The Gershwin Songbook

I liked it. Interesting how the old singers seemed to pass songs back and forth so much. 7

Immediate 5 stars with the caveat that this is not really a collection to sit down and swallow in one bite. But listen to it in short snatches and you get the greatest voice of the 20th Century singing some of the greatest songs of the 20th Century in arrangements by the incomparable Nelson Riddle. If I'm being completely honest I prefer the Cole Porter set, because I like Cole Porter. But there's nothing to criticise here. Even Ira Gershwin said he hadn't realised how good the songs were until he heard Ella sing them. And yes, the "Best of" selection does make more sense. But what a box of treasure!

Very long but Ella is incredible

If I’m going to rate it, I have to listen and this took two days to get through. Ridiculous that you would put a 3 hour compilation album as an essential listen. And not even her best songbook collection! I feel none of these songs actually showcase what a phenomenal and innovative jazz singer Ella was. Anyone with a pretty voice can sing these boring songs. These are just some of the hokiest songs and calling 3 plus hours of it essential listening is just stupid. None of this has had a lasting impact on music, so many better Ella albums/collaborations you could have chosen from. Awful. Especially when there are so few women on this list you choose an album only insufferable people will say is good listening. Really did her a disservice

JL : 4, too many songs to chose a favourite but was a fun listen

bro i cant

Rock solid. Too long. Greatest Hits is more focused.

Interesting to hear song that I've heard before but with different lyrics. I will more than likely go back and revisit the album at some point.

First of all Ella Fitzgerald is one of the greatest jazz vocalists of all time and an amazingly creative musician. This album or set of albums is a monumental achievement and deserves to be on this list. That said, there are a lot of Ella Fitzgerald recordings that I enjoy more and none of them are on the list. In fact, her many phenomenal live albums, her other songbook albums, her collaborations with Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, Count Basie, etc., all missing. I’m not really sure what the point of including jazz is if it’s going to be so limited. Elvis Costello gets 6 albums on the list while Ella Fitzgerald gets… one? Duke Ellington gets one? Charles Mingus gets one? Billie Holiday gets one? John Coltrane gets one? Charlie Parker gets none?! Dizzy Gillespie gets none?! Louis Armstrong gets… NONE!? Back to this album, there’s a lot of music here and you can enjoy it casually or give it some focused attention and repeat listens. The lyrics can be fun and clever but overall they’ve aged less well than the music. Essential listen: yes Desert island disc: well, it could probably keep me occupied for quite some time, so I’ll say yes even if it is not my favorite way to enjoy Ella Fitzgerald

Can’t dislike Ella, not what I’d choose to listen to, and over 3 hours was a bit daunting, but a voice that transports you to another time and place… not my preferred style of music, but a pleasant change

They All Laughed when said this album may be for you But Not For Me. Isn’t It a Pity that I didn’t like this more? Who Cares?

so fucking long but good jazz

Over 3 hours... No, I didn't listen to it all. She has an iconic voice but it's not a proper album, just a giant box set of recordings. Shouldn't be on the list.

Instrumentally and vocally, elements of this album could be considered masterful - the voice is absolutely brilliant, and captures an era beautifully over some great jazz hooks. But let’s be real, over 3 hours? That’s an absolute joke. I quite simply can’t listen to this in one sitting - even a single disc of the 6 blurs into the background after a few tracks. Despite the quality of the performance, there is nowhere near enough here for me to warrant such a lengthy listen. Too many tracks blur into one another and I am sure I will forget 95% of this by tomorrow. 6/10 overall for the superb talent but with many flaws to the record.

I like Gershwin and Ella. This was slow and a bit dull

Ella is always great.

Jag vägrar, av princip, att lyssna på 3 timmar i sträck av denna typ av musik. Fräckheten att inkludera denna samling på listan. Ofattbart. Kan inte vara annat än pretentiöst. Lyssnade på första skivan. Det får räcka.

Tom & Jerry music. Incredible voice and obviously good but not something you’d actively listen to. Nothing too memorable musically or lyrically. Also really fricking long

Some good moments but this is such a long album and not every song is great

I'd like to say obviously I didn't listen to all 3 hours. The list did Ella a disservice by putting a compilation on here. But she wasn't exactly from the album age so I get it. Would I listen to this every day? No. Would I put it on while cooking dinner or reading? 10 times outta 10. And since this album is 3 years long I'll be able to keep revisiting it!

