Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book

I only listened to the first album. I always thought I didn't like vocal jazz beyond Frank Sinatra but I enjoyed this. However I am recognizing that some albums are just not going to connect with me just for their genre. This has a little bit of that.

At least a 10

Shortest 3+ hours of music. So good.

I listened to all the songs >500k listens. 3hrs? Nah. Timeless voice, she could sing the phone book and it would sound great. Makes me want it to be Xmas and watch 50s movies. 4/5.

I listened vaguely to some of the songs but it's all pretty same old style American crap and there's nothing impressive musically or vocally. I don't think Ella has anything outstanding about her vocal quality to carry these boring songs.

I tried to finish this I really did but there is only so much time in the day, which is a shame because the music is fantastic, beautifuly sung and played, but this isn't the album by her that should be on the list. It's a collection if songs that last three hours, that's too long
4 for the music
2 for the actual album listening experience

(10/10)

It's arguably one of the best vocalists of all time singing old-timey feel good music! Just throw it on shuffle and let your cares melt away

Great vocals and arrangements as to be expected. But I have to admit I sampled the highlights amongst this monstrous 195 minute compilation that had no business being on this list. A halfhearted 3/5 given to shoo this away. Sorry Ella.

Extremely great. Perfect voice and the songs match her vibe entirely. I may have a bias as I associate these songs particularly with my grandmother. It doesn’t get 5 stars because it’s more of a compilation than an album

Immediate 5 stars with the caveat that this is not really a collection to sit down and swallow in one bite. But listen to it in short snatches and you get the greatest voice of the 20th Century singing some of the greatest songs of the 20th Century in arrangements by the incomparable Nelson Riddle.

If I'm being completely honest I prefer the Cole Porter set, because I like Cole Porter. But there's nothing to criticise here. Even Ira Gershwin said he hadn't realised how good the songs were until he heard Ella sing them. And yes, the "Best of" selection does make more sense.

But what a box of treasure!

I like Gershwin and Ella. This was slow and a bit dull

Ахуеть какой долгий релиз , и песни в основном похожи, хотя к самой Элле у меня претензий нет

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira George Gershwin Songbook
There’s such a lovely economy and purity to the Gershwin's songwriting, and they are arranged beautifully by Nelson Riddle, as well as played wonderfully here and it sounds fantastic, with brightness and subtlety. And of course her voice is superb, singing the songs brilliantly, with control, elegance, sweetness, joyfulness and melancholy, bringing out the delicate bittersweet shades of their songwriting.

Obviously it’s a huge amount to digest, and hard to pick out too many specifics even of a couple of listens. I listened each time in chunks, as finding 4 uninterrupted hours is a bit of a task, and as it is a box set rather than an album it’s quite hard to get a handle on it as one reviewable piece of work. But ultimately I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it, and looked forward to the next parcel of it each time, and with the songs, arrangements, playing, production and vocals being so great I’m happy to go for a 4.
📖📖📖📖
Playlist submission: Things Are Looking Up

Jamais écouté avant.

Une expérience d'écoute très particulière, et qui restera sans doute unique pour moi, tant l'album en intégralité est long (plus de trois heures !). Difficile d'y prêter une attention active tout ce temps, d'autant plus dans ce style de jazz vocal vieillot qui a déjà tendance à beaucoup se ressembler d'un titre à l'autre. Ce qui n'en fait pas pour autant une écoute désagréable, loin s'en faut, et ce pour deux raisons principales : la formidable voix d'Ella Fitzgerald, bien entendu, parfaite d'un point de vue technique et profondément empreinte d'émotions et de sentimentalité ; et la qualité du son, impressionnante pour l'époque. Chaque inflexion de la voix d'Ella Fitzgerald, chaque note de chaque instrument de l'orchestre est rendue avec fidélité, et si ce n'était pour le sifflement typique qui trahit son âge (et lui confère aussi un charme désuet), on pourrait penser à un enregistrement bien plus tardif que la fin des années 1950. Finalement, une rencontre bienvenue avec une légende, mais à l'avenir, je me contenterai de la version Very Best of, qui semble bien plus digeste.

Top : But Not for Me
Flop : Fidgety Feet

Loses a star for length of album

What a lovely way to spend a Sunday. Don't know what you ticktock-addled-brains folks' problem is, I could've gladly listened to another 5 hours of this. Pure camp, and I thought I wasn't a massive Gershwin person before I heard this. Will have to check out the Cole Porter one as well. Well done Ella bestie on this massive undertaking

I can't believe that anyone other than this album's producers and engineers would listen to this record in its entirety in one sitting, so I approached it like I would if I owned a copy, listening to it in digestible portions over the course of a couple of weeks.

Ella Fitzgerald has a great voice, of course, as well as a great sense of timing; I always respect singers who can syncopate with the beat of the music like this. And of course Gershwin was a talented lyricist (“it’s just another rhumba - why did I have to succumbha?”). Of course as usual, I liked the speedier tracks better than the slow ballads and love songs. There were also a handful of instrumental Gershwin pieces that were nice to hear.

Summary: this album is a wonderful historical resource, but not something I'd go out of my way to listen to again. One or two of these songs would be fun to hear if it popped up after a Magnetic Fields track on the radio.

For a three hour long album, don't got a lot to say other than that it's really good. Three hours of Fallout-core isn't a bad thing in my book.

But yeah, it very much is vibe music for me. Can't pick out specific songs I like when it all blends together, especially at that length. Just sit back, listen, and vibe.

Absolute colossus of an album. Not gonna call it a compilation, since neither Wikipedia nor MusicBrainz considers it as one. And as far as I can tell, all of the songs were recorded in the same exact year, so that's not really "compilation" material to me.

Despite its sheer size, I quite enjoyed the listen. Never a bad moment. But the fact that it's three hours does kinda water it down, making individual tracks that much less special. It's also pretty hard to listen in one sitting. And while I did like it, it's perhaps not my favourite kind of jazz. Hence I'd still edge towards 4/5 instead of 5/5.

Disc 1
Track 2 & Track 4.
Enough said