Dream Dancing

Rate It! Avg: 4.5 (21 ratings)
Dream Dancing album cover
Album Information
EDITOR'S PICK

Total Tracks: 15   Total Length: 48:19

eMusic Review 0

Avatar Image
Kristina Feliciano

eMusic Contributor

10.14.09
Ella Fitzgerald, Dream Dancing
2006 | Label: Pablo

You don't know jazz if you don't know Ella, the putative queen of the genre and master of scat. Not only did Fitzgerald have unparalleled talent — a clarion-clear voice and phrasing and a stunningly broad range (in the ’80s, she made a commercial for Memorex in which she hit a note so high that it apparently shattered a glass) — but she also had drive. She lived to sing, which is fortunate for the rest of us, because she left us with armloads of albums to explore, from her voracious readings of the songbooks (Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin) to her live performances and collaborations with Louis Armstrong. Dream Dancing, an album of Cole Porter songs, features popular standards like "I Get a Kick Out of You" and "I've Got You Under My Skin," but it also has a deliciously over-the-top rendition of the lesser-known "C'est Magnifique." Ooh, la la.

Write a Review 1 Member Review

Please register before you review a release. Register

user avatar

It's Ella and Cole Porter!

smartyboots

This isn't bad, just not the very best. The orchestra is not the most inspired I've ever heard, but it's Ella Fitzgerald singing Cole Porter! Even the bad version of that's going to be good.

Recommended Albums

eMusic Features

0

Icon: Ella Fitzgerald

By Will Friedwald, eMusic Contributor

"Man, woman, or child, Ella is the most!" Bing Crosby's much-quoted praise of Ella Fitzgerald is suspiciously similar to Duke Ellington's equally famous observation that Fitzgerald was "beyond category." They were both right: Fitzgerald was much greater than any other jazz singer or any other female singer; over the course of a career that lasted 60 years, she consistently transcended genre, gender and just about everything else. How amazing is it that Fitzgerald was unquestionably… more »

They Say All Music Guide

Originally released on Atlantic as Ella Loves Cole and then reissued on Pablo with two extra cuts from 1978, this set features the great Ella Fitzgerald (still in excellent form) backed by an orchestra arranged by Nelson Riddle performing an extensive set of Cole Porter songs. Fifteen years earlier Fitzgerald had had great success with her Cole Porter Songbook and this date, even with a few hokey arrangements, almost reaches the same level. Trumpeter Harry “Sweets” Edison and pianist Tommy Flanagan are among the supporting cast. Highlights include “I Get a Kick out of You,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “All of You,” “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” and “Just One of Those Things.” – Scott Yanow

more »