Wasn't looking forward to this, rather a large undertaking, and not my personal choice in music. Really wasn't bad though. Reminded me of stuff I'd listen to with my Nan. Bit of an epic undertaking though at 5 CDs worth. Not too bad, but didn't really do much for me.

Veľmi dobre spracované a prednesené piesne. Nie všetko ma baví, veď je tam cez 50 piesní, nedá sa to naraz ani vypočuť...

Ella is fantastic, duh. Just hard to listen to 6 disc's of the same song.

An absolute mammoth. Albums this size always mean quality control is absent. Some high highs, but some low lows too

Ihan liian pitkä

I did listen to the whole thing. If for some reason I am ever in need of three full hours of consistently pleasant and consistently slightly uninteresting jazz singing, this will surely be my record of choice.

Ахуеть какой долгий релиз , и песни в основном похожи, хотя к самой Элле у меня претензий нет

Truly an album you MUST hear before you die

Solid classic songbook, great voice, these are about as good as these songs get. That said, some of these don't age super well and I probably would not throw it on besides ambient music.

this collection is long, but if you get stuck behind an accident in a long slowdown on the interstate on your way home from a weekend trip, there's plenty of time to get into it. this really is an astounding amount of technical perfection on ella's end and iconic writing on gershwin's. i think live in berlin is more of the quintessential fitzgerald, if you had to pick one for a top albums list, but wow! i'm the gershwin songbook by ella fitzgerald pilled now

Later luisteren

10/10… female jazz / swing / *1959 👂

Lush.

I managed to get quite far in this album, but I couldn't quite do the full 194 minutes. Jesus this is a long album. I think I would've given this an extra star, if it wasn't for the length. Ella Fitzgerald's voice is stunning, it just glides beautifully through the tracks. This has a very distinct classic sound, one I imagine people dancing to decades ago. I actually recognised a couple of these songs as well, which I guess is a testament to how influential it is. Other reviews mentioned this as well, but it seems a bit unfair that no other artists get compilations, apart from this one. At least it is not a live album.

Too much - 6 discs is silly and whilst there were tunes in there - too much of the same

A great voice, but why the hell is this so long

Three fuckin’ hours? Me no think so.

Bo-ring!

me gustaron varios temas, el asunto es que dura 3 horas y no me pintó escuchar tanto loco. igual lo guardé

I could listen to her voice forever which is good because this is over 3 hours long

DNF only a little it was good just idk

Ah, yes. The music the people of my grandparent’s generation made babies to. I don’t know any Gershwin musicals off the top of my head, apparently because the musicals were only okay, but some songs survived the passage of time and stayed popular. Ella, as always, sings absolutely beautifully. The musicians performing in this are excellent. Some truly exceptional talent on display. The lyrics are kind of schmaltzy, as was the style at the time. It’s an album you can put on, dance with your significant other, have a drink, and just enjoy like they did back in the day. (Disclaimer: the link I clicked on for this album played a 45 minute version that was lovely. The people that got the 3 hour behemoth, you have my sympathies. Didn’t realize there was a different one until I read others reviews well afterward.)

חמוד מאוד, קשה לשמוע את כולו

Only four stars because 3 plus hours is a lot of this, although I’ll listen to any of it in chunks. There is no denying how beautiful her voice is or how great the songwriting is, though.

sweet but gets really monotonous after three hours, this obviously was meant to be listened to front to back, but a couple of songs do hit the spot and Ella makes it really easy for one to get bought in the loop and listen to like ten tracks in a row.

Boring and too long 5/10

Big band jazz is my least favorite form of the music. Except maybe the early forms of hot jazz. Listening to this I can understand the one reviewer who brought up Star Time which is a brilliant box set from James Brown that I listened to for many many hours as a kid. This is similar to that. I would rather never hear a Gershwin tune ever again. Ella Fitzgerald can definitely sing and Nelson Riddle can lead a band. I just don’t care for the songs that much. They are good but 3 hours worth is a bit too much. Yes I should hear it before I died but there is a 1950 album that she tackled George Gershwin tunes on. That probably would have sufficient.

