Porgy and Bess | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 1959 [1] | |||
Recorded | August 18–19 and October 14, 1957 in Los Angeles | |||
Genre | Jazz, light opera, swing | |||
Length | 66:04 | |||
Label | Verve MGV 4011-2 Verve MGVS 6040-2 Verve 827 475-2 (1990) | |||
Producer | Norman Granz | |||
Ella Fitzgerald chronology | ||||
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Louis Armstrong chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [3] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [4] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [5] |
Porgy and Bess is a studio album by jazz vocalist and trumpeter Louis Armstrong and singer Ella Fitzgerald, released on Verve Records in 1959. The third and final of the pair's albums for the label, it is a suite of selections from the George Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess . Orchestral arrangements are by Russell Garcia, who had previously arranged the 1956 jazz vocal recording The Complete Porgy and Bess .
In 1959, a big-budget film version produced by Samuel Goldwyn and directed by Otto Preminger arrived in theaters. To coincide with the film, many jazz and vocal versions of the work were produced on records, this one and the celebrated Miles Davis and Gil Evans collaboration among them. The double album was released in both mono and stereo, and on compact disc in 1990. It is also part of the set The Complete Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong on Verve issued in 1997. Given the nature of the work, only five tracks feature vocals by both Armstrong and Fitzgerald. The mosiac on the cover art was by Joseph Young. [6]
In 2001, it was awarded a Grammy Hall of Fame Award, a special achievement prize established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance." [7] The album is considered the most musically successful amongst the jazz vocal versions of the opera. [8]
The AllMusic review of the album claimed "What's really great about the Ella and Louis version is Ella, who handles each aria with disarming delicacy, clarion intensity, or usually a blend of both... Pops sounds like he really savored each duet, and his trumpet work – not a whole lot of it, because this is not a trumpeter's opera – is characteristically good as gold. This marvelous album stands quite well on its own, but will sound best when matched with the Ray Charles/Cleo Laine version, especially the songs of the Crab Man, of Peter the Honey Man, and his wife, Lily the Strawberry Woman." [2]
All music written by George Gershwin; all lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward except where noted.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Overture" (instrumental) | 10:52 | |
2. | "Summertime" | DuBose Heyward | 4:58 |
3. | "I Wants to Stay Here" (Fitzgerald solo vocal) | 4:38 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "My Man's Gone Now" (Fitzgerald solo vocal) | DuBose Heyward | 4:02 |
2. | "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'" | 3:52 | |
3. | "Buzzard Song" (Fitzgerald solo vocal) | DuBose Heyward | 2:58 |
4. | "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" | 5:28 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "It Ain't Necessarily So" | Ira Gershwin | 6:34 |
2. | "What You Want Wid Bess?" (Fitzgerald solo vocal) | DuBose Heyward | 1:59 |
3. | "A Woman Is a Sometime Thing" (Armstrong solo vocal) | DuBose Heyward | 4:47 |
4. | "Oh, Doctor Jesus" (Fitzgerald solo vocal) | 2:00 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Here Come de Honey Man / Crab Man / Oh, Dey's So Fresh and Fine" | DuBose Heyward | 3:29 |
2. | "There's a Boat Dat's Leavin Soon for New York" (Armstrong solo vocal) | Ira Gershwin | 4:54 |
3. | "Bess, Oh Where's My Bess?" (Armstrong solo vocal) | Ira Gershwin | 2:36 |
4. | "Oh Lawd, I'm on My Way!" (Armstrong solo vocal with chorus) | DuBose Heyward | 2:57 |
Porgy and Bess is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play Porgy, itself an adaptation of DuBose Heyward's 1925 novel Porgy.
"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.
Ella in Berlin is a 1960 live album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. This album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."
"Summertime" is an aria composed in 1934 by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward, the author of the novel Porgy on which the opera was based, and Ira Gershwin.
Porgy and Bess is a studio album by the jazz musician Miles Davis, released in March 1959 on Columbia Records. The album features arrangements by Davis and collaborator Gil Evans from George Gershwin's 1935 opera of the same name. The album was recorded in four sessions on July 22, July 29, August 4, and August 18, 1958, at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City. It is the second collaboration between Davis and Evans and has garnered much critical acclaim since its release, being acknowledged by some music critics as the best of their collaborations. Jazz critics have regarded the album as historically important.
Porgy and Bess, the opera by George Gershwin, has been recorded by a variety of artists since it was completed in 1935, including renditions by jazz instrumentalists and vocalists, in addition to operatic treatments.
At the Opera House is a 1958 live album by Ella Fitzgerald. The album presents a recording of the 1957 Jazz at the Philharmonic Concerts. This series of live jazz concerts was devised by Fitzgerald's manager Norman Granz; they ran from 1944 to 1983. Featured on this occasion, in 1957, are Fitzgerald and the leading jazz players of the day in an onstage jam session. The first half of the 1990 CD edition includes a performance that was recorded on September 29, 1957, at the Chicago Opera House, whilst the second half highlights the concert recorded on October 7, 1957, at the Shrine Auditorium, in Los Angeles. The original LP obviously included only the mono tracks (#10-18).
Ella Swings Brightly with Nelson is a 1962 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by an orchestra arranged by Nelson Riddle.
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 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 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.
The Complete Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong on Verve is a compilation album released on Verve Records in 1997. It comprises three compact discs containing the three studio albums made for the label by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, released during 1956 through 1958.
"It Ain't Necessarily So" is a popular song with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by his brother Ira Gershwin. The song comes from the Gershwins' opera Porgy and Bess (1935) where it is sung by the character Sportin' Life, a drug dealer, who expresses his doubt about several statements in the Bible. The song's melody also functions as a theme for Sportin' Life's character.
Taft Jordan was an American jazz trumpeter.
Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson is a 1959 studio album by Louis Armstrong, accompanied by Oscar Peterson.
Porgy & Bess is a 1997 album by the jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson, released on Verve Records. It contains Henderson's arrangements of music from George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess. It was his final album as a leader.
Porgy and Bess is an opera by George Gershwin.
"Bess, You Is My Woman Now" is a duet with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. This song comes from the Gershwins' opera Porgy and Bess (1935) where it is sung by the main character Porgy and his beloved Bess. They express their love for each other and say that they now belong together.
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.