Twelve Nights in Hollywood | Ella Fitzgerald | The First Lady of Song Defends Her Title

Twelve Nights in Hollywood | Ella Fitzgerald | Amazing recording

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	Twelve Nights in Hollywood Ella Fitzgerald Hip-O Select, 2009 average customer review:based on 30 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Ella Fitzgerald's Twelve Nights In Hollywood is an unprecedented release - a 4-CD box set of 73 completely unreleased live recordings from Ella in her relaxed, absolute prime. For Twelve Nights In Hollywood Verve Select dug into the vault to collect the best of her performances across her extended 10-night 1961 engagement at Los Angeles' Crescendo Club - which originally resulted in the hit LP Ella In Hollywood - and her two-night return engagement the following year, presenting an unforgettable experience that puts you right in the front seat at the club, without repeating any performances from the original album. It includes several tracks never before heard by Ella live, tracks she had just recorded or had yet to record in the studio, and old chestnuts she revisited in a fresh way. Standouts among many across the four discs include "But Not For Me," "Nice Work If You Can Get It," "Perdido," "How High the Moon" and "When Your Lover Has Gone."

Twelve Nights In Hollywood is housed in exquisite packaging - same 7 3/8" square dimensions as the Oscar Peterson set, complete with extensive liner notes, detailed annotations, rare photos, and specially commissioned album cover art by Hall of Fame illustrator Bart Forbes. There have been several Ella live albums, but this is indeed unlike any other.

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The First Lady of Song Defends Her Title

In the sixties and seventies it was possible to go to a small supper club and for an investment of twenty bucks get a decent dinner, a seat right next to the stage, and entertainment from the likes of Getz and Oscar Peterson, Ahmad and Coltrane, Sarah and Ella. By 1980 the party was over, and I'm not quite sure why the economics had suddenly changed so dramatically from the previous two decades. But the music--and entertainment--has never been the same. All the more reason to take advantage of this opportunity to return to a time that was.

One of the most-played albums in my collection is "Sarah Vaughan at Mr. Kelly's," which now is likely to get some competition from this new Ella set. Even though Ella is slightly more relaxed and informal than the live recordings done in epic-scale venues--the Opera House, the Rome and Berlin (Mack the Knife) concerts, the Hollywood Bowl and Los Angeles Civic Auditorium recordings--the energy level might be described as "without governors." She's swinging harder than ever yet, as usual, is able to bring it down instantly for those mellow, intimate ballads. As for some of the carping about this collection, it's hard to be sympathetic with the complainers after hearing the quality of the music. The audio is good enough to put me in the actual audience's space, right down in front, where Ella's voice, the distinct notes of the walking bass, the zing of the cymbals and chic of the hi-hat are equally clear. True, it's not quite the equal of a "more perfect" studio recording, which would probably tone down the rhythm section and throw away the moments when the mic momentarily distorts or picks up a few unwanted sibilants. But that's live music, folks, and for my money, the music, not to mention the listener's experience, is all the better for it.

My other Ella albums feature celebrated accompanists like Jimmy Jones or monster jazz pianists like Tommy Flanagan and Paul Smith. This one has Lou Levy, who also frequently worked with Peggy Lee and is certainly one of the West Coast's all-time best. There are a few pauses, acknowledgements of celebrities in the audience, moments of indecision about a lyric or the next song--all of which humanize arguably the singer who could live up to the description bestowed upon her by Mel Torme as the "the greatest who ever lived." I'll refrain from the hyperbole but go so far as to pick one of the numbers--"It Had to Be You"--as the best interpretation available on record.

In sum, this one may not be quite up to the "Sinatra-Vegas" box, which includes a DVD with the 4 CD's covering two decades of live performance (few people realize that Sinatra released only two live albums during his lifetime), but it's close to being as indispensable.

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Amazing recording

This the closest a guy like me, who was born the year after the last of these recordings was made, to experience Ella in her prime, live in a real Jazz Club. The band swings hard and Ella's voice is amazing. The cherry on this one. The banter and back ground noise between Ella and the band, the crowd.. You close your eyes and you can almost see her on stage through the smoke. Awesome.