This is a tough one to evaluate, as while it's too long for an album where every song is so similar, it obviously wasn't all meant to be listened to in one sitting. So I won't ding it for that, especially when nearly everything - outside of the slowest, most formulaic songs - is very pleasant. It's limited by the confines of this style of songwriting, but the string and horn flourishes are nice and the rhymes and turns of phrase are creative. Fitzgerald's voice is lovely, even if she's not doing anything too impressive with it. And there are some real highlights here, from the almost shocking opener to the ragtime of "The Real American Folk Song" to the upbeat "Nice Work If You Can Get It." Still, by the end there are no more surprises, and a slimmed down tracklist would be more rewarding for everyone but Ella's biggest fans.

This was great. Exactly as expected

good background music. VERY long though

This is a good example of midcentury songwriting and vocals. It's easy to listen to. That being said, I'm not into this vibe at all, and don't really have the patience to listen to 73 tracks of it.

good

A behemoth. Very special. Although not so in love with the instrumental disc 6

It says something when you listen to an album over 3 hours long and say you'd probably listen to it again. I feel trying to get through this in a day doesn't do it justice, there are sections where I struggled, but she's an amazing singer and these are classics for a reason.

Yeah, I can't really do it with this one. On top of it just not being my style, going through like six discs of music that isn't my bag is just a bit much of an ask for me. I can appreciate it, but just not my cup of tea.

jazzy

Not really my music type but there were some fire songs

One world to describe this album: Classy! Great music sung by an outstanding singer!

TLDL At least not to the whole thing. Listened to the highlights. It does fade into the background, and I can imagine putting it on during a dinner party with my mother. Beautiful voice, some iconic songs, but it goes for too long.

Feels like old timey movie. Opted for the best of, 3hrs is a long commitment.

Seems weird Oh my god it's 3 hours long First 2 songs were a banger tho

A huge undertaking: great songs, great performances. Not sure this is the point of the album exercise, but glad I listened to it. Yes…ALL of it!

Amazing singer, has to be said. Nothing terrible here, happy to listen to it but very much of its time in terms of arrangements and orchestration, it can get repetitive to the ears, and the schmaltzy, overly sentimental style of the arrangements, starts to drain having to listen to this in its totality. If a song popped up on shuffle it would be a nice change of pace but hard to take this in one bout of active listening when you are familiar with recorded music since 1959… I'm not the target audience for this but can appreciate that this has an all time voice backed by top musicians. 4/10

7/10

I have to admit I only listened to an hour or so - but that felt sufficient to get the measure of it. Beautifully sung and played but very much of its era. A pleasant diversion but not something I would want to spend 3 hrs with.

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira George Gershwin Songbook There’s such a lovely economy and purity to the Gershwin's songwriting, and they are arranged beautifully by Nelson Riddle, as well as played wonderfully here and it sounds fantastic, with brightness and subtlety. And of course her voice is superb, singing the songs brilliantly, with control, elegance, sweetness, joyfulness and melancholy, bringing out the delicate bittersweet shades of their songwriting. Obviously it’s a huge amount to digest, and hard to pick out too many specifics even of a couple of listens. I listened each time in chunks, as finding 4 uninterrupted hours is a bit of a task, and as it is a box set rather than an album it’s quite hard to get a handle on it as one reviewable piece of work. But ultimately I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it, and looked forward to the next parcel of it each time, and with the songs, arrangements, playing, production and vocals being so great I’m happy to go for a 4. 📖📖📖📖 Playlist submission: Things Are Looking Up

To be honest. I am really enjoying this album I like things are looking up. Its actually so long. Only on disc 3

It’s alright but just not something I would listen to since it just sounds a little too old fashioned for me but I did end up finding another song by this artist which wasn’t on the album that I liked.

Kinda repetitive but yet very beautiful, fell in love with her voice

To be fully honest I only listened to the first disc of this, I knew that if I tried tried to marathon it at a point it would turn into background music. I am planning to listen to the rest of it over the coming days. The first disc is lush though, Ella’s voice is stupidly good and her backing band is on top form

the reviews on here are hilarious - like wow it hurts so hard to listen to three hours of beautiful music. Oh you’re soooo busy. Haters gonna hate. I love Ella and Gershwin is pretty ok too. I had absolutely no problem playing this all the way through AND I enjoyed it! Nobody will ever croon like Ella Fitzgerald!!! Respect!

It seems the dear old Project never wants to let me go, so it's given me an absolute monster for my final day. Three and a bit hours of quite pleasant but boring jazz standards, I mean it's hard to know what to make of it. She's got a great voice, there's nothing unpleasant, but I was delighted to get through it.

