Here is a record from one of the greatest singers of the last century. Worth the $4 I paid for it. However, I found out when I got home that this is one of the records I inherited from Fred Turton. So I now have two copies.
On a side note, all the way back in October of last year, I saw Simple Minds live. Kind of an impromptu move as I bought a ticket the night before the show. That weekend, I was already spending a lot of time in the Theater District with The Flying Dutchman at the HGO on Friday and Seven Deadly Sins at the Huston Symphony on Saturday. Simple Minds at the Revention Center just conveniently made sense for Sunday. Also, I few month prior, I posted their big US smash album, Once Upon A Time, ( you can check that out here) which brought back many memories for me.
Good show. Had a good seat (10th row). It had been a long time since I had been to a show with lights so that was a treat (it had also been a long time since I had been to a show with seating as well). I was surprised how good the band was. I mean I thought it would be a retro-money grab but they were actually quite polished. I believe that they are still very popular and active around the world. Singer Jim Kerr made light of the fact that the last time they were in Houston, it was 1986 (or perhaps ’84) and they “must have really sucked” to have waited so long to return. He also made a joke about being compared to Simply Red.
Good mix of songs from all of their career with an emphasis on the 80’s stuff. They had a young, female drummer (Catherine AD) who brought the group some added energy. My favorite songs were “Theme For Great Cities”, everything from the Once Upon A Time Period , and female singer Sara Brown’s version of “Dirty Old Town”. Overall, good show. I was glad a decided to do it. And yes, I did use my standing as a music journalist to take pictures on my I-phone during the show. For journalism’s sake only.
Back to the record at hand, it would make sense that Fred would have this record and I am kind of kicking myself for not thinking about that when I bought it. This disc, from Verve in 1960, is one of Ella Fitzgerald’s (1917-1996) best selling albums.
Recorded live in February of the same year at West Berlin’s (which was still a thing back then) Deutschlandhallen, the record won a Best Female Vocal Performance (Album) Award at the 3rd annual Grammy’s. The single “Mack The Knife” also won Best Female Vocal (Single) as well. In 1999, the album was placed in the Grammy Hall of Fame. It should be noted that the area was demolished in 2011 and while inaugurated by Adolf Hitler in 1935, it serves only fitting that such a great performance by an African American (the very antithesis of Hitler’s ideals) should take place here, a place which held rallies and speeches for the Nazi Party.
Fitzgerald is backed up by The Paul Smith Quartet (Paul Smith:piano, Jim Hall:guitar, Wilfred Middlebrooks:bass, Gus Johnson:drums) on these nine tracks, which include such standards as “Misty”, “The Lady Is A Tramp”, “Summertime”, and “Lorelei”. It is the title track that makes me laugh as Fitzgerald did not know most of the words to this song. But hey, who is going to let this little detail stand in their way? Not Ella. I would say any other artist would turn this in to a butcher job, but Fitzgerald elegantly commands her way around the song putting in her own lyrics to fill in the blanks.
For a sample , normally I do not like long songs, but I felt absolutely enamored by Fitzgerald’s version of “How High The Moon”. As with “Mack, she does not know all the words, but instead she delivers one of the best scat performances not only of her career but in all of jazz. It this was the only song on the album, this alone would justify why this is one of Fitzgerald’s greatest performances and albums. It should also be noted that her work on this at times samples from Charlie Parker’s “Ornithology”, which itself is based on “How High The Moon”.
Great Album. Top Rated.