A new Ella

I confess I'm a Sarah Vaughan man. I always thought Ella was sweet but my admiration ended there. Twelve nights in Hollywood knocked me over. Apparently the record buying public back then preferred "pop" over "jazz," and Ella obliged to the extent that too straight performances were the norm. (Some of her "Song Books" are down right dull.) With the Hollywood album we finally catch Ella at her best, and that is damn good....no, GREAT! She's in great voice and her playful attitude is delightful. This is a must-buy album. It proved to be a revelation to this experienced and somewhat jaded fan, and I now have TWO first ladies of song.

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This was amazing!

Ella Fitzgerald is my favorite singer of all time, and this new recording set is such a gift! It's like being given a new opportunity to visit with an old, long-lost friend. All the classic concert songs are here, as well as a wide range of selections from her songbooks. There are even new songs to discover that Ella never recorded.

I grew up listening to Ella sing Rodgers and Hart and Gershwin, so I must confess that my early relationship with her was a limited one. I thought that she existed to give sterling recreations of classic Broadway tunes. It wasn't until I turned 21 and some amazing friends took me for my birthday to see her in an intimate setting (San Francisco's Venetian Room) that I began to recognize and appreciate Ella as the Queen of Jazz. I started to collect as many albums as I could find, and I was lucky enough to see her perform several more times. There is nothing I can say about her that would be more original or noteworthy than any other fan, so I'll just reiterate how grateful I am that this classic set has been released. I spent a week in my car with a huge smile plastered on my face and my feet tapping. (So if my Prius accelerated in a slapdash fashion, it was my fault while these CDs were playing and not the responsibility of the manufacturer!!) This is a must-have addition to anybody's collection of Ella's recordings.

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Ella Twelve nights in hollywood

This set apart from the tricky packaging is an excellent release. Ella as we know was a great perfomer in concert and here she is at her peak. Some seldom heard items not normally heard in studio recordings make this a must for collectors.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Tracks
Introduction | Lover Come Back to Me | Too Close for Comfort | Little White Lies | On the Sunny Side of the Street | Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive | Baby, Won't You Please Come Home | I Found a New Baby | On a Slow Boat to China | My Heart Belongs to Daddy | Perdido | I've Got a Crush on You | But Not for Me | You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me | Across the Alley from the Alamo | I'm Glad There Is You | 'Round Midnight | Take the 'A' Train | Mr. Paganini [Mono Version] | Nice Work If You Can Get It | I Can't Get Started | Give Me the Simple Life | Caravan | One for My Baby | Lorelei | A-Tisket, A-Tasket | Witchcraft | Gone with the Wind | Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe | It's De-Lovely | Lady Is a Tramp | That Old Black Magic | Lullaby of Birdland | Ella Introduces the Band | Imagination | Blue Moon | Joe Williams' Blues | Lady's in Love with You | Love Is Here to Stay | Come Rain or Come Shine | Anything Goes | This Could Be the Start of Something Big | Candy | Little Girl Blue | You're Driving Me Crazy | It's All Right with Me | Just Squeeze Me (But Please Don't Tease Me) | 'S Wonderful | How High the Moon | Deep Purple | In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning | Mack the Knife | Exactly Like You | Rock It for Me [Mono Version] | Stompin' at the Savoy [Mono Version] | Love for Sale [Mono Version] | St. Louis Blues [Mono Version] | All of Me [Mono Version][*] | Hard Hearted Hannah [Mono Version][*] | Broadway [Mono Version][*] | My Kind of Boy [Mono Version][*] | It Had to Be You [Mono Version][*] | C'est Magnifique [Mono Version][*] | How Long Has This Been Going On? [Mono Version][*] | When Your Lover Has Gone [Mono Version][*] | Taking a Chance on Love [Mono Version][*] | Good Morning Heartache [Mono Version][*] | Clap Hands! Here Comes Charlie! [Mono Version][*] | Hallelujah I Love Him So [Mono Version][*] | Angel Eyes [Mono Version][*] | Ol' Man Mose [Mono Version][*] | Teach Me Tonight [Mono Version][*] | Medley: Too Darn Hot/Ella's Twist [Mono Version][*][Medley] | Too Darn Hot [Mono Version][*] | Bewitched [Mono Version][*] | Bill Bailey [Mono Version][*] | Bill Bailey Reprise [Mono Version][*]

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