Didn't finish because it's like 5 albums?? Over 3 hours long... but what I did listen to was good!

Gorgeous voice, wonderfully catchy tunes

i ain’t listening to all that i’m happy for you tho or sorry that happened

long longggg longggggggg

I love Ella Fitzgerald, but not 3 hours worth. Just complete overkill, recording an entire songbook and forcing the audience to come along on the journey. Could only manage a quarter, as it started to sound the same after a while. Who put this on here?

Like Call the Whole Thing Off. New to me, Rhumba and Real American Folk were fun. Not disagreeable, like the peppier ones better, but why so long?

Världens längsta album. 7.5/10

The music has a great atmosphere and I don't think more needs to be said about Ella Fitzgerald. Sadly I couldn't listen to this for 3 hours.

Very good. Though some of the disc's seemed to repeat tracks.

I Love Ella, even got to see her once. But 4 hours? 4 discs? That's too much for even this die-hard fan to take at one sitting. The first disc had some great classics on it. And no doubt about the Gershwin's writing, top notch. I may come back on occasion, but one was enough for this go-round.

Her voice is gorgeous. I think the arrangements are lovely as well. It felt surprisingly varied for how much of it there was. There were definitely some songs that I liked more than others. I’m not sure I’d ever listen to the full album again but I can see myself putting it on as background music. I loved the atmosphere it created. Also, I think it’s so cool that this is part of her singing “The Great American Songbook” what an undertaking - makes me want to go and listen to more of those albums. Fav song: Nice Work If You Can Get It Least fav: March Of The Swiss Soldiers

Quite a hard one to rate this album actually. Every single song is pretty good- very good, the general sound is fantastic, feels like I’m in a swanky bar or something in the 50s. The songs slightly lack variation but it isn’t like any of them are the same. For a 3 hour+ album it’s actually very painless. But it is 3 hours. If this was 40 mins I’d be loving it. I will give it probs for being a generally enjoyable if long experience. I appreciate that the album was her going through someone’s whole catalogue, rather than writing 50+ songs for one album. That would be stupid. Specific rating - 4.2 Fav song - just another rhumba Least fav- a foggy day

Beginner’s luck

This is an album you study more than binge. Put on the best 45–60 minutes and it’s almost untouchable. Listen to the entire project in one sitting and the law of diminishing returns inevitably kicks in. And that’s the brutal distinction: the material is almost perfect; the package is not. But Ella’s ability to make Gershwin sound simultaneously sophisticated, intimate, playful and completely natural is something very few singers in the history of recorded music could replicate.

Fantastic performance. Ella has a legendary voice and this is surely a lovely body of work. I cruised through Disc 1 and would revisit for more, but I just don't really see how an album this sprawling belongs on this list. Does Ella have no other record more concise? I have no way to digest this much music in a single day while working. I'm giving it a 1 in protest.

Stunning voice, well-executed, and a very long album that would be worth an investment!

Big fan of easy listening so I enjoyed this. I listened to Discs 1 and 2 out of 6. They all sounded basically the same, so I feel I listened to enough.

So I cheated with this one because it’s not really an album it’s more a compilation of every time Ella Fitzgerald sang a Gershwin song, totaling over 3 goddamn hours which nobody fucking has the time for unless you’re retired, so I listened through the first disc and then listened to her best of the Gershwin songbook album to fill in gaps After all that though I still love it, my Sinatra review obviously shows my sucker side for a good swing song and this album is choc full of em, beautifully sung because it’s Ella fucking Fitzgerald and the orchestra is great, the songwriting is also good I especially like the wittier tracks they have that 1940s/50s sarcasm that’s charming to me at least. Overall not a bad album and I wouldn’t protest its inclusion since I presume the Gershwin catalog is the most famous of Ella’s work but I feel like they could’ve chosen a shorter one. Favorites are Sam and Delilah, let’s call The whole thing off, I’ve got beginners luck, and I’ve got rhythm

Dear Editors: Fuck your hypocritical, lazy asses. You have at least a couple dozen "meh" albums from required artists (I've gotten James Brown, Buddy Holly, and Fats Domino so far in this category). Yes, albums weren't nice little packages of the hits or best representation of an artist, nor even an artistic period of an artist. And you've self-imposed this (arbitrary and capricious) rule against compilations and soundtracks (***shakes with effort to avoid soundtrack rabbit hole***). Despite this, you drop a literal box set of Ella Fitzgerald on me. "Here, asshole. We know double albums are unpopular, so take these six albums as the only representation of Ella Fitz-fucking-Gerald. We double-dog-dare you to 1* this queen. Oh, and we're sliding this up your dickhole under the cover of over 100 '80's British new wave/post-punk/pop-rock albums we clearly love but contribute no substance to music, this project, or your fucking sanity." Fuck you with the horse you rode in on.

