Ella Fitzgerald - The Reprise Years
This GEM of an album makes it hard for Aqualung’s “Memory Man” to remain my supposed album of the month March. Thank you so much Carlo for putting my attention on this, this... exhilarating piece of an album!
The Reprise Years is actually a 2-in-1 album collection (namely the albums “Ella” from 1969 and “Things Ain’t What They used To Be” from 1970) from her years at Reprise Recordings, a label owned by fellow Frank Sinatra, and marks such a stunning change from her very Jazz-based releases at Verve.
However, those 22 songs consist of reworkings of some Pop and Contemporary Soul tunes from that time, for example “Get Ready” by The Temptations, “The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game” (The Marvelettes), “Knock On Wood” (Eddie Floyd), “Got To Get You Into My Life” (Beatles) or “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” (Marvin Gaye) to only name a few! Those songs are not only covers and reworkings (btw, I read that Miles Davis was producer here ?!) but also an impressive proof of how The First Lady Of Song, the Jazz Goddess herself (one of them), could take any song from any style and give it that timeless jazz feel only she could give with her tremendous voice; anyhow you cannot deny that it is also her ‘poppiest’ record ;).
Conclusion: You will find yourself astounded and captured by this great album.
Genre:: Jazz, Vocal Jazz, Standards, Swing, Traditional Pop
Similar Artists : Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne
Faves: -actually the whole album, but especially Get Ready, The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game, Yellow Man, I’ll Never Fall In Love Again, Got To Get You In My Life, I Wonder Why, Ooo Baby Baby, Knock On Wood, I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Things Ain’t What They Used To Be
Buy It ? amazon.com, -nichts bei amazon.de-, hmv.co.uk
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