Porgy and Bess (Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong album)

Porgy and Bess
File:Porgy and Bess (Armstrong & Fitzgerald).jpg
Studio album by Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong
Released	August 1958
Recorded	August 18-19 & October 14, 1957 Los Angeles Chicago
Genre	Jazz, vocal jazz, light opera, swing
Length	66:04
Label	Verve MGV 4011-2
Producer	Norman Granz
Ella Fitzgerald chronology
Like Someone in Love (1957)Like Someone in Love1957 Porgy and Bess (1957) Ella at the Opera House (1958)Ella at the Opera House1958
Louis Armstrong chronology
I've Got the World On a String (1957) Porgy and Bess (1957) Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson (1957)

Porgy and Bess is a 1958 studio album by jazz vocalist and trumpeter Louis Armstrong, and singer Ella Fitzgerald collaborating on this recording of selections from George and Ira Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. In 2001, it was awarded with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award, a special achievement prize established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance." The album was originally issued on the Verve label as Verve MGV 4011-2, then reissued on PolyGram on CD in 1990, as Verve-PolyGram 827 475-2.

The album is considered the most musically successful amongst the jazz vocal versions of the opera and was released to coincide with the 1959 movie version.

The arranger on this album, Russell Garcia, had previously arranged the first jazz vocal recording of the album, 1956's, The Complete Porgy and Bess.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide

The Allmusic review of the album claimed "What's really great about the Ella and Louis version is Ella, who handles each aria with disarming delicacy, clarion intensity, or usually a blend of both... Pops sounds like he really savored each duet, and his trumpet work — not a whole lot of it, because this is not a trumpeter's opera — is characteristically good as gold. This marvelous album stands quite well on its own, but will sound best when matched with the Ray Charles/Cleo Laine version, especially the songs of the Crab Man, of Peter the Honey Man, and his wife, Lily the Strawberry Woman."

Track listing

All songs written by George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin and Dubose Heyward, unless otherwise indicated.

Original LP (Verve MGV 4011-2)

Side One:

1. "Overture" (George Gershwin) – 10:52
2. "Summertime" – 4:58
3. "I Wants to Stay Here" – 4:38
4. "My Man's Gone Now" – 4:02
5. "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'" – 3:52
6. "Buzzard Song" – 2:58
7. "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" – 5:28

Side Two:

1. "It Ain't Necessarily So" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 6:34
2. "What You Want Wid Bess?" – 1:59
3. "A Woman Is a Sometime Thing" – 4:47
4. "Oh, Doctor Jesus" – 2:00
5. Medley: "Here Come de Honey Man/Crab Man/Oh, Dey's So Fresh and Fine/(Strawberry Woman)" – 3:29
6. "There's a Boat Dat's Leavin Soon for New York" – 4:54
7. "Bess, Oh Where's My Bess?" – 2:36
8. "Oh Lawd, I'm on My Way!" – 2:57

Cast and orchestra

• Louis Armstrong - vocals, trumpet
• Ella Fitzgerald - vocals
• Paul Smith - piano
• Alvin Stoller - drums

Orchestra

• Russell Garcia - Arranger, Conductor
• Vincent DeRosa - French horn
• Frank Beach - Trumpet
• Buddy Childers - Trombone
• Cappy Lewis - Trumpet
• Milt Bernhart - Trombone
• Marshall Cram
• James Henderson
• Lloyd Ulyate - Trombone
• Victor Arno - Violin
• Robert Barene
• Jacques Gasselin
• Joseph Livoti
• Dan Lube
• Amerigo Marino
• Bill Miller - Piano
• Erno Neufeld
• Marshall Sosson
• Robert Sushel
• Gerald Vinci
• Tibor Zelig
• Myron Bacon - Viola
• Abraham Hochstein
• Raymond Menhennick
• Myron Sandler
• Justin Di Tullio - Cello
• Kurt Reher
• William Van Den Burg
• Tony Rizzi - Guitar
• Joe Mondragon - Double Bass
• Chorus

External links

• Notes on August 18-19 1957 session and October 14 1957 session from the Jazz Discography Project
• Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong: Porgy and Bess at Discogs (list of releases)