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Between 1935 and 1955, American singer Ella Fitzgerald was signed to Decca Records. Her early recordings as a featured vocalist were frequently uncredited. Her first credited single was 78 RPM recording "I'll Chase the Blues Away" with the Chick Webb Orchestra. Fitzgerald continued recording with Webb until his death in 1939, after which the group was renamed Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra. With the introduction of 10" and 12" Long-Playing records in the late 1940s, Decca released several original albums of Fitzgerald's music and reissued many of her previous single-only releases. From 1935 to the late 1940s Decca issued Ella Fitzgerald's recordings on 78rpm singles and album collections, in book form, of four singles that included eight tracks. These recordings have been re-issued on a series of 15 compact disc by the French record label Classics Records between 1992 and 2008.
In 1956 Ella Fitzgerald signed with Verve Records, the Norman Granz record label. Fitzgerald recorded with Verve until the mid-1960s. Included in this era were a series of eight Song Book albums, with interpretations of the greater part of the Great American Songbook, with songs from the pens of Cole Porter (1956), Rodgers & Hart (1956), Duke Ellington (1957), Irving Berlin (1958), George and Ira Gershwin (1959), Harold Arlen (1961), Jerome Kern (1963) and Johnny Mercer (1964). Ella Fitzgerald released many stand alone singles throughout her Verve years. These were re-issued in 2003 on the 2-CD set, Jukebox Ella: The Complete Verve Singles, Vol. 1 .
The late 1960s and early 1970s saw Fitzgerald release albums on several major record labels, including three albums on Capitol Records and two on the Reprise Records label. In 1972 Norman Granz formed Pablo Records, the label continued to release Ella Fitzgerald's albums up until her last recorded album All That Jazz in 1989.
In recent years the Ella Fitzgerald back catalogue has continued to grow, this includes complete albums of previously unreleased live material and alternative recordings from her studio sessions.
Title | Album Details | Notes |
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Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas |
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Ella Fitzgerald Sings Songs from "Let No Man Write My Epitaph" |
| Later re-issued as The Intimate Ella with no differences. |
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook |
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Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie! |
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Rhythm Is My Business |
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Ella Swings Brightly with Nelson |
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Ella Swings Gently with Nelson |
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Ella Sings Broadway |
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Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book |
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Ella and Basie! (with Count Basie) |
| Later re-issued as Ella and Basie!: On the Sunny Side of the Street with no differences. |
These Are the Blues |
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Ella and Basie!: On the Sunny Side of the Street (with Count Basie) |
| Re-issue of the album Ella and Basie! with no differences. |
Hello, Dolly! |
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Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Song Book |
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Ella at Duke's Place (with Duke Ellington) |
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Whisper Not |
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Brighten the Corner |
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Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas |
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30 By Ella |
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Misty Blue |
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Ella |
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Title | Album Details | Notes |
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Things Ain't What They Used to Be (And You Better Believe It) |
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Ella Loves Cole |
| Later re-issued as Dream Dancing with two more tracks. |
Take Love Easy (with Joe Pass) |
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Ella and Oscar (with Oscar Peterson) |
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Fitzgerald and Pass... Again (with Joe Pass) |
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Lady Time |
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Dream Dancing |
| Re-issue of the album Ella Loves Cole with two more tracks. |
Fine and Mellow |
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A Classy Pair (with Count Basie) |
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Title | Album Details | |
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Ella Abraça Jobim: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Antonio Carlos Jobim Song Book |
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The Best Is Yet to Come |
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Speak Love (with Joe Pass) |
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Nice Work If You Can Get It: Ella Fitzgerald and André Previn Do Gershwin (with André Previn) |
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Easy Living (with Joe Pass) |
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All That Jazz |
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The Intimate Ella |
| Re-issue of the album Ella Fitzgerald Sings Songs From The Soundtrack Of "Let No Man Write My Epitaph" with no differences. |
The albums are sorted by release date.
