Mack The Knife: Ella In Berlin (Remastered) Ella Fitzgerald

• 1Gone With The Wind02:33
• 2Misty02:56
• 3The Lady Is A Tramp03:08
• 4The Man I Love03:36
• 5Summertime02:56
• 6Too Darn Hot03:54
• 7Lorelei03:19
• 8Mack The Knife05:02
• 9How High The Moon07:09
• Total Runtime34:33

Info for Mack The Knife: Ella In Berlin (Remastered)

It entered into jazz lore when, at this 1960 Berlin concert, Ella forgot the words to Mack the Knife ; she improvised her way out of it in an inventive way that amazed even herself!

„Ella Fitzgerald was at the peak of her form during her 1960 tour of Europe. Her Berlin concert is most remembered for her hilariously inventive version of 'Mack the Knife,' during which she forgot the words and substituted ones of her own that somehow fit, amazing herself in the process. With fine support from her quartet -- pianist Paul Smith, guitarist Jim Hall, bassist Wilfred Middlebrooks, drummer Gus Johnson -- Fitzgerald is brilliant throughout the well-rounded set, with highlights including 'Misty' (a version very different from Sarah Vaughan's), 'The Lady Is a Tramp,' 'Too Darn Hot,' and a scat-filled 'How High the Moon.' This is essential music.“ (Scott Yanow, AMG)

„A 43-year-old Ella rolls through her typical routine in feisty fashion on this 1960 recording, which documents the opening show of her European tour. There's the Satchmo impersonation (a joyous 'Mack the Knife'), the lengthy scat showcase ('How High the Moon,' on which she quotes Charlie Parker's 'Ornithology'), and a bevy of Gershwin and Porter tunes. Supported by pianist Paul Smith's quartet (with the elegant Jim Hall on guitar), Ella's voice sounds earthier than usual and her phrasing is as appealing as ever. She's sublimely tender on 'Misty' and wonderfully sultry on 'Too Darn Hot.' The CD reissue includes two unreleased tracks from the Berlin concert plus two 1956 gems (including a stylish 'Love for Sale') that were mistakenly pressed on this release. Upon its initial release, the album picked up two Grammies and peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Pop chart; its acclaim was well deserved.“ (Marc Greilsamer)

Ella Fitzgerald, vocals
Paul Smith, piano
Jim Hall, guitar
Wilfred Middlebrooks, double bass
Gus Johnson, drums

Recorded February 13, 1960, at the Deutschlandhalle, Berlin
Produced by Norman Granz

Digitally remastered

Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)
was, along with Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday, one of the most important vocalists to emerge from the big-band era. Her style is marked by a sunny outlook, a girlish innocence, and a virtuoso command of her voice.

Fitzgerald was born out of wedlock in Newport News, Virginia, to a laundress mother and a father who disappeared when she was three years old. Along with her mother and her mother’s new boyfriend who functioned as a stepfather, she soon moved to Yonkers, New York, where she began her schooling. Around the third grade she started dancing, a pursuit that became almost an obsession. In 1932, when she was fifteen, her mother died suddenly of a heart attack. Her stepfather treated her badly, but an aunt took the teenager to live with her in Harlem. This arrangement did not last long; Fitzgerald ran away in 1934 to live on the streets. Late that year she won a talent contest at the Apollo Theater; she had entered as a dancer, but nervousness caused her to sing instead. Several months later she joined drummer Chick Webb’s big band, where she mostly sang novelties like 'Vote for Mr. Rhythm'. In 1938 she recorded 'A-Tisket, A-Tasket', her own adaptation of a turn-of-the-century nursery rhyme, which took the country by storm and eventually sold a million copies. When Webb died in 1939 the band’s management installed Fitzgerald as leader.

In 1942 the band broke up and Fitzgerald became a single act, touring with various other popular names of the day. She also became interested in scat singing and the newly emerging style known as bebop, and in 1945 she recorded a landmark version of 'Flying Home.' Several tours with the Dizzy Gillespie band also contributed to her assimilation of the bebop style.

In the late 1940s Fitzgerald began to tour with the Jazz at the Philharmonic troupe, working with such leading musicians as saxophonist Lester Young, trumpeter Roy Eldridge, pianist Oscar Peterson, and bassist Ray Brown, to whom she was married for four years. JATP impresario Norman Granz became increasingly influential in her career, and in 1953 he became her manager.

Three years after that he became her record producer as well, recording her on his own Verve label. He wasted little time in having Fitzgerald record a double album of Cole Porter songs. Fitzgerald made many wonderful albums for Verve in the following decade, but the six songbooks occupy a special place in her discography. They were instrumental in expanding Fitzgerald’s appeal beyond that of a 'jazz singer' and creating a demand for her in venues not usually open to jazz artists.

For die-hard jazz fans, though, the well-polished jewels of the songbook series lack the raw energy of Fitzgerald’s live performances. Happily, Granz released several landmark concert albums by her as well. Especially exciting was a 1960 Berlin concert, which featured an electrifying performance of an impromptu take on 'Mack the Knife,' which became a Top 30 single. Fitzgerald usually performed with a trio or quartet, but there were also appearances with larger groups, such as the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras. By the 1960s Fitzgerald had become wealthy enough to retire, but the love of performing drove her on — she appeared regularly until just a couple of years before her death in 1996. Sidemen came and went, but except when health problems intervened she performed as much as humanly possible, sometimes singing concerts in two different cities in one day. Source: Verve Music (Phil Bailey). Excerpted from Ken Burns’ Jazz: The Definitive Ella Fitzgerald

This album contains no booklet.