Ella at Juan-Les-Pins [Live] [Original recording remastered]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
There is no dearth of live Ella Fitzgerald recordings. What makes this two-disc documentation of a 1964 French festival appearance special is the chance, thanks to the addition of a wealth of previously unreleased music, to hear her performances of the same basic set from successive nights. Basking in the presence of trumpet giant Roy Eldridge, Ella breezes through an appealing, varied program that includes favorites such as "Mack the Knife" and "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," big band classics including "Shiny Stockings" and "Perdido," and contemporary tunes such as "People" and "Can't Buy Me Love." As ever, Ella is best scatting and skittering her way into the audience's heart, particularly when she lets her hair down during her extended encores. And as supported by a rhythm section including pianist Tommy Flanagan, she's in very good form on such ballads as Mack Gordon's "Somewhere in the Night" as well. Viva la Ella. --Lloyd Sachs

Album Description
Spurred on by enthusiastic crowds and supported by what was probably the best band she ever toured with (featuring two certifiable jazz greats, pianist Tommy Flanagan and trumpeter Roy Eldridge), the First Lady of Song is captured at the peak of her power. For the first time, all the music recorded on both nights, much of it previously unreleased, is available in one package. High resolution, 96 kHz, 24-bit digitally remastered. New liner notes, photographs & original cover art. 2 CDs in a Gatefold digipak. 2002 release on Verve.

Tracks:

Introduction
Hello, Dolly!
Day In, Day Out
Just A-Sittin' And A-Rockin'
I Love Being Here With You
People
Someone To Watch Over Me
Can't Buy Me Love
Them There Eyes
The Lady Is A Tramp
Summertime
Cutie Pants
I'm Puttin' All My Eggs In One Basket
St. Louis Blues
Perdido
A-Tisket, A-Tasket
Mack The Knife
A-Tisket, A-Tasket
Honeysuckle Rose
Introduction
Hello, Dolly!
Day In, Day Out
Just A-Sittin' And A-Rockin'
I Love Being Here With You

Tracks:

People
Someone To Watch Over Me
Can't Buy Me Love
Them There Eyes
The Lady Is A Tramp
Summertime
Cutie Pants
I'm Puttin' All My Eggs In One Basket
St. Louis Blues
Perdido
A-Tisket, A-Tasket
Goody Goody
The Boy From Impanema
They Can't Take That Away From Me
You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
Shiny Stockings
Somewhere In The Night
I've Got You Under My Skin
Blues In The Night
Too Close For Comfort
Mack The Knife
When Lights Are Low/A-Tisket, A-Tasket
The Cricket Song
How High The Moon
A-Tisket, A-Tasket/When Lights Are Low

Amazon.com

There is no dearth of live Ella Fitzgerald recordings. What makes this two-disc documentation of a 1964 French festival appearance special is the chance, thanks to the addition of a wealth of previously unreleased music, to hear her performances of the same basic set from successive nights. Basking in the presence of trumpet giant Roy Eldridge, Ella breezes through an appealing, varied program that includes favorites such as "Mack the Knife" and "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," big band classics including "Shiny Stockings" and "Perdido," and contemporary tunes such as "People" and "Can't Buy Me Love." As ever, Ella is best scatting and skittering her way into the audience's heart, particularly when she lets her hair down during her extended encores. And as supported by a rhythm section including pianist Tommy Flanagan, she's in very good form on such ballads as Mack Gordon's "Somewhere in the Night" as well. Viva la Ella. --Lloyd Sachs

Album Description

Spurred on by enthusiastic crowds and supported by what was probably the best band she ever toured with (featuring two certifiable jazz greats, pianist Tommy Flanagan and trumpeter Roy Eldridge), the First Lady of Song is captured at the peak of her power. For the first time, all the music recorded on both nights, much of it previously unreleased, is available in one package. High resolution, 96 kHz, 24-bit digitally remastered. New liner notes, photographs & original cover art. 2 CDs in a Gatefold digipak. 2002 release on Verve.

Customer Reviews:

Absolutely Ella At Her Best !!.......2007-07-12

This collection contains both remastered standards as well as unreleased tracks. It is impossible not to enjoy this classic.

Pure Ella!.......2003-06-18

This Cd was a little steep in price at just around $ 38.00 BUT worth every penny, They wouldnt be charging that amount of money if this CD wasnt the great cd it is.
They know your gonna buy it. I did and I love it.
To me Ella Fitzgerald is great. Shes the SINATRA of all female singers.
Ella reminds me of an instrument cuz her voice is one.
This CD LIVE AT Juan-Les Pins is worth the price of admission
I mean you get 2 concerts from the same venue with extras throw in, Ella Fans this is a must!

