The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books

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The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books

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With her signing to Verve in 1956, Ella Fitzgerald (under producer Norman Granz's guidance) began a series of Songbook projects in which the singer (backed by orchestras) performed the works of various major composers. Her Cole Porter Songbook was so well-received that it was followed by ones featuring the music of Rodgers & Hart, Duke Ellington (half of which featured his band), Irving Berlin, a massive salute to George & Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, and Johnny Mercer. This 16-CD box set is not for everyone (due to its cost) and is not the most jazz-oriented of Ella Fitzgerald's recordings (she does not scat much and some of the string arrangements weigh the music down a little), but her voice is in peak form and this was a very classy (and extensive) project. The reissue (which uses miniature reproductions of the original LPs along with a definitive book, all placed in a red box) is a gem, perfectly done.