Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book

The Greatest Singer singing the Greatest Songbook.

A top-five vocalist of the twentieth century: stably inventive, focused and uncrowded, tho perfectly full, somehow dry w/o drying out, emotive w/o being lachrymose, and a technical mastery that's formidably faultless. She is, simply put, one of only so many crucial artists of her time, and any time.

264/1001

I think I made it an hour. It sounds nice but I can’t do 2 more hours.

Initial thought: Meh. It's an interesting selection that I'm not upset about. I know she's supposed to be great, so I'll be interested to hear it, but also, I don't generally connect with really old music, so we'll see.

OK, so I'm listening to this, and it's fine, even pretty good for what it is. I'm at work, so I've been doing stuff while listening, and I've stopped a few times to talk to people, etc. But it finally dawns on me - it feels like I've been listening to this for a *really* long time. So I open Apple Music, scroll down and - holy shit - it's over THREE hours! No thanks. I looked it up and apparently it's a box set and it's like 6 albums and that is too many albums. I've already listened to the better part of two of them, and that's enough.

So 3 stars. It was smooth, she's got a great voice, it's proper lounge bar music, but it's too long for this project. Honestly, it's too long for anything. I'm glad I cut it off before getting annoyed with it. I'm sure some fans will say I missed some good stuff, but there's no goddamned way I'm listening to 3 hours of boomer youth music.

This seems like it'd be an iconic American album. 4 HOURS LONG (the version in Apple Music has some Nelson Riddle pieces).
It's definitely a clear snapshot of that era.
I'd be happy to have listened to it, been exposed to it, but don't expect to be going back to it. I also hate the album cover, it creeps me out.
Just like Sinatra albums, I recognize the artistry and icons of American music Fitzgerald/Gershwins are, but this is a 3* for me.
I spent all day at work listening to this and only made it through 3/4 discs. The last disc seemed like other versions of songs I already heard, so I quit.
Highlights: let's call the whole thing off (tomato tomahto potato potahto)

In der richtigen Stimmung find ichs richtig toll :-)
Songs der Playlist hinzugefügt: Keine

Amazing voice. Way way way too long of an album to keep my interest. I reckon if u pick the top 10-12 tracks of this on their own you would have a 4-5 star album.

I find it challenging to rate this collection. While it may not be advisable to listen to all three hours of music in one sitting, it is a delightful set of songs featuring interesting and engaging orchestration by Nelson Riddle. I truly appreciate Ella Fitzgerald and her incredible voice as she navigates the Great American Songbook, ensuring that all these (re)recorded songs will be preserved for posterity.

Jazz and the Great American Songbook are closely intertwined. The songwriters, especially the Gershwin brothers, as well as Irving Berlin and Duke Ellington, clearly understood the genre. You can hear the strong connection between Fitzgerald and the Gershwins—this is perhaps the best way to appreciate their vast repertoire.

However, as others have noted, this is a collection consisting of a 7- or 8-LP box set rather than a single album. Maybe listen to 1 LP at a time.

I could listen to her any time anyplace and all day.

Ella Fitzgerald has a great voice. Gershwin made great music. After listening to too many musicals in my youth, they now get on my nerves. I also can't listen to Gershwin's music for more than 3 hours. And that also applies to this album. After one and a half CDs, I'd had enough. I probably won't listen to the remaining two and a half CDs. It‘s enough.
3/5

When I started this project, I vowed to myself that I'd listen to every single album all the way through, not matter who it was by or how much I hated it.

That was before I saw this one was over 3 hours long. Yeah fuck that. If it's any good I'll listen to the majority of it, unlikely it'd be good enough to reach the 2 hour mark.

She's got a great voice but it's the same as most other jazz records from that time. I can listen to a few tracks before I get incredibly bored. Definitely not sitting here for an hour, let alone three.

I'd like to start by saying I took short breaks after each disc as the album is very long.

Ella Fitzgerald has a nice voice, and the songs are mostly calming background music and occasionally sound like something from an old Disney film. The album can be a little bit similar, but as I took breaks, I was able to avoid getting bored of it.

I will give this album a 4/5 as the music is very nice to listen to.

Some reviews on here complain about “Why does Ella Fitzgerald get a box set?” “Why is this so long?”

From what I can tell, these songs were recorded for this release, so I can accept it as being considered an album in the way we think about what an album is.

That being said, this is THREE HOURS and someone can’t be expected to listen to the entire thing in one sitting. But I did.

Ella is fantastic. These songs are great. The sound is good. But, I don’t think you can expect anything to maintain 5 stars for three hours. In the past, an album length alone has dragged some albums down a star. I think here the length causes there to be songs that took this down a peg.

That this album is so long and still gets a four from me says a lot. You could make one or two five star albums out of this by selecting the best tracks. The rest is still very good. She’s a legend for a reason. I’d love to have this in my vinyl collection just to listen to a random side of record every now and again.

Not my thing. It's obviously beautifully crafted, but the sentiment and melodies are cloying. I enjoy one or two songs at a time, no more.
Great cover.

Obviously rating this high because Ella Fitzgerald’s great, but this is kind of a prime example of how the 50s inclusions on this list really stick out as being very different ideas of what an album is and does

I'm not sure what to do with this. Is Ella Fitzgerald a great singer, yes. Do I have time to listen to a 3+ hours, 6 disc boxset album? Probably. But do I want to? Not really. I ended up listening to disc 1 and parked it.

I may revisit on some rainy Sunday, today wasn't the day.

Loving this. Ella's voice is incredible. The big band backing her up is outstanding. The three hour length is a little tough, but it's so easy to listen to I can't even complain too much about that.

on the one hand, it's self evidently really good. on the other hand, 3 hours of it is way way too much and i will die on the hill that this is not an 'album.' split the difference and call it a 3

It certainly is too long for repeated listens - but essential to do so at least once....