Jukebox Ella: The Complete Verve Singles, Vol. 1

Signed by Norman Granz to Verve, the label he hoped to build around her, Ella Fitzgerald inaugurated her long association with one of the greatest jazz imprints by recording a four-song session in 1956 intended for singles. Though it was simply a dry run for her first "official" work, The Cole Porter Songbook, she kept the singles market in mind during her time at Verve, recording occasionally and always hoping for a pop breakthrough. Though singles-chart success never arrived (her "Songbook" full-lengths were much more popular), Verve's release of the two-disc Jukebox Ella: The Complete Verve Singles, Vol. 1 proves that much excellent material went onto her Verve 45s. To Ella, nearly every song represented an opportunity for interpretation, from Gershwin's standard "But Not for Me" (a songbook title also released on single) to the tossed-off novelty "Hotta Chocolatta"; she never sacrificed a close reading simply because the song wasn't intended for a jazz fan. While these titles do occasionally reveal the influence of the novelty, there is so much care exhibited by Fitzgerald and her accompanists (including Buddy Bregman, Nelson Riddle, Marty Paich, Paul Weston, and Russ Garcia) that the results rival much of her non-songbook work for the label. One of the best is a re-recording of her early hit "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" with Ella going into controlled childish tantrums never equalled in her discography (and, thus, in no other's). Other intriguing novelties include singles (and usually accompanying flips) dealing with live recordings, Christmas songs, foreign-language recordings, and the bossa nova (including "Star Dust" taken in rhythm). Only one acknowledges rock & roll, the mostly unembarrassed "Ringo Beat." Whether it's W.C. Handy's "Beale Street Blues" or Moe Koffman's "Swingin' Shepherd Blues," Ella treated a song with respect.