Ella Fitzgerald The Moment of Truth: Ella at the Coliseum LP

Ella Fitzgerald virtually invented the live album. Her performances were so consistently great that almost any live show was special enough to release as a record. For Ella Fitzgerald, every night was The Moment of Truth. In the summer of 1967, Ella Fitzgerald was in the middle of a three-year touring and recording collaboration with Duke Ellington and was incorporating hit pop songs of the late '60s into her concert repertoire – two of which are presented here for the first time on record.

Here, Fitzgerald sounds delightfully loose, ad-libbing call-outs to Sonny & Cher, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and even 007 James Bond, all as she's egged on by Cat Anderson and Cootie Williams' bluesy trumpet asides....Of course, she ends the night in big, swinging style with 'Mack the Knife,' conjuring some of that Grammy magic that made her such an indelible artist.