#0019: Ella Fitzgerald - Sings The George & Ira Gershwin Song Book [*****]

I like a Gershwin tune.  How about you?

This is a triple album, which I would put good money on being quite a coup in 1958.  I don't know if there were songs left out.  I'm not a Gershwin geek by any stretch but there are many of those songs in my favourites list from this genre.

Fitzgerald's voice is clear and bright, even in the low register.  It lacks the road worn crackle of Holiday or the crepuscular smokiness of Vaughan but given the arrangements on this collection, they were clearly going for shiny and pristine over character.  They are letting the songs do the talking.  Nelson Riddle's arrangements are smooth, precise and spacious allowing you to sit back and take in the panorama.

Arrangements are fine, and voices are lovely but without good writing to back it up there is only so far you can get.  There is a personality in these songs that gives them immortality in spite of the inherent antiquity of the style.  Tenuous rhymes on one line and simple truths the next, the lyrics dance with the language like nobody's watching.

Many of these songs would be popular answers in any survey of this period.  Someone To Watch Over Me, Let's Call The Whole Thing Off, They Can't Take That Away From Me, Embraceable You...I could go on. And on.  Mind you, there are some real gems on here too that haven't enjoyed as much of the spotlight - Slap That Bass, to name just one.

It's value for money.  It's a sophisticated dinner party soundtrack.  And if it's neither of those, you'll at least feel yourself wanting to watch When Harry Met Sally and that's never a bad thing.