 Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong No duet pairing in the history of pop can match the charisma and quality of performance that Ella and Louis attain on their classic recordings. This 3-CD set collects the original albums Ella & Louis, Ella & Louis Again, and Porgy and Bess along with additional (mostly solo) tunes from the sessions not included on the original albums. Virtually every moment of the three-and-a-half hours of music is priceless. Utterly enjoyable, classic music. The people at Verve have outdone themselves in presentation here: the three CDs come in a bellows-like folder accompanied by two books of liner notes, one of which reproduced the original cover art of each album along with the original sleeve notes, the other providing a historical perspective that paints an attractive portrait of the sessions. It's hilarious to think that these nearly perfect performances were layed down in between Armstrong's hectic touring schedule; he would show up at the studio after a gig, with four hours until the next gig, and amid all that bustle he would contribute his inimitable panache to the proceedings. Everything was cut live, with the band being Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Herb Ellis on guitar, and either Buddy Rich or Louis Bellson on drums (Rich on disc 1, Bellson on disc 2). Typical house band. I'm lucky if I can get a dead ferret to play on my sessions. But such is the caliber of artistry here. The chemistry shared by Ella and Louis is simple enough: Ella is the straight-laced "pretty" voice, all honey, while Louis is the gruff prankster stepping all over the garden with his unrelenting hilarity. Louis Armstrong has not been appropriately assessed in the popular mind, I believe. Everyone knows him from the lush "classics" like "What a Wonderful World," but his element was really more a type of subversion than of showmanship. The cover art demonstrates this to some extent: the classic shot of Ella and Louis standing side by side, with Ella the image of utter professionalism, and Louis shouting at the top of his voice with his eyes shut tight. Then there's the cover for Ella & Louis, which shows the two seated beside each other, with Ella looking like a bemused mother and Louis the smart-alecky child with smirky fake smile and hilarious socks rolled down to his ankles. This subversive nature extends to his singing on the duets, which find him stomping all over the pronunciations and often provoking laughter from Ella. It must have been hard for the band to maintain composure with all his jackassing going on. I know that whenever I'm goofing off, the dead ferret pretty much just stops playing. I wont even bother detailing each song, as nothing I could say would express the joy these songs draw out of even the most cynical listener. "Can't We Be Friends?", "Let's Do It," (Louis' hilarious solo take) "Stompin' at the Savoy," "Isn't This a Lovely Day?," "A Fine Romance," "I'm Puttin' All My Eggs in One Basket," and the definitive "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off." Everyone probably has a different favorite moment, because great moments abound: Ella's impersonation of Louis at the end of "Tenderly," Louis' hungry grunt on the line "in Boston even beans do it – mmm!" ("Let's Do It"), Ella's "Vanilla, vanella, aw … chocolate, strawberry!" ("Let's Call the Whole Thing Off"). So much greatness! Though the albums are available separately, the set is recommended much more strongly, as the additional tracks provide even more great moments. The solo songs provide a nice contrast to the duets while not obscuring the picture, and a couple of live cuts recorded at a Louis concert at the Hollywood Bowl show that the magic was recreated on the stage. If there is any drawback to the set, it is that Porgy and Bess is so markedly different from the duet albums that it seems less great than it is in this context. Recorded in the same manner as an opera (with the vocalists not miked up front but rather blended with the orchestra), Porgy and Bess sounds much more grandiose than the somewhat loose studio sessions, but the performance is stellar: Armstrong's trumpet on "Summertime" must be one of the best trumpet performances ever, and Ella's voice throughout is simply astounding. As with many great albums, Ella & Louis' Porgy and Bess requires a certain mood from the listener, but when that mood hits, the album is unbeatable. Nine days' work produced this magnificent achievement, spread out over 1956 and '57. My jesus, I've spent nine days working on a fucking crossword puzzle. Review by Seamus Drymouth |
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