Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book

Last updated
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book
Ellakern.jpg
Studio album by
Released1963
RecordedJanuary 5–7, 1963
Genre Jazz
Length43:00
Label Verve
Producer Norman Granz
Ella Fitzgerald chronology
Ella Sings Broadway
(1963)
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book
(1963)
Ella and Basie!
(1963)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Record Mirror Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book is a 1963 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald accompanied by an orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. The album focuses on the songs of the composer Jerome Kern.

Contents

This was the second of Fitzgerald's Song Book series to have been orchestrated by Riddle; their previous collaboration was her George and Ira Gershwin Song Book in 1959. Fitzgerald and Riddle also recorded two albums of standards, Ella Swings Brightly with Nelson and Ella Swings Gently with Nelson , in 1962.

This was the seventh and penultimate album in Fitzgerald's Song Book series of songs written by musical theater composers; it was preceded by 1961's Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book and followed by Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Song Book in 1964.

Awarded four and a half stars by Down Beat magazine in 1963.

Track listing

For the 1963 Verve LP release; Verve V6-4060; Re-issued in 2005 on CD, Verve B0003933-02

Side One:

  1. "Let's Begin" (Otto Harbach) – 2:56
  2. "A Fine Romance" (Dorothy Fields) – 3:36
  3. "All the Things You Are" (Oscar Hammerstein II) – 3:15
  4. "I'll Be Hard to Handle" (Bernard Dougall) – 3:47
  5. "You Couldn't Be Cuter" (Fields) – 3:13
  6. "She Didn't Say Yes" (Harbach) – 3:20

Side Two:

  1. "I'm Old Fashioned" (Johnny Mercer) – 3:27
  2. "Remind Me" (Fields) – 3:50
  3. "The Way You Look Tonight" (Fields) – 4:28
  4. "Yesterdays" (Harbach) – 2:51
  5. "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" (Hammerstein) – 3:54
  6. "Why Was I Born?" (Hammerstein) – 3:44

All music written by Jerome Kern with lyricists as indicated.

Personnel

Recorded January 5–7, 1963 at Radio Recorders Studio 10H, Los Angeles:

Tracks 1,3,5-6 and 8

On Tracks 2,4, and 7:

Personnel same as tracks 1,3,5-6, and 8 except Felix Slatkin and Marshall Sosson violin replace Don Lube and Sidney Sharp; Edgar Lustgarten cello replaces Ray Kramer; and add Ann Stockton on harp.

Related Research Articles

<i>Ella Swings Brightly with Nelson</i> 1962 studio album by Ella Fitzgerald

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.

<i>Ella Swings Gently with Nelson</i> 1962 studio album by Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Swings Gently with Nelson is a 1962 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, with an orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. This album is one of a pair, the other being Ella Swings Brightly with Nelson, that were released in 1962.

<i>Ella Returns to Berlin</i> 1991 live album by Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Returns to Berlin is a 1961 live album by Ella Fitzgerald, with a trio led by the pianist Lou Levy, and also featuring the Oscar Peterson trio.

<i>No One Cares</i> 1959 studio album by Frank Sinatra

No One Cares is a 1959 album by Frank Sinatra. It is generally seen as a "sequel" to Sinatra's 1957 album Where Are You?, and was similar in theme and concept to Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely.

<i>Sinatra Sings Days of Wine and Roses, Moon River, and Other Academy Award Winners</i> 1964 studio album by Frank Sinatra

Sinatra Sings Days of Wine and Roses, Moon River, and Other Academy Award Winners is a 1964 album by Frank Sinatra, focusing on songs that won the Academy Award for Best Song. The orchestra is arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle.

<i>The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books</i> 1994 compilation album by Ella Fitzgerald

The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books were a series of eight studio albums released in irregular intervals between 1956 and 1964, recorded by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, supported by a variety of orchestras, big bands, and small jazz combos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ella Fitzgerald discography</span>

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.

<i>Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book</i> 1959 box set by Ella Fitzgerald

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.

<i>Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book</i> 1961 studio album by Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book is a 1961 album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, with a studio orchestra conducted and arranged by Billy May. This album marked the only time that Fitzgerald worked with May.

<i>Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Song Book</i> 1964 studio album by Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Song Book is a 1964 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, focusing on the songs of Johnny Mercer. It was recorded in Los Angeles, California. This is Fitzgerald's fifth and final collaboration with Riddle during her years on the Verve label.

<i>Jukebox Ella: The Complete Verve Singles, Vol. 1</i> 2003 compilation album by Ella Fitzgerald

Jukebox Ella: The Complete Verve Singles, Vol. 1 is a 2003 compilation album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. The album contains all the singles Fitzgerald recorded for Verve Records label between 1956 and 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Way You Look Tonight</span> 1936 song by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields

"The Way You Look To-night" is a song from the film Swing Time that was performed by Fred Astaire and composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics written by Dorothy Fields. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1936. Fields remarked, "The first time Jerry played that melody for me I went out and started to cry. The release absolutely killed me. I couldn't stop, it was so beautiful."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Fine Romance (song)</span> 1936 song composed by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Dorothy Fields; from the 1936 film "Swing Time"

"A Fine Romance" is a popular song composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Dorothy Fields, published in 1936.

"I Won't Dance" is a song with music by Jerome Kern that has become a jazz standard. The song has two different sets of lyrics: the first written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach in 1934, and second written by Dorothy Fields in 1935.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Why Was I Born?</span> 1929 song by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II

"Why Was I Born?" is a 1929 song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II.

Clarence Francis Cherock known professionally as Shorty Sherock was an American swing jazz trumpeter.

The following is the discography for big band and traditional pop arranger Nelson Riddle (1921–1985).

<i>Margaret Whiting Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook</i> 1960 studio album by Margaret Whiting

Margaret Whiting Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook is a 1960 studio album by Margaret Whiting, with an orchestra conducted and arranged by Russell Garcia, focusing on the songs of Jerome Kern. Originally released as a double-LP set by Verve Records in 1960, it was reissued on CD by Universal in Japan and the United States (2002).

<i>Lucky Thompson Plays Jerome Kern and No More</i> 1963 studio album by Lucky Thompson

Lucky Thompson Plays Jerome Kern and No More is an album led by saxophonist Lucky Thompson recorded in 1963 and released on the Moodsville label.

<i>The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern</i> 2015 studio album by Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap

The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern is a studio album by Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap, released by RPM/Columbia on September 25, 2015. The album includes covers of 14 songs composed by Jerome Kern, featuring Bill Charlap on piano, Peter Washington on bass, Kenny Washington on drums, and special guest, pianist Renee Rosnes on four two-piano tracks.

References

  1. Yanow, Scott. "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book > Review". AllMusic . Retrieved August 4, 2011.
  2. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
  3. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 490. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
  4. Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (27 February 1965). "Ella Fitzgerald: Jerome Kern Songbook" (PDF). Record Mirror . No. 207. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2022.