Swing Music

This is a wonderful disc to have of young Ella Fitzgerald, I own most of her Verve and Pablo re-issues, so this is really grat to have her earliest sessions in chronological order. This is also the only collection available with the classic "I'm Not Complainin'" one of Ella's early gems, some fine singing, and backed by Chick Webb's hot orchestra. This is truly Ella-gant!

This is a wonderful disc to have of young Ella Fitzgerald, I own most of her Verve and Pablo re-issues, so this is really grat to have her earliest sessions in chronological order. This is also the only collection available with the classic "I'm Not Complainin'" one of Ella's early gems, some fine singing, and backed by Chick Webb's hot orchestra. This is truly Ella-gant!

Ella Fitzgerald's "Famous Orchestra" is really the Chick Webb band, fronted by the singer after Webb's death. This is NOT one of the numerous, bargain-priced "early Ella Fitzgerald" CDs containing second-generation excerpts from radio broadcasts. This CD is special, because it presents the same repertoire in higher-fidelity studio recordings. Ella is more disciplined here: the broadcast versions have Ella good-naturedly interrupting soloists with enthusiastic chatter, but she confines herself to the vocals in the recording studio. Many of the songs are romantic ballads ("Imagination" and "Starlit Hour" stand out), but there is also some novelty material ("My Wubba Dolly," "Deedle-De-Dum"). Many of the "early Ella" tapes concentrate on Fitzgerald's vocals at the expense of the band, but this CD includes several fine arrangements without vocals ("Lindy Hopper's Delight" and "Jubilee Swing" have plenty of bounce for swing fans). Big-band aficionados will enjoy hearing Chick Webb's boys in action; Fitzgerald admirers will appreciate her early, pre-scat singing style.