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A previously unreleased pair of Ella Fitzgerald live sets are coming to CD next month, as part of a celebration of the iconic singer’s centennial year!

1956 was a pivotal year for Ella Fitzgerald. She had recently become the first artist on her manager Norman Granz’s brand-new label Verve Records. That year, she’d record and release Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Cole Porter Song Book, her first of eight albums over the next decade that would spotlight and celebrate various composers of what we now know as “The Great American Songbook”–a cultural transaction that did not fully form in the public consciousness until Ella helped make it so. And she maintained her status as one of jazz’s leading live vocalists, touring consistently to rapt audiences.

One such stop occurred at Zardi’s Jazzland in Hollywood on February 2, 1956, around the corner from the Capitol Records building on Hollywood and Vine. Just days before the first session for The Cole Porter Song Book, Fitzgerald did two straight sets with Don Abney on piano, Vernon Alley on bass and Frank Capp on drums for lively audiences that included several songwriters (Gordon Jenkins, who requested “My Heart Belongs To Daddy,” a Cole Porter tune that ironically didn’t make her album; and Van Alexander, who cowrote “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” which Ella as always sings with brio).

A delight for collectors, Ella At Zardi’s has not only never been released before, but includes songs that Ella never put on an album, like set opener “It All Depends On You.” This exciting disc makes its debut on December 1; hear some samples at NPR and pre-order at Amazon below!

Ella At Zardi’s (Verve/UMe B0027422-02, 2017)

Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

1. It All Depends On You
2. Tenderly
3. Why Don’t You Do Right
4. Cry Me a River
5. In a Mellow Tone
6. Joe Williams’ Blues
7. A Fine Romance
8. How High The Moon
9. Gone With The Wind
10. It’s Bernie’s Tune
11. S’Wonderful
12. Glad To Be Unhappy
13. Lullaby Of Birdland
14. The Tender Trap
15. The Angels Sing
16. I Can’t Give You Anything But Love
17. Little Boy
18. A-Tisket, A-Tasket
19. My Heart Belongs To Daddy
20. Airmail Special
21. I’ve Got a Crush On You

All tracks recorded at Zardi’s Jazzland, Hollywood, CA – 2/2/1956 and previously unreleased