Ella Swings Brightly With Nelson

Ella Swings Brighly With Nelson is one of half a dozen records on my shelves issued by the "World Record Club", a mail-order label set up in the UK in the mid-'50s. The records themselves (mostly) sound good, but the sleeve designs depart from the original ones in ways that don't improve them. The Verve issues of this album feature a photograph of Ms Fitzgerald & Mr Riddle, wheras here we have a rather muddily impressionistic drawing/painting of the singer.

By 1961, as Alun Morgan's sleevenotes state, both Ella and Nelson were widely renowned and much in demand. They had already worked together on The George and Ira Gershwin Song Book in '59. This record is one of a pair arising from sessions in '61 that were released the following year, the other being Ella Swings Gently With Nelson. It's an album that isn't perhaps either headliner's finest work, but it's still a very good one, and makes for enjoyable listening. The sorrowful lyrics of the opener 'When Your Lover Has Gone' are counteracted by the upbeat arrangement and Ella's vivacious delivery, which make it seem almost celebratory. One could argue it's not the aptest of versions, but it does sound wonderful.

Some other favourite tracks of mine are 'Love Me or Leave Me', 'The Gentleman is a Dope' and the closing 'Pick Yourself Up', an old chestnut burnished to a deep shine. There are a couple of songs that aren't as memorable ('Don't Be that Way', for example, which nevertheless is lifted by a powerful vocal performance), or that don't seem quite ideal choices for Fitzgerald. In the latter category, she works hard to state a convincing case for 'I Won't Dance', but - to my mind - does less well with Peggy Lee's 'I'm Gonna Go Fishin'' which suffers by comparison with Lee's own rendition.

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