[TR24][OF] Ella Fitzgerald & London Symphony Orchestra - Someone To Watch Over Me - 2017 (Vocal Jazz)

When a new Ella Fitzgerald CD arrived, I ripped it open and started listening to what I believed was a re-mastered version of an album that I didn’t know existed (I own almost 30 of her recordings). The first track of Someone to Watch over Me (on CD and streaming September 29, 2017) was the Rodgers and Hammerstein standard, “People Will Say We’re in Love” from Oklahoma! (1943). I immediately recognized her vocals, however, from her 1954 Decca LP Songs in a Mellow Mood—one of her best—a mono collection of mostly show tunes and ’30s’ pop ballads accompanied by the sensitive and elegant pianist, Ellis Larkins. Soon—in the vein of daughter Natalie singing with deceased pop Nat “King” Cole on “Unforgettable”—Ella is paired with Gregory Porter, the 45-year-old singer/songwriter/actor who is very much alive. His old-school charm and her light, bouncy swing are an irresistible combination.
Ella’s feathery swinging touch is instantly recognizable: her acumen, heart, and technical finesse—that subtlety in deftness and taste—combined with her jazzy roots in bebop and novelty, and her skill in using her voice as if it were an instrument, made her the foremost jazz singer in the history of the genre (she also made her mark as one of the greatest scat singers in jazz, but there’s no hot jazz in this new collection).
The next selection, the title track, was also from an Ella/Larkins mono output, Ella Sings Gershwin (1950), and Ella sounds as if she just recorded her session yesterday, but as with the first cut, she’s now backed up by all new arrangements featuring the London Symphony Orchestra. Producers Juliette Pochin and James Morgan have culled through some Decca and Verve classics, concentrating on those which were mono with bare-bones backup, such as the Oscar Peterson quartet (including Ella’s then-husband Ray Brown on bass) on the Ella/Satchmo albums, and added new backgrounds.
The gentle, lush ubiquitous strings are decent accompaniment, and never overpower the first lady of song. It’s a remarkable achievement of modern technology. Similar to Ella’s Songbook Series (from which we get “I Get a Kick out of You”), her voice is front and center, not the orchestra; which tells me that the team of arrangers (Pochin, Morgan, and Jorge Calandrelli) truly wish to honor Ella (and this is the year of her centennial birthday).
The 12-tracks include the playful “Let’s Do It… Let’s Fall in Love”, a wry tinkling piano on “Bewitched”, the gloriously romantic “These Foolish Things”, and the amazing Errol Garner/Johnny Burke classic “Misty” (originally recorded in 1959 with Paul Smith on piano). Each one with the Orchestra’s full sound. But the harp arpeggios, horns, harpsichord, xylophone, drums and all those strings continually border the syrupy feel of Richard Carpenter more than Nelson Riddle, and on two duets with Louis Armstrong, the arrangements seem particularly unsuited for this project: When Satchmo growls, “Swing it, boys” on “They Can’t Take That Away from Me”, the command goes unheeded.
Regardless of how ultimately safe this venture feels, the final track truly does highlight Ella as she beautifully purrs “With a Song in My Heart.” That’s what it’s all about.
http://www.stageandcinema.com/2017/09/22/someone-to-watch-over-me-ella-cd/

