Pure Ella

Performer: Ella Fitzgerald
Artist: Ellis Larkins; Ray Brown; Tommy Flanagan; Jim Hall; Coleman Hawkins; Oscar Peterson; Buddy Rich; Louis Armstrong; Stan Getz
Engineer: Erick Labson
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: 2 LPs on 1 CD. Personnel: Ella Fitzgerald (vocals); Ellis Larkin (piano). Producer: Milt Gabler. Reissue producer: Orrin Keepnews. Recorded in New York City, New York on September 11-12, 1950 and March 29-30, 1954. Includes liner notes by James Gavin. Tracks 1-8 were originally released as ELLA SINGS GERSHWIN on Decca (5300). Tracks 9-20 were originally released as SONGS IN A MELLOW MOOD on Decca (8068). Digitally remastered by Erick Labson (MCA Music Media Studios). This is part of Decca's Legendary Masters Of Jazz series. Personnel includes: Ella Fitzerald (vocals); Paul Weston, Nelson Riddle, Buddy Bregman, Russell Garcia, Billy May (conductor); Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins, Illinois Jacquet, Flip Phillips, Lester Young, Plas Johnson (tenor saxophone); Harry "Sweets" Edison, Louis Armstrong, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge (trumpet); J.J. Johnson (trombone); Paul Smith, Lou Levy, Oscar Peterson, Tommy Flanagan, Count Basie (piano); Jim Hall, Herb Ellis (guitar); Wilfred Middlebrooks, Ray Brown, Kelter Betts (bass); Gus Johnson, Buddy Rich, Jo Jones, Connie Kay (drums). Recorded between 1956 and 1965. Includes liner notes by Will Friedwald. Personnel: Ella Fitzgerald (vocals); Ellis Larkins (piano). Audio Remasterer: Erick Labson. Liner Note Author: James Gavin. Recording information: 09/12/1950-03/30/1954. Throughout her long career, Ella Fitzgerald was usually accorded the full orchestral treatment. She rarely recorded with a straight trio except in live settings, and almost never appeared with piano accompaniment alone. It is for this reason that these Decca sessions with the superb pianist Ellis Larkins are so special. The first eight selections on PURE ELLA, which was originally released as the 10-inch LP ELLA SINGS GERSHWIN, find the singer beginning to explore the work of a composer she would thoroughly master a few years later on the more famous GERSHWIN SONGBOOK sessions for Norman Granz's Verve label. Still, these earlier versions and other purely rendered standards are hard to match for sheer loveliness, due in large part to the sympathetic stylings of Larkins, who unassumingly takes up the role of equal collaborator, his touch and tone so distinctive. The session belongs to Ella of course. Her burgeoning artistry was just coming into focus at the time of this album's release, and PURE ELLA was certainly a harbinger of major achievements to come.

Through unparalleled ability and judicious choice of repertoire, Ella Fitzgerald became the foremost female interpreter of the 20th-century Great American Popular Song Book. With producer Norman Granz she worked on the "songbook" series, placing on record definitive performances of the work of America's leading songwriters. Fitzgerald had a wide vocal range, but her voice retained a youthful, light vibrancy throughout the greater part of her career, bringing a fresh and appealing quality to most of her material, especially her scat singing. While there are still numerous excellent artists whose work has been strongly influenced by Fitzgerald, the social and artistic conditions that helped to create America's First Lady of Song no longer exist, and it seems highly unlikely that we shall ever see or hear her like again.

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