''Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book'' is a 1961 (see 1961 in music) album by the American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

singer

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...

, with a studio orchestra conducted and arranged by

Billy May Edward William May Jr. (November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004) was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music for ''The Green Hornet (TV series), The Green Hornet'' (1966), ''The Mod Squad (TV series), T ...

. This album marked the only time that Fitzgerald worked with May. The

Harold Arlen Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ' ...

''Song Book'' is the sixth album in Fitzgerald's series of recordings of songs written by the pantheon of Broadway composers who formed the body of work now considered the '' Great American Songbook''. The cover art is a drawing by

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

Track listing

For the 2-LP set originally released on the Verve label in 1961: Verve MG V-4046-2 All songs composed by

, with lyricists indicated. Side One: # "

Blues in the Night "Blues in the Night" is a popular blues song which has become a pop standard and is generally considered to be part of the Great American Songbook. The music was written by Harold Arlen, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, for a 1941 film begun wi ...

" (

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Wallichs Music Cit ...

) – 7:14 # "

Let's Fall in Love "Let's Fall in Love" is a song written by Harold Arlen (music) and Ted Koehler (lyrics) for the film ''Let's Fall in Love (film), Let's Fall in Love'' and published in 1933. In the film, it is heard during the opening credits and later sung by ...

" (

Ted Koehler Ted L. Koehler (July 14, 1894 – January 17, 1973) was an American lyricist. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. Life and career Koehler was born in 1894 in Washington, D.C. He started out as a photo-engraver, but ...

) – 4:05 # " Stormy Weather" (Koehler) – 5:17 # " Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" (Koehler) – 2:26 # " My Shining Hour" (Mercer) – 4:02 # " Hooray for Love" (

Leo Robin Leo Robin (April 6, 1895 – December 29, 1984) was an American composer, lyricist and songwriter. He is probably best known for collaborating with Ralph Rainger on the 1938 Oscar-winning song " Thanks for the Memory," sung by Bob Hope and Shi ...

) – 2:45 Side Two: # " This Time the Dream's on Me" (Mercer) – 4:39 # " That Old Black Magic" (Mercer) – 4:13 # " I've Got the World on a String" (Koehler) – 4:54 # " Let's Take a Walk Around the Block" (

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the ...

, E.Y. Harburg) – 4:03 # " Ill Wind" (Koehler) – 3:55 # " Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" (Mercer) – 3:37 Side Three: # " When the Sun Comes Out" (Koehler) – 5:10 # "

Come Rain or Come Shine "Come Rain or Come Shine" is a popular music song and jazz standard with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was written for the Broadway musical '' St. Louis Woman'', which opened on March 30, 1946, and closed after 113 perfor ...

" (Mercer) – 3:24 # " As Long as I Live" (Koehler) – 3:48 # " Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe" (Harburg) – 3:30 # "

It's Only a Paper Moon "It's Only a Paper Moon" is a popular music, popular song published in 1933 with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Yip Harburg and Billy Rose. Background It was originally titled "If You Believed in Me", but later went by the more popular ti ...

" (Harburg, Billy Rose) – 3:37 # " The Man That Got Away" (Gershwin) – 5:21 Side Four: # "

One for My Baby (and One More for the Road) "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" is a song written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer for the movie musical '' The Sky's the Limit'' (1943) and first performed in the film by Fred Astaire. Background Harold Arlen described the song ...

" (Mercer) – 3:58 # " It Was Written in the Stars" (Robin) – 5:11 # " Get Happy" (Koehler) – 3:33 # " I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues" (Koehler) – 5:12 # " Out of This World" (Mercer) – 2:46 # " Over the Rainbow" (Harburg) – 4:21 First 2CD re-issue in 1988 added two previously unreleased bonus tracks; Both were included on the 2001 re-issue. Disc One: 4. " Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" (Harburg) – 3:19 Disc Two: 12. " Sing My Heart" (Koehler) – 2:49 Bonus tracks issued on the 2001 Verve 2CD Reissue, 589108. 27. " Let's Take a Walk Around the Block" (Alternative take) – 4:07 28. " Sing My Heart" (Alternative take) – 2:32

Personnel

Recorded in five sessions from August 1, 1960 – July 14, 1961 in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. *

– Vocals *

– Arranger, conductor ; Orchestra *

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

–

Don Fagerquist Donald Alton Fagerquist (February 6, 1927 – January 23, 1974) was a small group, big band, and studio jazz trumpet player from the West Coast of the United States. Career Fagerquist was a featured soloist with several major bands, including Ma ...

, Frank Beach, Conrad Gozzo, Joseph Tiscari *

Trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

– Milt Bernhart, Edward Kusby, Richard Noel *

Bass trombone The bass trombone (, ) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to facilitate low register playing, and u ...

– George Roberts *

Alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

–

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

Tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

–

Plas Johnson Plas John Johnson Jr. () (born July 21, 1931) is an American soul-jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist, probably most widely known as the tenor saxophone soloist on Henry Mancini’s " The Pink Panther Theme". He also performs on alto and bar ...

Woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and Ree ...

, flute – Harry Klee, Justin Gordon, Wilbur Schwartz *

Vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

– Emil Richards *

Piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

– Paul Smith *

Guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

– John Collins *

Double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

– Joe Mondragon *

Drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

– Alvin Stoller * String section **

Violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

– Israel Baker, Victor Arno, Victor Bay, Alex Beller, Dan Lube, Erno Neufeld, Lou Raderman, Nathan Ross, Sidney Sharp, Gerald Vinci **

Viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

– Alex Neimann, Paul Robyn, Barbara Simons **

Cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

– Armand Kaproff, Ray Kramer, Eleanor Slatkin *

Norman Granz Norman Granz (August 6, 1918 – November 22, 2001) was an American jazz record producer and concert promoter. He founded the record labels Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Verve, and Pablo and the Jazz at the Philharmonic concert series. Gra ...

– Production * Val Valentin – Engineer

References

{{Authority control 1961 albums Ella Fitzgerald albums Verve Records albums Albums produced by Norman Granz Albums arranged by Billy May Albums conducted by Billy May 1960s covers albums 1960s tribute albums Harold Arlen tribute albums