"The First Lady of Song," Ella Fitzgerald was arguably the finest female jazz singer of all time (although some may vote for Sarah Vaughan or Billie Holiday). Blessed with a beautiful voice and a wide range, Fitzgerald could outswing anyone, was a brilliant scat singer, and had near-perfect elocution; one could always understand the words she sang. The one fault was that, since she always sounded so happy to be singing, Fitzgerald did not always dig below the surface of the lyrics she interpreted and she even made a downbeat song such as "Love for Sale" sound joyous. However, when one evaluates her career on a whole, there is simply no one else in her class.
One could never guess from her singing that Ella Fitzgerald's early days were as grim as Billie Holiday's. Growing up in poverty, Fitzgerald was literally homeless for the year before she got her big break. In 1934, she appeared at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, winning an amateur contest by singing "Judy" in the style of her idol, Connee Boswell. After a short stint with Tiny Bradshaw, Fitzgerald was brought to the attention of Chick Webb by Benny Carter (who was in the audience at the Apollo). Webb, who was not impressed by the 17-year-old's appearance, was reluctantly persuaded to let her sing with his orchestra on a one-nighter. She went over well and soon the drummer recognized her commercial potential. Starting in 1935, Fitzgerald began recording with Webb's Orchestra, and by 1937 over half of the band's selections featured her voice. "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" became a huge hit in 1938 and "Undecided" soon followed. During this era, Fitzgerald was essentially a pop/swing singer who was best on ballads while her medium-tempo performances were generally juvenile novelties. She already had a beautiful voice but did not improvise or scat much; that would develop later.
On June 16, 1939, Chick Webb died. It was decided that Fitzgerald would front the orchestra even though she had little to do with the repertoire or hiring or firing the musicians. She retained her popularity and when she broke up the band in 1941 and went solo; it was not long before her Decca recordings contained more than their share of hits. She was teamed with the Ink Spots, Louis Jordan, and the Delta Rhythm Boys for some best-sellers, and in 1946 began working regularly for Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic. Granz became her manager although it would be nearly a decade before he could get her on his label. A major change occurred in Fitzgerald's singing around this period. She toured with Dizzy Gillespie's big band, adopted bop as part of her style, and started including exciting scat-filled romps in her set. Her recordings of "Lady Be Good," "How High the Moon," and "Flying Home" during 1945-1947 became popular and her stature as a major jazz singer rose as a result. For a time (December 10, 1947-August 28, 1953) she was married to bassist Ray Brown and used his trio as a backup group. Fitzgerald's series of duets with pianist Ellis Larkins in 1950 (a 1954 encore with Larkins was a successful follow-up) found her interpreting George Gershwin songs, predating her upcoming Songbooks series.
After appearing in the film Pete Kelly's Blues in 1955, Fitzgerald signed with Norman Granz's Verve label and over the next few years she would record extensive Songbooks of the music of Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Rodgers & Hart, Duke Ellington, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, and Johnny Mercer. Although (with the exception of the Ellington sets) those were not her most jazz-oriented projects (Fitzgerald stuck mostly to the melody and was generally accompanied by string orchestras), the prestigious projects did a great deal to uplift her stature. At the peak of her powers around 1960, Fitzgerald's hilarious live version of "Mack the Knife" (in which she forgot the words and made up her own) from Ella in Berlin is a classic and virtually all of her Verve recordings are worth getting.
Fitzgerald's Capitol and Reprise recordings of 1967-1970 are not on the same level as she attempted to "update" her singing by including pop songs such as "Sunny" and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," sounding quite silly in the process. But Fitzgerald's later years were saved by Norman Granz's decision to form a new label, Pablo. Starting with a Santa Monica Civic concert in 1972 that is climaxed by Fitzgerald's incredible version of "C Jam Blues" (in which she trades off with and "battles" five classic jazzmen), Fitzgerald was showcased in jazz settings throughout the 1970s with the likes of Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, and Joe Pass, among others. Her voice began to fade during this era and by the 1980s her decline due to age was quite noticeable. Troubles with her eyes and heart knocked her out of action for periods of time, although her increasingly rare appearances found Fitzgerald still retaining her sense of swing and joyful style. By 1994, Ella Fitzgerald was in retirement and she passed away two years later, but she remains a household name and scores of her recordings are easily available on CD.

foobar2000 1.3.9 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2017-09-30 01:11:58
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Analyzed: Ella Fitzgerald & London Symphony Orchestra / Someone to Watch Over Me
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DR         Peak         RMS     Duration Track
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DR12      -0.06 dB   -13.87 dB      3:14 01-People Will Say We're In Love (feat. Gregory Porter)
DR11      -0.19 dB   -13.82 dB      3:26 02-Someone To Watch Over Me
DR12      -0.69 dB   -15.01 dB      4:40 03-They Can't Take That Away From Me (feat. Louis Armstrong)
DR11       0.00 dB   -13.95 dB      3:35 04-Bewitched
DR13       0.00 dB   -14.35 dB      4:15 05-I Get A Kick Out Of You
DR11      -0.04 dB   -14.50 dB      2:59 06-Misty
DR11       0.00 dB   -13.97 dB      3:00 07-Makin' Whoopee!
DR11      -0.12 dB   -14.21 dB      4:26 08-These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)
DR11       0.00 dB   -13.83 dB      4:22 09-Let's Call The Whole Thing Off (feat. Louis Armstrong)
DR11       0.00 dB   -15.15 dB      3:29 10-What Is There To Say
DR11      -0.08 dB   -14.16 dB      3:36 11-Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)
DR11      -0.20 dB   -13.86 dB      2:57 12-With A Song In My Heart
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Number of tracks:  12
Official DR value: DR11
Samplerate:        44100 Hz
Channels:          2
Bits per sample:   24
Bitrate:           1526 kbps
Codec:             FLAC
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