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Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook
Studio album by Ella Fitzgerald
Released	1959
Recorded	January, March and July 1959
Genre	Jazz
Length	3:16:48
Label	Verve Records
Producer(s)	Norman Granz
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Ella Fitzgerald chronology
Ella Fitzgerald Sings Sweet Songs for Swingers (1959)	Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (1959)	Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife (1960)

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook is a 1959 (see 1959 in music) album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, (focusing on the songs of George and Ira Gershwin) recorded with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, marking the first time that Ella and Riddle had worked together. This album is without question the largest single recording project that Ella worked on, and it is surely one of the most ambitious achievements in Western popular music.

The album cover is an original portrait of Ella Fitzgerald by the French artist Bernard Buffet, starting a tradition of using contemporary artists for Ella's albums, the artwork of Henri Matisse gracing the cover of her Harold Arlen Songbook (1961).

This was the fifth album in the series of 'Songbooks' that Ella recorded for the Verve label, the previous songbooks being dedicated to the songs of;

• Cole Porter (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook) (1956)
• Rodgers and Hart (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers & Hart Songbook) (1956)
• Duke Ellington (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook) (1957)
• Irving Berlin (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook) (1958)

Three later albums would focus on;

• Harold Arlen (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook) (1961)
• Jerome Kern (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook) (1963)

and

• Johnny Mercer (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook) (1964).

Riddle arranged 59 Gershwin compositions for the album, including the two orchestral suites which open the album. Though Fitzgerald was 22 years old at the time George Gershwin died, Ira Gershwin was still alive to see this project completed, and helped contribute lyrics and support to some songs on the album which had never been recorded before. It was of this project that led Ira Gershwin to say that he had 'Never known how good our songs were until I heard Ella sing them'.

Ella Fitzgerald was 41 when she recorded this album, and the peak of her vocal powers, demonstrated in the earlier Duke Ellington Songbook, and her two greatest live albums from this period, Ella in Berlin (1960) and Ella in Rome (1958). Like the other songbooks devoted to the Broadway composers, Ella gets only a single outlet for her incredible scat singing, on the epic 'I Got Rhythm'.

Ella's recording of 'But Not for Me' won her the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Female.

For the 1998 Verve Reissue, Verve 314 539 759-2

Disc One

1. Ambulatory Suite (Instrumental) (George Gershwin)
   • “Promenade (Walking the Dog)” – 2:31,
   • “March of the Swiss Soldiers” – 2:04,
   • “Fidgety Feet” – 2:46
2. The Preludes (Instrumental) George Gershwin
   • Prelude I – 1:36,
   • Prelude II – 3:48,
   • Prelude III – 1:13,
3. “Sam and Delilah” – 3:15
4. “But Not For Me” – 3:31
5. “My One and Only” – 2:36
6. “Let's Call the Whole Thing Off” – 4:26
7. “(I've Got) Beginner's Luck” – 3:08
8. “Oh, Lady be Good!” – 3:58
9. “Nice Work If You Can Get It” – 3:32
10. “Things Are Looking Up” – 3:03
11. “Just Another Rhumba” – 5:34
12. “How Long Has This Been Going On?” – 3:45
13. “'S Wonderful” – 3:28
14. “The Man I Love” – 3:50
15. “That Certain Feeling” – 3:07
16. “By Strauss” – 2:29
17. “Someone to Watch Over Me” – 4:30
18. “The Real American Folk Song (Is A Rag)” – 3:43

Disc Two

1. “Who Cares?” – 3:05
2. “Looking For a Boy” – 3:02
3. “They All Laughed” – 3:02
4. “My Cousin in Milwaukee” – 3:07
5. “Somebody From Somewhere” – 3:06
6. “A Foggy Day” – 3:50
7. “Clap Yo' Hands” – 2:28
8. “For You, For Me, For Evermore” – 3:23
9. “Stiff Upper Lip” – 2:50
10. “Boy Wanted” – 3:33
11. “Strike Up The Band” – 2:33
12. “Soon” – 2:20
13. “I've Got a Crush On You” – 3:26
14. “Bidin' My Time” – 2:40
15. “Aren't You Kinda Glad We Did?” – 3:28
16. “Of Thee I Sing” – 3:07
17. “'The Half Of It, Dearie' Blues” – 3:45
18. “I Was Doing All Right” – 3:25
19. “He Loves and She Loves” – 2:46
20. “Love Is Sweeping The Country” – 3:24
21. “Treat Me Rough” – 2:54

Disc Three

1. “Love Is Here To Stay” – 3:52
2. “Slap That Bass” – 3:23
3. “Isn't It a Pity?” – 3:23
4. “Shall We Dance?” – 3:08
5. “Love Walked In” – 3:52
6. “You've Got What Gets Me” – 2:13
7. “They Can't Take That Away from Me” – 3:07
8. “Embraceable You” – 4:49
9. “I Can't Be Bothered Now” – 2:48
10. “Boy! What Love Has Done To Me!” – 3:46
11. “Fascinating Rhythm” – 3:22
12. “Funny Face” – 3:23
13. “Loreli – 3:21
14. “Oh, So Nice!” – 3:40
15. “Let's Kiss and Make Up” – 3:49
16. “I Got Rhythm” – 3:07

