trio. Recorded in 1958, it was released thirty years later.
History
The album was recorded on Ella's 41st birthday, (though people thought her to be 40 at the time) and considered one of Ella's greatest live recordings, alongside her more famous concert in
Grammy award. In 1993, Fitzgerald's biographer Stuart Nicholson wrote, "Perhaps more than any of her live albums, Ella in Rome is a celebration of the joy of music-making, with Ella’s voice the perfect instrument to express that joy." In "The First Lady of Song: Ella Fitzgerald for the Record", his biography of Ella, Geoffrey Mark Fidelman said that Fitzgerald "was in magnificent voice" and declared that "the entire collection made for the most satisfying of albums."[1]The New York Times declared it "an album that stands beside her songbook collections as a treasure for the ages."[2]
This album's notoriety derives partly from the fact that it was discovered in the vaults of the Verve label in 1988, and released on CD that year; before this, no one had known that this recording had existed.
Pianist Levy attested to that fact, saying, "I didn’t even know they recorded Ella in Rome, I really didn’t. When they put it out and I got a copy of the record, I thought, ‘God! we were swinging our cans off.’ It was just great! So much spirit and drive on it. You could never get it if you went into a studio.”
Billboard
jazz charts.
Ella is at the peak of her vocal talents in the 1958 recording, and a rare event can be witnessed on the last track, "Stompin' at the Savoy", in which Ella invites one of her accompanists to solo. Her inclusion of the
I Loves You Porgy" among the very best Ella Fitzgerald on record," citing it as evidence that Fitzgerald could, indeed, emotionally "internalize" a song.[1]
Allmusic, music critic Scott Yanow wrote of the album "A top singer for 23 years at that point, she was at the peak of her powers... she puts on her usual show of the period, uplifting the ballads and swinging the faster material."[3]
Track listing
For the 1988 Verve CD album; Verve-PolyGram 835 454-2 (Tracks 12, 13, 15 and 16 were not included on the 12" vinyl album issue)
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release. Note: All-Star albums feature sideman who are not necessarily listed while titles which include "Oscar Peterson" or the OP Trio are usually shortened.
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