Live at the Concertgebouw 1961

Description

Fondamenta has brought together musicians and researchers from around the world. These sound archaeologists all share the ability to track down and recognize truly exceptional recordings. After months of research, we are proud to present today the Lost Recordings collection. The remastering of these gems is entrusted to the Phoenix Mastering (TM) process developed over several years by the engineers at Fondamenta, at the heart of which are Devialet technologies. This expertise allows us to reveal lost recordings as if they had just been recorded. A Collection is Born! In February 1961, Ella Fitzgerald embarks once again for Europe, thus honoring her 11th consecutive participation in the JATP (Jazz at the Philharmonic) tours, sharing the headliner spot this time with Oscar Peterson and his trio. During a first stop in Berlin on February 11, she marks her reunion with the German audience a year after her memorable performance immortalized in the live album "Mack the Knife: Ella in Berlin" (Verve will release excerpts from this "second" recital, less famous but just as exceptional, under the explicit title "Ella Returns to Berlin" in 1991). The singer settles in a week later at the famous Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, a temple of Western classical music where she has been performing since 1952, and where the JATP jam sessions are regularly hosted. On February 10, 1961, at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, just a year after her famous concert in Berlin, Ella finds herself once again in front of a full house. With the freshness of the eternally slightly cheeky little girl, she propels herself from a note into the rhythm of "Too Close For Comfort" and then "Showboat To China." The voice settles, she holds her audience by the hand, gently, surely. Unlike a studio recording, on stage, Ella settles in as if in her living room. She welcomes each spectator as a privileged guest. Each piece is a glass of champagne that she offers with grace. Necessarily short because, in the conversation she engages, she must serve everyone. Sometimes melancholic in "Heart And Soul," sometimes playful when she announces her strip tease in the middle of "Lorelei." Most of the time laughing, dynamic, and engaging. "I need a handkerchief," she requests before starting "You Are Driving Me Crazy." One can imagine the "Thank You! Back To Work!" emphasized with a mischievous wink. Ella forbids boredom. In this torrent of happiness, her closest friends are never forgotten: the composers Rodgers and Hart with "My Funny Valentine," "her" George Gershwin in the sweet "I've Got A Crush On You," but also the dignified "Mr. Paganini" which she introduces while getting tangled in the lyrics. We have waited so long for this moment! Everyone knows that the scat she unleashes will be contagious. "Mack The Knife" is the opportunity to list her buddies. She excels in imitating her buddy Satchmo. The end of the evening arrives. As an attentive hostess, Ella sees each guest off in a "Saint Louis Blues" that is as festive as it is electric. "Hilariously inventive Ella!" as Bing Crosby used to say, "Man, woman or child, Ella is the greatest of them all."