FIFTY NINE TRACKS?!? I can’t believe I got through this. I can do anything.

fantastic background noise

Different experience than the other albums in here. Love ella doing something nuts like this. Had a lovely time one Sunday listening to this in the background of a long, slow morning.

Jamais écouté avant. Une expérience d'écoute très particulière, et qui restera sans doute unique pour moi, tant l'album en intégralité est long (plus de trois heures !). Difficile d'y prêter une attention active tout ce temps, d'autant plus dans ce style de jazz vocal vieillot qui a déjà tendance à beaucoup se ressembler d'un titre à l'autre. Ce qui n'en fait pas pour autant une écoute désagréable, loin s'en faut, et ce pour deux raisons principales : la formidable voix d'Ella Fitzgerald, bien entendu, parfaite d'un point de vue technique et profondément empreinte d'émotions et de sentimentalité ; et la qualité du son, impressionnante pour l'époque. Chaque inflexion de la voix d'Ella Fitzgerald, chaque note de chaque instrument de l'orchestre est rendue avec fidélité, et si ce n'était pour le sifflement typique qui trahit son âge (et lui confère aussi un charme désuet), on pourrait penser à un enregistrement bien plus tardif que la fin des années 1950. Finalement, une rencontre bienvenue avec une légende, mais à l'avenir, je me contenterai de la version Very Best of, qui semble bien plus digeste. Top : But Not for Me Flop : Fidgety Feet

I don’t listen to jazz, but wow. It’s long as fuck but that makes it really great for background music if you wanna deep clean your entire house and pretend to be a 1950s housewife. Would I listen again? Probably not all songs in one sitting, but I definitely enjoyed it and would totally be open to actually exploring jazz. That first disc is great, but it gets a little exhausting. My only complaint. It’s background music, not something you consciously listen to

This was, hands down, the longest album I’ve ever listened to. And I didn’t regret a second of it. I LOVE Ella Fitzgerald. This is everytging

Amazing! Decades ahead of its time.

Yes, it's long. Very long. I listened to the first half while working and the rest later in the day. Ella's vocals are amazing of course, and the backing instruments are lush and beautiful. 4/5.

she's awesome

Great singer, not listening to all that. Happy for you though, or sad that happened

you're damn lucky i fucking love vocal jazz 3 hours of beautifully sung and arranged jazz standards. ngl if this was any other genre this would be unlistenable. Surprisingly not exhausting to listen to it was actually very pleasant. I was gonna say surely there was a shorter ella fitzgerald album they could've picked, and I while do i still think they should've picked a more accessible album from her discography, this is still an insanely impressive feat. anyone complaining about this being too long, like yea it is but you're also weak and this is musical excellence

Ella's voice is great and it's all really lovely stuff. But there's just too much of it, especially the alt. takes and other stuff at the end. I was restless enough by the time I hit disc 3, although I did force myself to listen to it all. It seems a little harsh to downvote purely on listening fatigue I wouldn't necessarily encounter if I listened to individual discs, but thems the breaks if this is going to be on a list of 'albums'. Somewhere there's a great 1 or 2 disc compilation in here for non die-hards.

Loses a star for length of album

Classic

Baustelle, Gerstetten, Deutschland. Stinklangweilig.

Greatest vocalist of all time perhaps

Well this is three hours long and has six discs so I will be listening to this over a period of time while getting ready for bed / drinking tea / playing cards / etc. But it’s sooo beautiful and she has such a smooth voice that feels like another instrument along with the band.

I absolutely don’t have a spare 4 hours to listen to this. I’ve listened to volume 1, I’m sure the rest is just as lovely

Incredible quality of music from start to finish, and Ella's vocals are stunning. Its over 3 hours long (and I managed it in one sitting whilst working) so it's hard to review it as an 'album', and I couldn't tell you many individual songs - but an incredible piece of art. 8/10

Almost 4h?! Nah

1/5. Worst album by far. Was hugely dissapointed to see there was 59 songs lasting 3h14m. Turned it off during 3rd song. One of the few albums I haven't and won't finish.

