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Artist: Ella Fitzgerald
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Ella Fitzgerald:

Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas

Ringing in the 2023 holidays with a timeless seasonal classic, Verve Records announces a new edition of Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas, the legendary holiday album from Ella Fitzgerald. The collection of festive tunes—now on “ruby red” vinyl with a collectible cover that is unique to this color variant — is sure to enchant fans new and old. The new version also features the official visualizer for Ella’s rendition of “Good Morning Blues.” Order HERE and watch the visualizer HERE.

Hailed as "the best holiday album ever" by Salon, Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas has been a cherished holiday classic amongst jazz aficionados for more than sixty years. Ranking #10 on Rolling Stone's "25 Greatest Christmas Albums of All Time" and #2 on The Guardian's "20 Greatest Christmas Albums” this stunning edition introduces a new spirit to this timeless collection of classics from Ella and makes for a perfect gift for any fan.  

Dubbed "The First Lady of Song," Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) was the most popular female jazz singer in the United States for more than half a century. In her lifetime, she sold more than 40 million albums and received most every honor a performer could dream of winning, including the Kennedy Center Honor (1979), the National Medal of Arts (1987), France's Commander of Arts and Letters (1990), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1992) and 13 Grammy Awards. In 2007, the United States Postal Service honored Fitzgerald with a postage stamp.

In her six-decade long career, the Queen of Jazz recorded more than 200 albums and roughly 2,000 songs, making her the most recorded female – and the second most recorded – performer in history. Fitzgerald's distinct style has influenced multiple generations of singers and her work transcends generations and musical genres.

Ella Fitzgerald:

Ella@The Hollywood Bowl-The Irving Berlin songbook

Will Friedwald writes…..On August 16, 1958, just a few months after Ella Fitzgerald recorded her now-classic album, Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Irving Berlin Songbook, The First Lady Of Song performed selections from that album live at the Hollywood Bowl to an adoring, sold-out crowd. Conducted and arranged by Paul Weston, who also arranged and conducted the studio sessions, this concert marked the only time that Ella performed these iconic arrangements live with a full orchestra.

On June 24, Verve/UMe will proudly release the full, never-before-released 15-song performance, aptly titled, Ella At The Hollywood Bowl: The Irving Berlin Songbook, on CD, vinyl, limited edition yellow splatter vinyl, and digitally. This landmark record, discovered in the private collection of producer and Verve Records founder Norman Granz, marks the first time a live Songbook has been released from Ella. It is also significant in that it captures the only time Ella worked in concert with arranger-conductor Paul Weston. And, although she performed regularly at the Hollywood Bowl, this is the first full-length concert by Ella from this iconic venue to be released (notably, Ella was featured prominently on Verve’s Jazz At The Hollywood Bowl album, recorded and released in 1956, the year Granz formed the label). The live tracks were mixed from the original ¼” tapes by Grammy Award-winning producer and musician Gregg Field who played drums for Ella in her later years. The album is rounded out with insightful liner notes about the concert and Ella’s Songbook series by noted author and music critic.

Ella Fitzgerald:

The Lost Berlin Tapes

Verve Records announces the release of a never-before-heard stellar live recording from the First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald. 

The Lost Berlin Tapes were recorded – incredibly in both mono and stereo – at Berlin's Sportpalast on March 25, 1962 and finds Ella at the top of her game with a trio led by pianist Paul Smith, Wilfred Middlebrooks on bass, and Stan Levey on drums. 

There was just something about Berlin that brought out the best in Ella. In February of 1960, she gave a concert at the Deutschlandhalle, which became one of her best-known and best-selling records, Mack The Knife: Ella in Berlin. The album won her 2 Grammys, it went on to be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. 

Two years after that historic concert, Ella returned to the city at the height of her career, in the midst of her most extensive European tour to date. Flanked by her stalwart rhythm section including pianist Paul Smith, bassist Wilfred Middlebrooks and drummer Stan Levey, Ella delivers an energized, top-of-her-game set a month before her 45th birthday. 

Ella Fitzgerald:

Ella At Zardi's

Verve Records and UMe will close out their year-long celebration of jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald's centennial with the ultimate present for her 100th birthday – a completely unreleased live album. More than 60 years after it was recorded, Ella At Zardi's finally is now released. Recorded on February 2, 1956 at Zardi's Jazzland in Hollywood, Ella At Zardi's features the entirety of the evening's two-set, 21-song performance, which captures an inspired Fitzgerald, backed by a stellar trio comprised of pianist Don Abney, bassist Vernon Alley and drummer Frank Capp, singing and swinging in front of an animated, adoring crowd, just days before she'd go on to record the album that would catapult her to stardom. The concert was originally recorded by Norman Granz to celebrate the creation of, and Fitzgerald's signing to, Verve Records, which Granz founded largely to give Fitzgerald the attention that he felt she wasn't receiving at her then-current label, Decca. Ella At Zardi's was planned as the label's inaugural release but shelved in favor of the now-classic studio album Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Cole Porter Song Book, which kicked off a best-selling, signature series of Song Book releases. The Zardi's tapes languished in Verve's vaults for six decades. 

7 NEW  145 TOTAL
SYND: Judy Carmichael's Jazz Inspired, CBC
Direct: SiriusXM, Stingray
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INTER: Canada, Mexico, UK, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Denmark, Poland, New Zealand
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