Can you ever have enough Ella? Not judging by this latest release, a recording of her working team of Paul Smith/, Wilfred Middlebrooks/b and Stan Levey/dr working the crowd and in an enthusiastic mood in March 25, 1962, just two years after her famous Mack The Knife album that catapulted her into fame. What is really quite impressive is that, except for the de rigueur of “Mack The Knife” and “Summertime”, there is not a single song here that she sang just 24 months ago.
The treat here is that Ella gives the audience a few tunes that she rarely did in concert, such as “I Won’t Dance”, “He’s My Kind of Boy” (with some hip references to the likes of Billy Eckstine) and “Taking A Chance On Love”. Her take of “Jersey Bounce” is a hard swinging delight, and “Angel Eyes” is particularly bel canto. She is amazingly articulate as she double times it through “Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie” and improvising the lyrics (along with a crisp drum workout by Levey) and twisting through “I Won’t Dance”. She gives a nod to the current pop chart with a jazzy R&B take of Ray Charles’ “Hallelujah, I Love Him So” that even gets a reprise. She delivers a couple tunes from her Songbook collection such as “Cheek to Cheek” and “Someone To Watch Over Me” while belting out the blues for the encore.
There is a surfeit of hard hitting and exuberant swing here, something missing from today’s musicians and vocalists. Where did we go wrong?