What a voice 🥹 some music is just timeless

As a rock ‘n’ roll child of the ‘60’s, this is the kind of stuff my parents would listen to, and which I would dismiss out of hand; but with the wisdom of age, I can fully appreciate the Gershwin songs, the Nelson Riddle arrangements and especially the flawless vocals of Ella Fitzgerald. I feel like an adult when I listen to it. The best part of this album experience is being exposed to music that I never really appreciated.

You got to love that jazz and Ella Fitzgerald. Pero damm mas de 3 horas? por qué un compilado está en esta lista? no es valido. Me sirvió mucho para amenizar mi noche

Ella’s voice and style match well with the Gershwin style, but my dude you know I’m not tuning in for 3.5 hours of it. However I did listen to about half of the album, and it’s a really smooth listen at work. Ella’s smoky, classy style brings out the musical brilliance of the Gershwins. The length highlights the limits of their talents, though: Ella’s not the rangiest singer, and George and Ira get a lot of mileage out of “clever but lightweight.” So the songs start to blur the further in you go. Nevertheless it was a fine experience; I’ll just return for smaller doses in the future.

Strap in as this is a four CD set and over 4 hours of music. The good news is, Ella's voice is so good and soothing, it's not a bad way to pass the time. It really is great.

Una cumbre insuperable del jazz vocal y el cancionero americano que ha envejecido bien como el estándar de oro de la interpretación orquestal. En el plano de diseño formal, los magistrales arreglos de Nelson Riddle construyen un entretejido que da claridad a toda la masa sinfónica, permitiendo que las secciones de cuerdas, maderas y metales convivan en perfecta armonía con la voz sin saturar jamás el espacio sónico. La entrega de Ella Fitzgerald desborda una fuerza y calidez que transmiten autenticidad e imponen una autoridad superior e incontestable dentro de la música popular. La agilidad bailable de "I Got Rhythm" y "Fascinating Rhythm" se equilibra con la vulnerabilidad desarmante de "Someone to Watch Over Me", dando forma a un documento conmovedor, crudo y real que funciona como un sutil llamado a la conciencia sobre la elegancia, la sensibilidad y la verdad de la emoción humana. Un trabajo de una elegancia atemporal cuya constante sensación de paz y fluidez lo vuelve sumamente versátil para múltiples usos, destacando como un acompañante extraordinario para potenciar el trabajo creativo, la conducción o disfrutar en una reflexión solitaria.

awesome if you listen to the best of

超楽しい。 歌クッソ上手いしリズムも軽快で明快、わかりやすい盛り上がりがあってポップの源流を感じた。

Didn't listen to the whole album as its nearly 4 hours long. However, it was a great album and she has a great voice and very good music.

did not listen to that much of this but you can’t go wrong

Takes forever but so amazing

I can't give this any lower than a 3/5 because this is a sound that really hits, but only under the right circumstances. She's got an undeniably incredibly voice and the production makes it pleasing and relaxing to listen to, but after about halfway through the second disc of this 3+ hour album I got really bored.

Yes it’s extremely long. No I don’t recommend listening to all of this in one go. However, I really respect Ella Fitzgerald’s talent, I enjoy a lot of her vocals and there’s a lot of tracks on here you can’t help but enjoy. Really enjoyable listen when you’re in the right mood.

Bitch I ain’t listening to allat 😭🙏🙏 But I’ll listen to a couple on shuffle. Yea idk jus oldies

I mean what can be said about the voice that has not already been said? Amazing

Bra stemme men litt kjedelig og 3 timer, hørte ikke hele

What a lovely way to spend a Sunday. Don't know what you ticktock-addled-brains folks' problem is, I could've gladly listened to another 5 hours of this. Pure camp, and I thought I wasn't a massive Gershwin person before I heard this. Will have to check out the Cole Porter one as well. Well done Ella bestie on this massive undertaking

Not normally my type of music, but you just can't go wrong with Ella Fitzgerald singing. What an amazing voice. I really only knew a few songs, but the songs are still enrapturing.