Title | Album Details | Notes |
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Jazz At The Hollywood Bowl |
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Ella Fitzgerald And Billie Holiday At Newport |
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Ella At The Opera House |
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Ella In Berlin: Mack The Knife |
| Later re-issued as The Complete Ella In Berlin: Mack The Knife with additional tracks. |
Ella In Hollywood |
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Ella At Juan-Les-Pins |
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Ella In Hamburg |
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Duke & Ella In Concerto (with Duke Ellington) |
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Ella And Duke At The Cote D'Azur (with Duke Ellington) |
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Sunshine Of Your Love |
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J.A.T.P. In Tokyo: Live At The Nichigeki Theatre 1953 |
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Jazz At Santa Monica Civic '72 |
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Newport Jazz Festival: Live At Carnegie Hall, July 5, 1973 |
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Ella In London |
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Ella Fitzgerald And Her Orchestra Live From The Roseland Ballroom, 1940 |
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Ella Fitzgerald At The Montreux Jazz Festival 1975 |
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Montreux '77 (with the Tommy Flanagan Trio ) |
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Digital III At Montreux |
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A Perfect Match (with Count Basie) |
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Ella À Nice |
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Return To Happiness: Jazz At The Philharmonic, Yoyogi National Stadium, Tokyo, 1983 |
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The Stockholm Concert, 1966 (with Duke Ellington) |
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Ella In Rome: The Birthday Concert |
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The Greatest Jazz Concert In The World (with Duke Ellington) |
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Ella Returns To Berlin |
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The Complete Ella In Berlin: Mack The Knife |
| Re-issue of the album Ella In Berlin: Mack The Knife with additional tracks. |
Ella Fitzgerald With The Tommy Flanagan Trio |
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Live From The Cave Supper Club: Vancouver BC, Canada, 19 May 1968 |
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Ella Fitzgerald In Budapest |
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Sophisticated Lady (with Joe Pass) |
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Live At Mister Kelly's |
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Twelve Nights In Hollywood |
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Ella In Japan: 'S Wonderful |
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Live in Paris, Vol. 1 (May 8 – October 7, 1957) |
| Previously unreleased live recordings, released over 3 volumes, from a series of concerts recorded between 1957 and 1962 at the Paris Olympia. |
Live in Paris, Vol. 2 (May 1, 1958; February 23 & 29, 1960) |
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Live in Paris, Vol. 3 (February 28 & March 11, 1961; March 16, 1962) |
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Ella At Zardi's |
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Ella: The Lost Berlin Tapes |
| Previously unreleased live concert recording from Berlin, Germany, 1962. |
Live In East Berlin 1967 |
| Previously unreleased live concert recording from Friedrichstadt-Palast, 1967 |
The albums are sorted by release date.
Year | Single | Chart positions | |||||
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US | US A/C | UK [5] | US R&B | GER | US Cou. | ||
1936 | "All My Life" (with Teddy Wilson) | 13 | — | — | — | — | — |
"Sing Me a Swing Song (and Let Me Dance)" (with Chick Webb) | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"My Melancholy Baby" (with Teddy Wilson) | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"(If You Can't Sing It) You'll Have To Swing It" (with Chick Webb) | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | |
1937 | "Goodnight My Love" (with Benny Goodman) | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
"Dedicated to You" (with The Mills Brothers) | 19 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"Big Boy Blue" (with The Mills Brothers) | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"If You Ever Should Leave" | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"All Over Nothing At All" | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | |
1938 | "Rock It for Me" (with Chick Webb) | 19 | — | — | — | — | — |
"I Got a Guy" (with Chick Webb) | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"A-Tisket, A-Tasket" (with Chick Webb) | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"I Found My Yellow Basket" (with Chick Webb) | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"Wacky Dust" (with Chick Webb) | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"MacPherson Is Rehearsin' to Swing" (with Chick Webb) | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"F.D.R. Jones" (with Chick Webb) | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | |
