Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book

The year 1956 documents a new, great chapter in the history of jazz music: Norman Granz founds his third label, VERVE, manages to win Ella Fitzgerald (who has deserted DECCA) and initiates the Songbook Series which not only attracts a totally new listening public, but also establishes Ella's reputation as the "First Lady of Song." The Cole Porter Songbook marks the glorious beginnng of a series which finally expanded to seven titles. These songs make easy listening not only thanks to their melodic originality and harmonic genius but particularly to the wonderful almagamation of the text.

"...The Porter is, musically, the most consistently splendid; though mono, the orchestra has wonderously deep layers." - Fred Kaplan, The Absolute Sound, December 2005 (included in Kaplan's "Best-Sounding Jazz LPs")