CD1: The Cole Porter Songbook
1. All Through The Night
2. Anything Goes
3. Miss Otis Regrets
4. Too Darn Hot
5. In The Still Of The Night
6. I Get A Kick Out Of You
7. Do I Love You?
8. Always True To You In My Fashion
9. Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)
10. Just One Of Those Things
11. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
12. All Of You
13. Begin The Beguine
14. Get Out Of Town
15. I Am In Love
16. From This Moment On
17. I Love Paris
18. You Do Something To Me
19. Ridin' High
20. Easy To Love
21. It's All Right With Me
22. Why Can t You Behave?
CD2: The Cole Porter Songbook
1. What Is This Thing Called Love?
2. You're The Top
3. Love For Sale
4. It s De-Lovely
5. Night And Day
6. Ace In The Hole
7. So In Love
8. I've Got You Under My Skin
9. I Concentrate On You
10. Don t Fence Me In
The Rodgers & Hart Songbook
11. Have You Met Miss Jones?
12. You Took Advantage Of Me
13. A Ship Without A Sail
14. To Keep My Love Alive
15. Dancing On The Ceiling
16. The Lady Is A Tramp
17. With A Song In My Heart
18. Manhattan
19. Johnny One Note
20. I Wish I Were In Love Again
21. Spring Is Here
22. It Never Entered My Mind
CD3: The Rodgers & Hart Songbook
1. This Can t Be Love
2. Thou Swell
3. My Romance
4. Where Or When
5. Little Girl Blue
6. Give It Back To The Indians
7. Ten Cents A Dance
8. There's A Small Hotel
9. I Didn't Know What Time It Was
10. Ev'rything I've Got
11. I Could Write A Book
12. The Blue Room
13. My Funny Valentine
14. Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered
15. Mountain Greenery
16. Wait Till You See Him
17. Lover
18. Isn't It Romantic?
19. Here In My Arms
20. Blue Moon
21. My Heart Stood Still
22. I've Got Five Dollars
I have to confess that the albums I owned previously of this exceptional collection are on vinyl, so I was absolutely delighted when this three-CD version appeared. It has never been off my CD player since it arrived. This is pure gold: the best female singer the world ever produced, with a superb orchestra which reads like a Who's Who of top musicians, arrangements by MD Buddy Bregman and the material produced by two of the best composers that ever lived: Cole Porter and the team of Rodgers & Hart.
One rarely hears a singer today that has such excellent diction that you can tell every word of every song; Ella could do that all the time. Every song sounds fresh even though it is material we have heard many times and the odd less familiar song is one I realise I should not have missed.
It was Norman Granz that had the idea to make these albums and we all owe him a debt of gratitude for his foresight. He did a great deal for jazz during his lifetime, bringing jazz to major concert halls with Jazz at the Philharmonic. I saw them in Hanover, Germany in 1956. Ella was top of the bill and Oscar Peterson was on piano, Dizzy and Roy Eldridge were the trumpet players, and Flip Phillips and Illinois Jacquet played tenor. From that night I was hooked on Ella and saw her in action live on many occasions. I miss those times, no-one has been able to replace her, probably nobody ever will.
If you were not around when this music first came to the market, buy this triple-CD package. If you have other versions, play them again or if they are worn out, buy this collection!
Don Mather
CD Reviews
Not New NOT3CD 017