Ella in great condition!.......2003-01-11

This brand-new, very expensive but wonderful CD shows Ella singing great songs. The first parts of these concerts are the same, but when you listen carefully you discover Ella didn't sing exactly the same two times. Not only melodically, but also lyrically; as an example she sings in the (is rocking the right word?) Peggy Lee song `I Love Being Here With You' the first time `I love Basie swinging' twice, while she should be singing `I love Peggy singing'. But of course it's more important to enjoy Ella's singing. And you surely will. Ella uses her voice for angelic purely versions of `Summertime', `Somewhere In The Night', and `Someone to watch over me' (A beautiful Gershwin song she did first wonderfully in 1950 with pianist Ellis Larkins, who unfortunately passed away at the end of 2002), and for making growls like in Perdido and Them There Eyes. If you listen to her earlier 1960s recordings, you'll notice she started growling (I hope it's the right word in English) in this year. In her 1963 recordings she sings very softly, and on the album `Hello, Dolly!' she doesn't growl or scat at all, but in Juan-les-Pins and in Hamburg, and a year later in Stockholm, she really shouts. Maybe it was the spirit of the those days... You can see that after her 1964 success "Can't Buy Me Love" (of which the Beatles their selves thought it was an honour to have their songs sung by Ella Fitzgerald) she started another way of singing.
A nice and very cheerful song is `Cutie Pants', written by Ella's former husband Ray Brown (who also passed away at the close of 2002). Then Ella starts improvising in the Saint Louis Blues, which was originally the most boring blues you can think of before you heard Ella sing it. Then Ella scats through Perdido, which is fantastic to listen to (she sings `Roy has a face that would frighten you whaa whaa whaa', perhaps that's why Eldridge didn't enjoy working with Ella too much) but I think her scat on `Ella at the Opera House' is superior.
The second concert is mostly the same, but then the real surprises come up, like `Shiny Stockings' in which she refers to her 1963 album with Basie.
Then the crickets come up... and make Ella mix up a beautiful version of `Somewhere in the night'. She even dedicates a whole new song to those crickets, the `Cricket Song', which is funny. Then the last encore is a beautiful slow version of How high the moon, better than the one she recorded with the Frank DeVol Orchestra for the album `Hello Dolly'.
Indeed, the sound quality isn't the best. But considering it was recorded for a television show I think it's better we have recordings instead of no recordings at all. The applause is very loud and the last songs of the second concert are very bad compared to the first songs on the CD.

In my opinion this was the last concert recording on which Ella was in top form. Ella in Hamburg was NOT boring (in my opinion) but just a bit weird (on And The Angels Sing Flanagan beats too hard on the piano, and Ella's voice isn't too beautiful on the Ellington Medley, maybe it was ruined by the yelling on A Hard Day's Night).
After this, Ella's voice quality slowed down a bit, and she had to find a new style. Her first and good jazz concerts came in 1971. Then she was recording on Pablo, and she had found a new style.
After listening to these CD's you want more. perhaps they will issue Ella's 1963 Ella in Nippon concerts if there are enough requests for. One never knows.
One more thing: on `Honeysuckle Rose' Ella promises the public to do Lady be Good next day... I'm sorry, but she forgot.

Ella Live!.......2002-07-04

It's Ella. She's singing.It doesn't get any better than that.Not one dud on this CD.The sound might be a little raggedy,but Ella shines through above it as usual. A must for any Ella collector.

One of the Best Ella's concerts!.......2002-06-23

This is one of my favorite concerts of Ella. I say that, in contrast with another review that you can read here, and I can prove it: Ella in Hollywood was moving, but Ella wasn't in a great voice (she sang many sets during those nights, so she was tired). Ella at the Opera House is wonderful, but still too much linkes to the JATP years. Ella in Hamburg is very good, but the sound is a little bad (I have the mono LP, and it's better).

Ella at Juan-les Pins is better from many points of view: it brings Roy Eldridge on stage, that enriched (in my opinion) Ella's rendtions of songs. Also the choice of songs is moving, and Ella feels she's at home in the Festival. She was in great voice, and her rendition of SOmeone to watch over me is marvelous.

To ansewr to the doubts about the stereo stuff: the recordings were made by france TV, and they actually were in mono. A false stereo was issued, so...obviouisly in the CD was used a false stereo issue.

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