Ella and Louis is a 1956 studio album by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, accompanied by the Oscar Peterson Quartet.[2] Having previously collaborated in the late 1940s for the Decca label, this was the first of three albums that Fitzgerald and Armstrong were to record together for Verve Records, later followed by 1957's Ella and Louis Again and 1959's Porgy and Bess.
| Ella and Louis | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October/November 1956[1] | |||
| Recorded | August 16, 1956 Capitol Studios, Los Angeles | |||
| Genre | Vocal jazz | |||
| Length | 54:06 | |||
| Label | Verve | |||
| Producer | Norman Granz | |||
| Ella Fitzgerald chronology | ||||
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| Louis Armstrong chronology | ||||
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The album
Norman Granz, the founder of the Verve label, selected eleven ballads for Fitzgerald and Armstrong, mainly played in a slow or moderate tempo. They were arranged and conducted by Verve Record's resident arranger/conductor and Head of A&R, Buddy Bregman. Recording began August 16, 1956, at the new, and now iconic, Capitol Studios in Hollywood. Though Granz produced the album, Armstrong was given final say over songs and keys.[2]
The success of Ella and Louis was replicated by Ella and Louis Again and Porgy and Bess. All three were released as The Complete Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong on Verve.
Verve released the album also as one of the first ones in Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD).
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [3] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide |  [4] |
Allmusic's Scott Yanow wrote, "Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong make for a charming team on this CD… This is primarily a vocal set with the emphasis on tasteful renditions of ballads."[3]
Jasen and Jones called the set a "pinnacle of popular singing".[5]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz, compiled by Richard Cook and Brian Morton, awarded the album four stars.
Björk chose the album as one of her favourites in a 1993 Q magazine feature. "I love the way Ella and Louis work together," she remarked. "They were opposites in how they sung, but were still completely functional together, and respectful of each other."
Track listing
Re-released by PolyGram-Verve on CD in 1989: Verve-PolyGram 825 373-2.
Side one:
- "Can't We Be Friends?" (Paul James, Kay Swift) – 3:47
- "Isn't This a Lovely Day?" (Irving Berlin) – 6:16
- "Moonlight in Vermont" (John Blackburn, Karl Suessdorf) – 3:42
- "They Can't Take That Away from Me" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 4:39
- "Under a Blanket of Blue" (Jerry Livingston, Al J. Neiburg, Marty Symes) – 4:18
- "Tenderly" (Walter Gross, Jack Lawrence) - 5:10
Side two:
- "A Foggy Day" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – 4:32
- "Stars Fell on Alabama" (Mitchell Parish, Frank Perkins) – 3:34
- "Cheek to Cheek" (Berlin) – 5:53
- "The Nearness of You" (Hoagy Carmichael, Ned Washington) – 5:42
- "April in Paris" (Vernon Duke, Yip Harburg) – 6:33
Personnel
- Louis Armstrong - vocals, trumpet
- Ella Fitzgerald - vocals
- Oscar Peterson - piano[2]
- Ray Brown - double bass
- Herb Ellis - guitar
- Buddy Rich - drums
- Buddy Bregman - Arranger / Conductor
Additional personnel
- Val Valentin - session engineer
- Phil Stern - photography
Sources
- ^ Billboard Nov 24, 1956
- ^ a b c Maxwell, Tom (November 2016). "The Story of 'Ella and Louis,' 60 Years Later". Longreads. Longreads.com. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
- ^ a b Yanow, Scott. "Ella and Louis > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved June 28, 2011.
- ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 78. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
- ^ Black Bottom Stomp: Eight Masters of Ragtime and Early Jazz, by David A. Jasen and Gene Jones, 272 pages, Routledge Chapman & Hall (September 2001), ISBN 0-415-93641-1, ISBN 978-0-415-93641-5]