Sunday Morning Vinyl

Record: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book, Volume Two
Artist: Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington
Released: Verve Records, 1957

I've been listening to this album for three weeks now, and it's been beautiful. It plays well as quiet background music while eating dinner, grading papers, or just clearing your head after a busy day. 

This isn't the first time I've written here about Ella Fitzgerald, but I'm still struck by how different she is from what I'd imagined. This two-record album allows her to showcase her range of talent as she sings along with Duke Ellington while they play some of his classic tunes. (This is actually volume two; sadly, volume one doesn't appear to be in my father's collection.)

This particular collaboration allows her to lean into her more sultry side, and although I prefer her more upbeat turns, that's a minor quibble. Ella is a legend, plain and simple, and listening to her play with Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's lyrics is magical. She climbs into a broken heart, completing owning the desolate lines of "I Got It Bad..." as she sings,

"Like a lonely willow lost in the wood,
I got it bad and that ain't good!
And the things I tell my pillow no woman should
I got it bad and that ain't good!
Though folks with good intentions tell me to save my tears,
I'm glad I'm mad about him, I can't live without him.
Lord above me make him love me the way he should.
I got it bad and that ain't good!"

My favorite track from the album is on that same side, "Everything But You." Once again Ellington's poignant words spin a tale of love gone wrong, or at least misconstrued.

"Each day was so gay and so daring,
I loved every breathtaking minute,
For how could I know I was sharing
A kiss without a future in it."

But unlike the character she inhabits in "I Got It Bad," this time Fitzgerald sings with the resolve that comes with understanding she'd been wronged. There's no pain in her voice, only a resolve to move on.

Ella Fitzgerald can be whoever she wants to be, and that's her true genius.

Side 1
I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart
In a Sentimental Mood
Don't Get Around Much Anymore
Prelude to a Kiss

Side 2
Mood Indigo
In a Mellow Tone
Love You Madly
Lush Life
Squatty Roo

Side 3
I'm Just a Lucky So and So
All Too Soon
Everything But You
I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good
Bli-Blip
Chelsea Bridge

Side 4
Portrait of Ella Fitzgerald
The E and D Blues (E for Ella, D for Duke)