Disc Four

1. “Somebody Loves Me” (George Gershwin, Buddy DeSylva, Ballard McDonald) – 2:36
2. “Cheerful Little Earful” (Harry Warren, Ira Gershwin, Billy Rose) – 2:06

Alternative Takes and Remixes

1. “But Not For Me” – 2:05 (45 rpm Take)
2. “Loreli” (Alternative Take) – 3:00
3. “Love Is Here To Stay” (Partial Alternative Take) – 3:51
4. “Oh Lady Be Good!” (Alternative Take) – 4:04
5. “Oh Lady Be Good!” (Alternative Take) – 3:56
6. “Oh Lady Be Good!” (Alternative Take) – 4:12
7. “But Not For Me” – 2:05 (Mono Mix)
8. “Fascinating Rhythm” – 3:21 (Mono Mix)
9. “They All Laughed” – 3:02 (Mono Mix)
10. “The Man I Love” – 3:50 (Mono Mix)
11. “Nice Work If You Can Get It” – 3:32 (Mono Mix)
12. “Clap Yo' Hands” – 2:29 (Mono Mix)
13. “Let's Call the Whole Thing Off” – 4:26 (Mono Mix)
14. “I Was Doing All Right” – 3:25 (Mono Mix)
15. “He Loves and She Loves” – 2:46 (Mono Mix)
16. “(I've Got) Beginner's Luck” – 3:07 (Mono Mix)

All Tracks composed by George Gershwin and all lyrics written by Ira Gershwin, unless otherwise indicated.

• Disc One, Two and Three original LP issue: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George & Ira Gershwin Songbook Verve MGVS 6082-5

• Disc One, tracks 1 and 2 original 7'-EP (Verve VS 100) issued with the above

• Disc Four, tracks 1 and 2 originally issued on the 1959 Ella Fitzgerald album Get Happy (Verve V6-4036).

• Disc Four, track 3 original 7'- single issue: Verve 10180

• Disc Four, tracks 4, 5, and 9-18: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George & Ira Gershwin Songbook Vol.1 Verve MGVS 6102

• Disc Four, tracks 6 and 7 previously unissued.

• Disc Four, track 8: The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Songbook Verve 519 832-2

Recorded

• January

5th, 7th and 8th

• March

18th and 26th

• July

15th,16th and 17th, 1959 at Capitol Studios, Hollywood:

Combined personnel listing for all tracks.

• Ella Fitzgerald - Vocals
• Don Fagerquist - Trumpet
• Pete Candoli
• Joe Triscari
• Conrad Gozzo
• Cappy Lewis
• Vito Mangano
• Mannie Klein
• Dale McMickle
• Shorty Sherock
• Milt Bernhart - Trombone
• James Priddy
• Juan Tizol
• Richard Noel
• Tommy Pederson
• Karl DeKarske - Bass Trombone
• George Roberts
• Vincent DeRosa - French horn
• James Decker
• Ted Nash - Alto saxophone
• Benny Carter
• Ronnie Lang
• Chuck Gentry - Bass saxophone
• Plas Johnson - Tenor Saxophone
• Ed Gilbert - Tuba
• Red Callender
• Buddy Collette - Woodwind
• Buck Skalak
• Gene Cipriano
• Jewell Grant
• Jules Jacob
• Wilber Schwartz
• Justin Gordon
• William Green
• Harry Klee
• Joe Koch
• Champ Webb
• Israel Baker - Violin
• Henry Hill
• Harold Dicterow
• Erno Neufield
• Victor Arno
• Victor Bay
• Alex Beller
• Joseph Livoti
• Jacques Gasselin
• Walter Edelstein
• James Getzoff
• Eudice Shapiro
• Ben Gill
• Murrary Kellner
• Nat Ross
• Felix Slatkin
• Marshall Sosson
• Misha Russell
• Paul Shure
• Dan Lube
• Gerald Vinci
• Alvin Dinken - Viola
• Lou Kievman
• David Sterkin
• Stanley Harris
• Paul Robyn
• Barbara Simons
• Elizabeth Greenschpoon - Cello
• James Arkatov
• Armand Kaproff
• George Neikrug
• Dave Filerman
• Kurt Reher
• Katharine Julyie - Harp
• Paul Smith - Piano
• Lou Levy -- Piano
• Herb Ellis - Guitar
• Barney Kessel
• Joe Comfort - Double bass
• Ralph Pena
• Alvin Stoller - Drums
• Mel Lewis
• Bill Richmond
• Frank Flynn - Percussion
• Larry Bunker
• Nelson Riddle - Arranger, Conductor