Monday, January 1, 2018

New year finds new jazz (VERVE RECORDS)


New Year calls for new jazz!
This year we’re bringing you Ella at Zardi’s!

This never-before-released archival recording finds the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald singing and swinging in front of an animated, adoring crowd at Zardi’s Jazzland on Hollywood Boulevard in 1956.


"We can hear a fluid and joyous singer who operates with almost giddy authority. Ella manages to find a way of swinging almost every number, no matter the tempo. She anticipates her studio songbook albums with Duke Ellington's 'In A Mellow Tone,' Cole Porter's 'My Heart Belongs To Daddy,' the Gershwins' 'S'Wonderful' and 'I've Got a Crush On You,' and Jerome Kern's 'A Fine Romance'... Ella uses her intelligent phrasing and rhythmic sense in inventive and exhilarating ways…"  – Journalist Kirk Silsbee