Ella Fitzgerald

[mrjazzman]

Which of the Song Books could you do without.

[danasgoodstuff]

Do without? Hell, I want more! Like a Harry Warren or Lerner & Lowe or.... but if I had to go all Sesame St and say which one othese is not like the others, it would be the Johnny Mercer, or the Ellintons, but I like them.

[king ubu]

Ella sings Kenny G.

[Chuck Nessa]

Possibly the Ellington set.

[Teasing the Korean]

I'm not a fan of the sets with Buddy Bregman arrangements (Rodgers & Hart, Cole Porter), although both contain a few gems.

[gmonahan]

The Mercer is probably the least of a very, very fine lot.

gregmo

[king ubu]

Seriously, TTK? I think the Porter is the best, next to the Gershwin.

Irving Berlin may be my least favourite, but the Mercer and Kerns aren't that familiar yet.

[Teasing the Korean]

Seriously, TTK? I think the Porter is the best, next to the Gershwin.

Irving Berlin may be my least favourite, but the Mercer and Kerns aren't that familiar yet.

The arrangements are, in general, L7. I will say that the Cole Porter arrangements are a tad better than those on the Rodgers and Hart set. A missed opportunity: Great songs, great singer, third-rate arrangements.

[king ubu]

I'm really having a hard time agreeing here ... sure, the arrangements could have been better, but nevertheless, in my book, the entire album is truly great!

[Teasing the Korean]

I'm really having a hard time agreeing here ... sure, the arrangements could have been better, but nevertheless, in my book, the entire album is truly great!

That's fine, it would be a boring world if we all agreed! I do think the arrangements on the Cole Porter set are a little better than the R&H, but harmonically, they just don't go in the directions that I want them to. I keep waiting for certain resolutions that end up being on the vanilla side.

I think Riddle's arrangements on the Gershwin set are really top notch. Sinatra typically brought out the best in Riddle, but I get the sense that Riddle applied the same levels of care and thought with Ella on the Gershwin set as he did with Frank. I wish he would have been involved with more of these.

[Jim R]

The Ellington is by far my favorite, but I can understand how/why someone with a longer history and greater experience with Ellington's music (Chuck) would see it differently. The Gershwin material probably comes in second for me.

I tend to agree with TTK about the Bregman stuff being less appealing.

[crisp]

Both agree and disagree with some of the comments here.

Porter and Rodgers & Hart
TTK is right: the Bregman arrangements suck.

Ellington
The Duke himself sabotaged the big band sides but the small group sides are among Ella's best work.

Gershwin
Sheer perfection.

Berlin
An acquired taste. I tend to like Paul Weston's work but I'm not sure if he's right for this project.

Arlen
Unlike Granz who sent back the arrangements, I feel that Billy May can do no wrong. This might be my favourite.

Mercer and Kern

The only fault is that they are too short!

So I would say I could do without either of the Bregmans. Probably the Porter as it's slightly worse.

[mrjazzman]

Your responses are fascinating. I get a big kick out of reading all of them..........

[king ubu]

And I'm flabbergasted about what I get to read about the Porter songbook here ... I mean, Ella is as good as it gets and the songs are superior to most any of the ones on the other songbook (Gershwin exempted). Sure, the arrangements could be better, but I would never want to be without it!

[crisp]

Of course Cole Porter is one of history's greatest songwriters and Ella one of the greatest singers, but Bregman simply didn't have the experience or the talent to do justice to the project. It's a good example of how a poor arranger can spoil an otherwise perfect set-up.

Much better examples of Porter songbooks from that era are those by Jeri Southern and Anita O'Day, both arranged by Billy May.

[Teasing the Korean]

Who was Buddy Bregman and how did he get the gig? With all of the talented arrangers working during that era, it's hard to believe someone better would not have been available.

[Soulstation1]

The R & H was the first EF songbooks I heard...

[crisp]

Who was Buddy Bregman and how did he get the gig? With all of the talented arrangers working during that era, it's hard to believe someone better would not have been available.

Nepotism. The whole sorry tale is here if you read between the lines. Fortunately Granz seems to have spotted his lack of musical ability eventually.