Album Reviews

Producer and concert promoter Norman Granz signed Ella Fitzgerald to his Verve label back in 1956 and thus began a series of stellar studio albums, orchestrated songbooks and live set releases, many of which have been reissued on both CD and deluxe vinyl.

It’s difficult to believe, but this 4 CD set recently issued by Verve containing 76 live performances, most of which was recorded May 11th to 21st 1961 at The Crescendo, an intimate Sunset Strip nightclub seating but a few hundred patrons, sat in the tape vaults for decades, save for a twelve tune culling issued as Ella in Hollywood (Verve V6-4052).

If you own that record, which didn’t sell all that well upon its release, you might be saying, “Wait a minute! The audience at that concert was huge, how could it have been recorded in a small nightclub?”

The explanation for that is easy: in preparation for the original release, someone, for reasons unknown (perhaps at the insistence of MGM suits who had bought the label from Granz the year before), added big crowd noise recorded elsewhere. Go back and play the record and you’ll easily hear the odd and unwelcome twist.

None of the versions of the songs on that set (reissued on CD) appear here. Instead producer and former label head Richard Seidel chose different performances that many who have compared think are better than the ones Granz originally chose.

Granz had recording engineer Val Valentin roll three-track tape every night of Fitzgerald’s 1961 Crescendo appearance as well as during a second Crescendo stand a year later on June 29th and 30th 1962.

The tapes were mixed down to stereo and mono. Sadly the three track masters were probably erased and the tape re-used because only the stereo masters survive, though only the mono mixes exist for a few 1961 tracks and all of the 1962 performances.

So here’s the 44 year old Ella, about to hit her performing peak and backed by the same superb small combo (Herb Ellis, guitar, Wilfred Middlebrooks, bass, Gus Johnson, drums and Lou Levy on piano) that would go into the studio a month later to record Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie! one of her most beloved albums, (particularly among audiophiles), well-recorded live before a small, appreciative Hollywood audience.

The sound is as appropriately intimate as the setting, with Ella front and center presented with excellent transparency and just enough stage monitor bleed-through to let you know it’s live. Valentin’s mix puts the accompaniment mostly off to the sides, which is probably not how one would mix today but Ella deserves the spotlight and she gets it both in the mix and in the solo-free arrangements. Essentially you get a front row seat minus the cigarette smoke.

Despite a grueling touring schedule (the gig was sandwiched between a European tour and an upcoming month long gig at New York’s Basin Street East), Ella’s energy, inventiveness and enthusiasm are in high gear throughout as she covers a broad swath of her catalog: hits, composer songbook selections, pop and even blues, which was never her strongest suit, but she digs deep to deliver it effectively. Ella’s scatting is edgy, her balladry incredibly tender and her coverage of well-worn tunes fresh.

There's only one other known small club recording that's been issued (at Chicago's Mr. Kelly's) and the performances don't come close to what's achieved here.

The liner notes offer a session history as well as individual tune capsules beneficial to anyone looking for an instant backgrounder.

Perfect bound book packaging and first-rate artwork add luster to a superbly produced and executed project. Just in time for Christmas gift giving. If there’s an Ella fan on your list, look no further.