Ella Fitzgerald - Live in Helsinki 1963/1965 [Mono]

Características

In 1960, Ella Fitzgerald bought a house in Copenhagen. It may seem surprising that someone born in Virginia would choose Denmark with its icy winters. There was indeed a part of folly in the decision, because she was once more in love. This time, the man was Swedish. But the chain of events had not been a coincidence: Norman Granz, her mentor, friend and producer, had decided around the same time to leave the US and move to Switzerland. He was tired of fighting in a country marked by racism and embroiled in the Cold War and political witch hunts. Ray Charles, Miles Davis and many other musicians were also victims of repugnant prejudice, and Europe became their new Mecca. Granz had already gone ahead, and Ella followed him. However, she never left the United States for good, where she continued to fight racism, support Martin Luther King, and perform with her blonde “sister” Marilyn Monroe. On the other side of the Atlantic, she undertook more and more European tours, speaking German in Berlin, French in Paris and Italian in Rome. In Helsinki, where she gave two unforgettable concerts in April 1963 and March 1965, she spoke English.
Frédéric D’Oria-Nicolas, the musical treasure hunter behind The Lost Recordings, describes the path the label had to take to make this release possible as follows: “It took almost a year of correspondence and two consecutive trips to Helsinki before we were finally able to track down the tapes of these previously unreleased concerts. Ella's stage presence was magnetic and overshadowed her stage fright and shyness. The concert repertoire in Finland included not only composers from the Great American Songbook such as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and George Gershwin, but also popular Broadway numbers, Beatles songs and South American music. Ella swept everyone away; she was inimitable. No matter where she lived – Harlem, London, Los Angeles, Copenhagen, or Helsinki – she was the very embodiment of swing, of scat, and of jazz. Ella is music!"
Thanks to TLR, these legendary concerts – recorded at Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki, Finland, on April 1st, 1963, and on *March 23, 1965 – are now seeing the light of day for the first time: as a triple LP (33 RPM) on 180-gram vinyl and tip-on gatefold sleeve by Phoenix Pressings®. The hand-numbered edition is strictly limited to 4,000 copies. Sound wizard Kevin Gray himself is responsible for the lacquer cuts.
“The Lost Recordings” is celebrated worldwide for preserving invaluable musical heritage and for the unsurpassed quality of its Phoenix Mastering™ restorations. “Live In Finland 1963/1965” is also an audiophile revelation that shows how fantastic mono recordings can sound when played with a modern stereo cartridge.
MUSICIANS
Ella Fitzgerald (vocals)Tommy Flanagan (piano)Les Spann (guitar & flute)Jim Hughart (bass)Gus Johnson (drums)
*Ella Fitzgerald (vocals)Tommy Flanagan (piano)Ketter Betts (bass)Gus Johnson (drums)
LP 1
Side A1.    Just One Of Those Things2.    Like Someone In Love3.    Crazy He Calls Me4.    In A Mellow Tone5.    No Moon At All
Side B1.    Georgia On My Mind2.    All Of Me3.    Moonlight In Vermont4.    Misty5.    Hallelujah, I Love Him So6.    Mack The Knife
LP 2
Side C1.    Don’t Get Around Much Anymore2.    They Can’t Take That Away From Me3.    Summertime4.    Lush Life5.    Runnin' Wild6.    Georgia On My Mind
Side D1.    A Lot Of Livin’ To Do2.    ’S Wonderful3.    Desafinado4.    Tenderly5.    How High The Moon
LP 3
Side E1.    Walk Right In*2.    That Old Black Magic*3.    Body And Soul*4.    Here’s That Rainy Day*5.    The Angels Sing*
Side F1.    A Hard Day’s Night*2.    Medley: Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me, Mood Indigo, It Don’t Mean A Thing*3.    The Boy From Ipanema*4.    Don’t Rain On My Parade (From "Funny Girl")*5.    Mack The Knife*