A Mixed Bag

I am no connoisseur of jazz. I like the pure sound of Ella FItzgerald, and I bought this CD because I wanted to hear her sing some of my favorite standards. I knew that at least one song was a duet with Louis Armstrong and I had no problem with that. I have an old vinyl recording of their duets. I was surprised, however, to find that nearly half of the songs are duets with "Satchmo." I bought this CD to hear pure Ella. I was also surprised that some of the songs are from very old master tapes when her voice was much less mature, although in some ways even more pure than it later was. On one hand, this was enthralling; but on the other hand, the quality of the recording was not very good, having clearly been made on old equipment that is a far cry from modern standards. Overall, the songs themselves being sung by this legendary singer made it worth the investment.

This is a great release of early Ella...

If you have always enjoyed early songs from the great herself you will certainly love this album. It has her first big hit "A-Tisket A-Tasket" and some of the good duets with Louis Armstrong that are very enjoyable. This is a recording that sounds like you're playing it on the old phonograph right from the era. Really an enjoyable release!