Was expecting to have this be a DNF. 3 hours of old fashioned showtunes. Played while I cleaned out the garage and 3 hours whipped by while I was transported to and immersed in another time: "From now on some manhandling must be done Keep on treatin me keep on beatin me Keep on treatin me rough" But at the same time feeling very Gen-Z: "Don't mind telling you in my humble fash That you thrill me through with a tender pash When you said you care, imagine my emoshe I swore then and there, permanent devoshe" Also: "Delilah did her kootch", you say? My granny would've loved this!

She was a sweetheart wasn't she with such a glorious voice. Very easy listening. I could have made up some of the rhyming of the lyrics though.

Definitely want to visit Ella's other works based off of this. Had to split this listen into so many chunks because of the length, so I never really got too into it.

3.5+/5

If we're including this, then I'd argue we should also be including variois other compilations, and by extension, instrumental albums both by classical artists and from movie/tv/game soundtracks. The inclusion is warranted because of the importance of both the Gershwins and Fitzgerald. But in reality, the Gerswhins weren't great songwriters, Fitzgerald was a fine singer who sang just like everyone else did at the time, and the arrangements are dull to unlistenable, what with dreary strings and brass which is precisely either warbling or sudden parps. Plus, every twat and their dog was singing these exact same songs throughout the 40s and 50s - you could listen to any of them and achieve the same impact. Until artists began writing their own shit and challenging each other, popular music was, for lack of a better term, balls. Take any 10 songs from this - there's no need to hear the whole thing.

I really like her voice, and the cover is full of sense

Charming but every song sounds the same and it is way way way too long

I like this, I really like this. It just so happened that I had an afternoon to invest in listening to this while I did some other work. Ella Fitzgerald's voice is magical. The music of the Gershwins draws you in. The whole thing had me hitting the weekend in a mellow mood and ready fro not much

would be a great album to clean to!

3 stars for the voice mainly

I like Ella Fitzgerald but was a little dubious that I would make it through this entire album -- but I did and I like it more than I was expecting to since I am not really into Gershwin tunes......

This is too long....

Disc one feels like an old movie, classic soundtrack vibe done right. This is the stuff you'd remember because there's levels of skill to elevate it from the piles of average material. I don't know why I expected the second disc to feel much different. More standards I've heard, maybe. I find myself thinking of all the artists I've heard on this generator, I am so happy this 4 hour listen is with Ella's voice. I might never listen to this again, but I'll know where to look if I want this classic oldies sound. The further into it I get, the more I see it's got a thing for satisfying that default Sinatra mood, while also clearing the speakers with her much clearer voice. It's a pretty combo, I'm understanding the appeal better. Or really, I'm appreciating the Gershwin brothers' ability. This is the kind of gem that fits a mood and expands on it. 3.45/5

HOLY PEAK. The vocals were very good. I'd definetly remix it. Very majestic and etheral 8/10.

Makes me want to drive around with a fedora and cigar taped to my driver's side window so everyone passing by can experience the Driving Crooner. THEY'RE TRYING TO MAKE IT LOOK FAKE!!!

Certainly a tour de force. Thankfully, it provided a good background to a boring day of work and, of course, Ella’s voice is like butter. 4 stars only because it was so long and in the context of this list, I have to listen to it all at once.

not my kinda of album

1.1/5 I feel a little bad about rating this so low but I'm not going to listen to a nearly 4 hour compilation album. I know I could listen to an album a day and come back and rate it, but I don't think much will change my rating. Ella has a beautiful voice but after listening to only the first disc, I knew that the rest of the album would sound largely the same so I didn't listen to the rest. It kind of feels like a cop out to put a 5 disc compilation album in this list. Sure it may be great but then why not just put a compilation album by the Beatles or the rolling stones as well? By the looks of it she has a lot of albums, probably would have been better picking one of those.

My all time favourite composer sung by probably the greatest singer! Listening on my 3.5h train ride so 3h 14m is a perfect fit. Thank you life 🤩 And I don't understand the reviews here saying the songs are all the same: there's jazz, Broadway, bossa, rag time. It never got boring to me.

Okay I saw this was 3+ hours and almost skipped it. I’m glad I didn’t. It was so nice to listen to an amazing vocalist and the backgrounds were also great. While I don’t want to listen to this long of an album in regular intervals I would say this was enjoyable and unique.