1939 | "Undecided" (with Chick Webb) | 8 | — | — | — | — | — |
"T'ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)" (with Chick Webb) | 19 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"Chew, Chew, Chew (Your Bubble Gum)" (with Chick Webb) | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"I Want the Waiter (With the Water)" | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"My Wubba Dolly" | 16 | — | — | — | — | — | |
1940 | "The Starlit Hour" | 17 | — | — | — | — | — |
"Sing Song Swing" | 23 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"Imagination" | 15 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"Sugar Blues" | 27 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"Shake Down the Stars" | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"Five O'Clock Whistle" [6] | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | |
1941 | "Louisville K.Y." | 23 | — | — | — | — | — |
"Hello Ma! I Done It Again" | 26 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"The Muffin Man" | 23 | — | — | — | — | — | |
1943 | "My Heart and I Decided" (with The Keys) | — | — | — | 6 | — | — |
1944 | "Cow-Cow Boogie" (with The Ink Spots) | 10 | — | — | 1 | — | — |
"When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" | 27 | — | — | — | — | 2 | |
"Once Too Often" | 24 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"I'm Making Believe" (with The Ink Spots) | 1 | — | — | 2 | — | — | |
"Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall" (with The Ink Spots) | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | — | |
1945 | "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine" | 10 | — | — | — | — | — |
"I'm Beginning to See the Light" (with The Ink Spots) | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"It's Only a Paper Moon" | 9 | — | — | 4 | — | — | |
1946 | "The Frim Fram Sauce" (with Louis Armstrong) | — | — | — | 4 | — | — |
"You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart)" (with Louis Armstrong) | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"Stone Cold Dead in the Market (He Had It Coming)" (with Louis Jordan) | 7 | — | — | 1 | — | — | |
"Petootie Pie" (with Louis Jordan) | — | — | — | 3 | — | — | |
"(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | |
1947 | "That's My Desire" | — | — | — | 3 | — | — |
"Guilty" | 11 | — | — | — | — | — | |
1948 | "My Happiness" | 6 | — | — | 8 | — | — |
"Tea Leaves" | 24 | — | — | — | — | — | |
"It's Too Soon to Know" | — | — | — | 6 | — | — | |
1949 | "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (with Louis Jordan) | 9 | — | — | 6 | — | — |
1950 | "Can Anyone Explain (No, No, No)" (with Louis Armstrong) | 30 | — | — | — | — | — |
"I'll Never Be Free" (with Louis Jordan) | — | — | — | 7 | — | — | |
1951 | "Smooth Sailing" | 23 | — | — | 3 | — | — |
1952 | "Trying" | 22 | — | — | — | — | — |
"Walkin' By the River" | 29 | — | — | — | — | — | |
1953 | "Crying in the Chapel" | 15 | — | — | — | — | — |
1954 | "Melancholy Me" | 25 | — | — | — | — | — |
"I Need" | 30 | — | — | — | — | — | |
1956 | "A Beautiful Friendship" | 74 | — | — | — | — | — |
1958 | "The Swinging Shepherd Blues" | — | — | 15 | — | — | — |
1959 | "But Not for Me" | — | — | 25 | — | — | — |
1960 | "Mack the Knife" | 27 | — | 19 | 6 | — | — |
"How High the Moon (Part 1)" | 76 | — | 46 | — | — | — | |
1961 | "Mr. Paganini (You'll Have to Swing It)" | — | 20 | — | — | — | — |
1962 | "Desafinado (Slightly Out of Tune)" | — | — | 38 | — | — | — |
"Stardust Bossa Nova" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
1963 | "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home" | 75 | — | — | — | — | — |
1964 | "Hello, Dolly!" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
"Can't Buy Me Love" | — | — | 34 | — | 24 | — | |
1965 | "Ringo Beat" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
1968 | "I Taught Him Everything He Knows" | — | 22 | — | — | — | — |
1969 | "Get Ready" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. |
Norman Granz was an American jazz record producer and concert promoter. He founded the record labels Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Verve, and Pablo. Granz was acknowledged as "the most successful impresario in the history of jazz". He was also a champion of racial equality, insisting, for example, on integrating audiences at concerts he promoted.
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.
"Mack the Knife" or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their 1928 music drama The Threepenny Opera. The song tells of a knife-wielding criminal of the London underworld from the musical named Macheath, the "Mack the Knife" of the title.
Verve Records is an active American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Stan Getz, Bill Evans, Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, Jon Batiste, and Diana Krall among others as well as a diverse mix of other recordings that fall outside of jazz including albums from disparate artists like the Velvet Underground, Kurt Vile, Arooj Aftab, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and many more. It absorbed the catalogues of Granz's earlier label, Clef Records, founded in 1946; Norgran Records, founded in 1953; and material which was previously licensed to Mercury Records.
Gordon Hill Jenkins was an American arranger, composer, and pianist who was influential in popular music in the 1940s and 1950s. Jenkins worked with The Andrews Sisters, Johnny Cash, The Weavers, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Harry Nilsson, Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald.
