"I'd never known how good our songs were until I heard Ella sing them" -- Ira Gershwin
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (1959) was the 6th and largest project in the Verve series and the first with Nelson Riddle, who had been arranging for Sinatra at Capital since 1953.Fitzgerald was 41 and in absolute top form, and she won a Grammy for Best Female Vocal Performance for "But Not For Me", from the first disk.
Frank Sinatra covered most of the songs Ella did on this project and others that she did not. Ken's chosen several that are quintessential Frank.
It was particularly tough, Ken notes, choosing the songs for this concert: there are so many great ones that both artist covered extremely well. The 20 he's chosen are great indeed.
[The album cover art for the Gershwin Songbook is a portrait of Fitzgerald by French Expressionist artist Bernard Buffet.]
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| Event Personnel |
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Julie Alsin, vocalsSiri Vik, vocalsWilliam Mark Hulings, vocalsMichael Stone, vocalsKen Peplowski, director, clarinetJesse Cloninger, saxophoneRod Fleeman, guitarDoug Miller, bassChuck Redd, drums, vibesTed Rosenthal, pianoByron Stripling, trumpet |