Ella Fitzgerald - Swings Lightly / Swings Brightly (2013)

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Ella Fitzgerald - Swings Lightly / Swings Brightly (2013)

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Ella Swings Lightly was recorded in 1958 and features the Marty Paich Dektette. The songs whilst including a number of very well known standards eg " Little White Lies"; "As Long as I Live"; "Blues in the Night" etc also has less main stream standards and many of these bring to the listener Ella's ability to "scat", vocal improvisation which gives singers the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms, to create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using their voice.
Ella Swings Brightly with Nelson was recorded in 1961 and went on to win Ella a Grammy in 1963. Produced by Norman Granz for Verve. The album opens with an instantly recognisable Riddle arrangement of "When Your Lover has Gone" and has 12 songs perfectly suited the the talents of both. Again, not all the most well known of standards but certainly more mainstream than the earlier album. Each song is given both a definitive arrangement and vocal performance making this one of the most popular of Ella albums. The CD includes 4 bonus tracks, 1 with Frank DeVol & 3 with Nelson Riddle all of which appeared on the Verve album "Get Happy".
The sound quality is excellent throughout and the set has liner notes by Not Now Music regular Peter Gamble. Attractively packaged with images of the original album covers and black and white pictures of Ella across the years the package adds up to a musical treat. Pricewise this is a great bargain and just another top flight addition to the Not Now Music catalogue. Running times approx 52 minutes CD1 & 47 mins for CD2. (amazon review)