As with most jazz artists of the 1960s, Ella Fitzgerald was trying to figure out where she fit in, with “rock and roll” dominating the air waves. By the time of this 1967 recording in Oakland, she was a bona fide star, and was in the process of touring and recording with Duke Ellington’s orchestra. In a couple of years she’d be doing jazz versions of rock hits like “Sunshine of Your Love”, but here, backed by some Ellingtonians as well as her own trio of Jimmy Jones/p, Bob Cranshaw/b and Sam Woodyard/dr, she holds court, straightens up and f lies right.
She mixes swing era standards such as “Don’t Be That Way” and Ellington’s own “In A Mellow Tone” like the Lady of Swing that she was. She’s got a lot of sass on “Let’s Do It” as she toys with the audience, and shows pathos on “You’ve Changed”. For a couple tunes, Ella adapts to the times with a tongue in cheek “Music To Watch Girls By” and a more comfortable “Alfie” before getting the Coliseum roaring to “Mack The Knife”. Ella packed the house and still packed a punch!