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Ella in Hollywood


crisp

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have been listening to vols 1 and 2 and really digging it.

No info in the booklet as to who is in her band!!! (She introduces them at one point)

I find it odd/interesting that there are no piano or guitar solos (four bars of guitar on Slow Boat to China aside) on these two discs. Obviously, Lou Levy and Herb Ellis are well qualified to do some blowing. So what gives?

Was this standard operating procedure for Ellla in the early '60s? Was it because of the venue? More of a "pop" gig than a "jazz" gig? Anyone have any insight or guesses on this one?

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  • 2 months later...

Hip-o will be releasing another set of unreleased live Ella recordings, S Wonderful: Ella in Japan, next month:

`S Wonderful: Ella In Japan, a new release from the acclaimed Verve Select imprint at Hip-oSelect.com, is a brand-new 2-CD set of previously unheard Ella: on tour in Japan with the Roy Eldridge Quartet in January 1964, she and the band were hailed as American jazz heroes, feted in every city, then recorded over two brilliant nights in Tokyo. She ran through Song Book favorites, a smattering of other classics and Ella's own blues, first at Tokyo's equivalent of Carnegie Hall (Disc 1), then in an invitation-only, late-night gig at a luxury hotel's ballroom, with Japanese entertainers in attendance (Disc 2). Eldridge's Quartet got their own set as well, joined in a jam session with local musicians. (Ella fans take additional note: this album features the first recordings of Ella with her longtime pianist Tommy Flanagan.) Where was `S Wonderful: Ella In Japan all these years? Her producer/manager Norman Granz had made stereo mixes, created album sides, devised separate LPs for the American and Japanese markets, sent detailed memos to his staff and then, owing to the abundance of Ella in Verve's vault, cancelled the releases. Published discographies also had incorrect recording dates, adding to the mystery. After nearly 50 years, not only were the tapes rediscovered: writer Marc Myers made his own discoveries with Japanese journalists and surviving musicians, and in the liner notes he tells the full story of these extraordinary recordings for the first time. Myers' essay in the set's 24-page booklet is augmented with rare photos from the tour as well as tour program reprints, and more. All 26 tracks from both planned LPs are now available for the first time ever on `S Wonderful: Ella In Japan a 2-CD collection equal to Ella In Hollywood and, to some, better than that award-winning set, as it's Ella a few years later, a little more confident, swinging with supernatural ease.

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  • 1 year later...

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