s story and celebrates her through a dazzling array of gorgeous, ever-changing gowns as she struts and twirls across colorful scenes while masterfully singing the timeless tune. The lively rendition of “ Puttin’ On The Ritz” and the bewitching one-of-a-kind performance of Ella’s beloved song, “ Cheek To Cheek,” both debuted with animated videos.
#Ella fitzgerald songbook series#
The album is rounded out with insightful liner notes about the concert and Ella’s Songbook series by noted author and music critic, Will Friedwald.Įlla At The Hollywood Bowl: The Irving Berlin Songbook is available to stream and purchase now here: The live tracks were mixed from the original ¼” tapes by Grammy Award-winning producer and musician Gregg Field who played drums for Ella in her later years. And, although she performed regularly at the Hollywood Bowl, this is the first full-length concert by Ella from this iconic venue to be released (notably, Ella was featured prominently on Verve’s Jazz At The Hollywood Bowl album, recorded and released in 1956, the year Granz formed the label). It is also significant in that it captures the only time Ella worked in concert with arranger-conductor Paul Weston. This landmark record, discovered in the private collection of producer and Verve Records founder Norman Granz, marks the first time a live Songbook has been released from Ella. At the inaugural Grammy Awards, her Irving Berlin album won Ella her first Grammy for “Best Vocal Performance, Female,” and was also nominated for “Album Of The Year.”Īside from the lucky audience at the Hollywood Bowl that night, it wasn’t generally known, until the discovery of these tapes, that Ella had ever performed any of the Songbook arrangements in concert, let alone that such a pristine and sonically sumptuous recording existed.įor the first time, the full, never-before-released 15-song performance, aptly titled, Ella At The Hollywood Bowl: The Irving Berlin Songbook , has been released via Verve/UMe and is available on CD, vinyl, limited edition yellow splatter vinyl, and digitally. Widely considered her greatest achievement, Ella’s Songbook records, with peerless renditions of the best songs by America’s greatest composers, are the cornerstone of the Verve catalog and the undisputed standard for jazz vocal recordings.
#Ella fitzgerald songbook full#
Conducted and arranged by Paul Weston, who also arranged and conducted the studio sessions, this concert marked the only time that Ella performed these iconic arrangements live with a full orchestra. On August 16, 1958, just a few months after Ella Fitzgeraldrecorded her now-classic album, Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Irving Berlin Songbook , The First Lady Of Song performed selections from that album live at the Hollywood Bowl to an adoring, sold-out crowd.
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