Ella and Louis

The album

Norman Granz, the founder of the Verve label, selected eleven ballads for Fitzgerald and Armstrong, mainly played in a slow or moderate tempo. They were arranged and conducted by Verve Record's resident arranger/conductor and Head of A&R, Buddy Bregman. Recording began August 16, 1956, at the new, and now iconic, Capitol Studios in Hollywood. Though Granz produced the album, Armstrong was given final say over songs and keys.

The success of Ella and Louis was replicated by Ella and Louis Again and Porgy and Bess. All three were released as The Complete Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong on Verve.

Verve released the album also as one of the first ones in Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD).

This album joined the Grammy Hall of Fame on November 22, 2015.

Reception

Writing for Allmusic, music critic Scott Yanow wrote of the album "Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong make for a charming team on this CD... this is primarily a vocal set with the emphasis on tasteful renditions of ballads."

Jasen and Jones called the set a "pinnacle of popular singing".

The Penguin Guide to Jazz compiled by Richard Cook and Brian Morton, rated the album with four stars.

Track listing

Re-released by PolyGram-Verve on CD in 1989: Verve-PolyGram 825 373-2.

Side one:

1. "Can't We Be Friends?" (Paul James, Kay Swift) – 3:47
2. "Isn't This a Lovely Day?" (Irving Berlin) – 6:16
3. "Moonlight in Vermont" (John Blackburn, Karl Suessdorf) – 3:42
4. "They Can't Take That Away from Me" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 4:39
5. "Under a Blanket of Blue" (Jerry Livingston, Al J. Neiburg, Marty Symes) – 4:18
6. "Tenderly" (Walter Gross, Jack Lawrence) - 5:10

Side two:

1. "A Foggy Day" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – 4:32
2. "Stars Fell on Alabama" (Mitchell Parish, Frank Perkins) – 3:34
3. "Cheek to Cheek" (Berlin) – 5:53
4. "The Nearness of You" (Hoagy Carmichael, Ned Washington) – 5:42
5. "April in Paris" (Vernon Duke, Yip Harburg) – 6:33

Personnel

Additional personnel