In her time, Maria Callas was the unrivaled prima donna assoluta of the opera stage, and for many followers of her vocal art she remains so to this day. In this sense, Ella Fitzgerald is the Callas of jazz singing. Her vocal artistry is also undisputedly unrivaled. Numerous recordings made in studios and live and still available today bear witness to this exceptional talent of jazz singing. Whoever has experienced Ella, as she is affectionately called, even once on stage, has fallen for her for life. One of the glorious concerts captured on tape and released as Ella in Berlin alias Mack The Knife brought the Berlin audience to a frenzy in 1960. More recently, another live recording from Berlin, available as The Lost Berlin Tapes, took place two years later and demonstrates a trend in the record/CD industry to reach deep into the treasure trove of unreleased recordings and make them available to the public. One of the latest such products is the album Ella At The Hollywood Bowl, in which Ella performed the Irving Berlin Songbook live at the Hollywood Bowl for the first and only time. On tape, the August 16, 1958 concert was recorded in stereo by legendary producer Norman Granz, but never released until now. The tapes lay dormant in Granz's private collection until they were discovered a few years ago by Verve manager Ken Druker and Grammy-winning producer Gregg Field, who remixed the tapes. The resulting album, Ella At The Hollywood Bowl, not only captures a brilliant concert by Ella Fitzgerald that was frenetically acclaimed by the audience. Rather, it is the first time that a songbook by Ella has been released live. It is also significant in that it is the only time that Ella, a frequent performer at the Hollywood Bowl, collaborated in concert with arranger and conductor Paul Weston. In other words, this album captures an Ella finest hour.

And it was something special. In 15 songs, Ella and the orchestra performed stunning arrangements of some of Berlin's best-known songs, including the classic ballads "How Deep Is The Ocean and Supper Time," the Hollywood tunes "You're Laughing At Me" and "Get Thee Behind Me Satan," and the peppy up-tempo numbers "Cheek To Cheek," "Top Hat," "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm," "Heat Wave" and "Puttin' On The Ritz." The concert is bursting with energy that is naturally absent from the Irving Berlin Songbook studio recording, as Ella benefits from the energy and enthusiasm of the audience, whose applause and admiration punctuate each song.

It is safe to say that Ella's followers will not pass by this album, which sounds surprisingly good for the time it was made, torn from the depths of an archive. And if there are any fans of jazz singing who have not yet discovered the vocal art of this prima donna assoluta, here is an opportunity to make up for this shortcoming.

Ella Fitzgerald, vocals
The Hollywood Bowl Pops Orchestra
Paul Weston, conductor