Ella Sings Broadway is a 1963 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, with an orchestra arranged and conducted by Frank DeVol. Shortly before the sessions for Ella Sings Broadway, Ella had recorded two singles with Marty Paich, the Antonio Carlos Jobim song 'Desafinado' and a Bossa Nova version of the jazz standard 'Stardust'. This prompted many Ella Fitzgerald fans and scholars to conclude that these sessions were also led by Paich. However, the original scores and parts exist in Ella Fitzgerald's library and it was determined that all the music was arranged by Frank DeVol. In fact, DeVol had previously worked with Ella Fitzgerald having written arrangements for Hello Love (1957), Get Happy (1957), Live Someone in Love (1957), Ella Sings Sweet Songs For Swingers (1958), and Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas (1960).
Lady in Satin is an album by the jazz singer Billie Holiday released in 1958 on Columbia Records, catalogue CL 1157 in mono and CS 8048 in stereo. It is the penultimate album completed by the singer, and the last to be released in her lifetime. Her final album, Last Recording, was recorded in March 1959,and released just after her death. The original album was produced by Irving Townsend and engineered by Fred Plaut.
Ella in Rome: The Birthday Concert is a live album by Ella Fitzgerald, with a jazz trio led by Lou Levy, and also featuring the Oscar Peterson trio. Recorded in 1958, it was released thirty years later.
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book is a 1956 studio double album by American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by a studio orchestra conducted and arranged by Buddy Bregman, focusing on the songs of Cole Porter.
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book is a box set by American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald that contains songs by George and Ira Gershwin with arrangements by Nelson Riddle. It was produced by Norman Granz, Fitzgerald's manager and the founder of Verve Records. Fifty-nine songs were recorded in the span of eight months in 1959. It is one of the eight album releases comprising what is possibly Fitzgerald's greatest musical legacy: Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Complete American Songbook, in which she recorded, with top arrangers and musicians, a comprehensive collection of both well-known and obscure songs from the Great American Songbook canon, written by the likes of Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, George and Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, and Johnny Mercer.
Ella is a 1969 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald and the first of two albums she recorded for the Warner Bros. owned Reprise label. This album continues the theme set on Fitzgerald's previous album, consisting in the main part of cover versions of popular songs from the late 1960s. The production of this recording was in the hands of Richard Perry, who had joined the Reprise label in 1967. Perry later went on the produce albums by Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross. The album was re-issued on CD with alternative artwork, in 1989. Released together on one CD with Ella's final album recorded for Reprise label, Things Ain't What They Used to Be .
Ella and Louis Again is a studio album by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, released in 1957 on Verve Records. It is the sequel to their 1956 album, Ella and Louis. In contrast to their previous collaboration, this album features seven solo vocal tracks by either Armstrong or Fitzgerald amongst its dozen duet tracks. It was reissued as part of a two-compact disc set in 1995, and in The Complete Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong on Verve in 1997. It was recorded at Radio Recorders and Capitol Studios, Hollywood.
Ella and Louis is a studio album by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, accompanied by the Oscar Peterson Quartet, released in October 1956. 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.
Louis Isidore "Buddy" Bregman was an American arranger and conductor.
"Wait till You See Her" is a popular song. The music was written by Richard Rodgers, the lyrics by Lorenz Hart.
"The Nearness of You" is a popular song written in 1937 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Ned Washington. Intended for an unproduced Paramount film titled Romance In The Rough, the studio's publishing division Famous Music reregistered and published the song in 1940. It was first recorded by Chick Bullock and his Orchestra on Vocalion. Despite numerous accounts to the contrary, the song was never scheduled for and does not appear in the 1938 Paramount film Romance in the Dark.
Alvin Stoller was an American jazz drummer. Though he seems to have been largely forgotten, he was held in high regard in the 1940s and 1950s. He was best known for playing drums on both Mitch Miller's recording of "The Yellow Rose of Texas" and Stan Freberg's parody of Miller's recording.
Gold is a two-disc compilation album by Ella Fitzgerald that was released on the Verve Records label in 2007. The 40 tracks span Fitzgerald's career from 1938 to 1964.
This is the complete discography of the main 12-inch (8000) series of LPs issued by Verve Records, a label founded in 1956 by producer Norman Granz in Los Angeles, California. Alongside new sessions Granz re-released many of the recordings of his earlier labels Clef and Norgran on Verve.
The collaborations between Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong have attracted much attention over the years. The artists were both widely known icons not just in the areas of big band, jazz, and swing music but across 20th century popular music in general. The two African-American musicians produced three official releases together in Ella and Louis (1956), Ella and Louis Again (1957), and Porgy and Bess (1959). Each release earned both commercial and critical success. As well, tracks related to those albums have also appeared in various forms in multi-artist collections and other such records.