Release date: 29-06-2002 (originally released in 1956)

2002 US vinyl 2-LP set limted editon, pressing on 180g virgin vinyl,The year 1956 documents a new, great chapter in the history of jazz music: Norman Granz founds his third label, VERVE, manages to win Ella Fitzgerald (who has deserted DECCA) and initiates the Songbook Series which not only attracts a totally new listening public, but also establishes Ella s reputation as the  First Lady of Song . sealed

Tracks:
Volume One:
1. All Through The Night
2. Anything Goes
3. Miss Otis Regrets
4. Too Darn Hot
5. In The Still Of The Night
6. I Get A Kick Out Of You
7. Do I Love You
8. Always True To You In My Fashion
9. Let's Do It
10. Just One Of Those Things
11. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
12. Begin The Beguine
13. Get Out Of Town
14. I Am In Love
15. From This Moment On

Volume Two:
1. I Love Paris
2. You Do Something To Me
3. Ridin' High
4. Easy To Love
5. It's All Right With Me
6. Why Can't You Behave
7. What Is This Thing Called Love
8. You're The Top
9. Love For Sale
10. It's Delovely
11. Night & Day
12. Ace In The Hole
13. So In Love
14. I've Got You Under My Skin
15. I Concentrate On You
16. Don't Fence Me In
The Cole Porter Songbook marks the glorious beginning of a series which finally expanded to seven titles. The recordings success was practically a foregone conclusion. Porter had written hundreds of wonderful songs from which Granz made an initial choice of 50 songs before Ella and the bandleader and arranger Buddy Bregman finally decided upon what was, for them, the crème de la crème. The result was a list of 32 songs, all of which make easy listening not only thanks to their melodic originality and harmonic genius but particularly to the wonderful amalgamation of the text which Porter always wrote himself and the music.
Each and every one is a classic in its own right. Bregman s arrangements never seek to disguise the fact that all these songs originated on Broadway, and Ella proves her greatness by finding something new in such old favourites as Night and Day, I Love Paris and I Get A Kick Out Of You. And as if that wasn t enough, Bregman s orchestra sounds absolutely splendid. What a pity, many will say, that all 50 songs weren t recorded.

Recording: 7-9 February and 27 March 1956 at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, USA
Production: Norman Granz