Ella Fitzgerald Ella at the Hollywood Bowl: The Irving Berlin Songbook LP

TAS Rated 5/5 Music, 4.5/5 Sonics in the October 2022 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

Ella Fitzgerald's "Songbook" records - with her peerless renditions of the best songs of iconic composers from Irving Berlin to Rogers & Hart to Cole Porter to George & Ira Gershwin - are the cornerstone of the Verve catalog and the standard for jazz vocal recordings. Ella never released a live version of these Songbooks. This record, discovered in the private collection of Norman Granz, will make the first time a live Songbook has been released from the First Lady of Song.

This is Ella at the peak of her powers; exuding magnificent tonality, insanely accurate pitch control, and a great actor's sense for the meaning of the words being sung. The recording itself, which was, apparently, not intended for commercial release, has an unusual and quite pleasing profile. The original tape was monaural, but it is subtly remixed to move the orchestra a little left and right and create a lane for Ella, per producer Gregg Field. There is plenty of space around Ella's voice, with a natural perspective of being in the audience. You will wish that you were there.