I can't believe that anyone other than this album's producers and engineers would listen to this record in its entirety in one sitting, so I approached it like I would if I owned a copy, listening to it in digestible portions over the course of a couple of weeks. Ella Fitzgerald has a great voice, of course, as well as a great sense of timing; I always respect singers who can syncopate with the beat of the music like this. And of course Gershwin was a talented lyricist (“it’s just another rhumba - why did I have to succumbha?”). Of course as usual, I liked the speedier tracks better than the slow ballads and love songs. There were also a handful of instrumental Gershwin pieces that were nice to hear. Summary: this album is a wonderful historical resource, but not something I'd go out of my way to listen to again. One or two of these songs would be fun to hear if it popped up after a Magnetic Fields track on the radio.

stellar, that voice, so beautiful

Ella Fitzgerald’s voice is incredible, warm, precise and full of joy as usual. I listened to this start to finish while going about my morning and it was very pleasant background music, but got pretty dull after a while. This is a lot of jazz standards for the average listener to sit through in one go. Also, listen on shuffle so you don’t end up with a whole disk of instrumentals at the end.

loooooong!!!

Pretty good vintage old jazz

Perfect. It doesn't get any better.

Easy listening

malísimo, eterno y aburrido

Difficult and most certainly not what I usually listen to, could imagine as background music to a dinner party in winter. Most definitely will not listen to the whole 3,5 hours. I see the craftsmanship but still the genre is not my cup of tea

didn’t listen to the whole thing but i liked what i did hear- not my usual vibe but fun stuff

It was nice to listen to this album because it had many songs I hadn’t heard since I was small and so was full of memories. Only 3 stars though because it’s not quite my style of music.

Solid album. Not quite my genre of choice but I enjoyed :) 3.5/5

They Can't Take That Away From Me

A three and a half hour compilation album. I am not sure how this qualifies for a list that very purposely left off compilations. Ella obviously has a legendary voice, but 3 and a half hours? really? put it on at a cocktail party so people feel fancy but this is not an album everyone needs to hear.

5/10

So smooooth.

Always nice to have a short and sweet album I really think this is the only genre where you can have a 50 song 3+ hour album and have that actually be a positive. Ella Fitzgerald has one of the best, most iconic voices not only in the genre, but music as a whole; it’s really cool to see what she’s able to get out of Gershwin’s library. Now granted they had a lot of chances but there’s just so many good songs in this one; Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off, Things are Looking Up, The Man I Love, My Cousin in Milwaukee, I’ve Got Rhythm, the list just goes on and on The main real problem with this one is the fact that there’s not a ton of variety with sound; sure there’s happy songs, sad songs, fast songs, and slow songs but after 3+ hours it does start to blend together. I basically listened to this whole album between breaks in meetings and took the entire work day, but if you marathoned the entire length in one sitting I can see the end dropping off real quick I do think this album is kinda cheating a little, since it’s a compilation album of an absolute ton of recordings, but it’s still an album that kept these songs relevant even into the modern day so I can kinda look past that. From a pure musical standpoint, impossible to not rate this a 5; there’s just so much to love and everything “bad” about this album has to do with something other than the individual songs

bangers!!!

Yes, I listened to all of it. Ella Fitzgerald is one of my favorite vocalists of all time, her iconic voice covering pretty much every Jazz song you've ever heard of at some point throughout her career. About a quarter of them are on this record alone, with the Gershwins writing an absolutely massive list of standards. This is less of an album and more a compilation, so I won't dock any points for it being "too long." That being said, once you've heard an hour of this record, you've pretty much heard it all. Obviously there are some great hits on this record, but Ella's renditions are not my favorite recordings for almost all of these tracks. There are some exceptions, Let's Call the Whole Thing Off and Sam and Delilah probably being my favorites. Unfortunately, the majority of these tracks are unremarkable, with the big band arrangements blurring into each other. Some tracks like Someone to Watch Over Me play around with the format a bit and create hauntingly beautiful atmospheres that complement the tenderness in Ella's voice so much better. I think this record is great for background atmosphere, but doesn't really work in a traditional album format. If you're a huge jazz nerd, there's some A-tier renditions of countless standards and hours of amazing Ella Fitzgerald vocal performances. Otherwise, this is just an archival of the works of some of the most prolific songwriters of the early 20th century, designed to be a reference and not really a complete experience.

I made it about 25% through this marathon of a selection, stopping when I realized I couldn't tell the difference between the last 3 songs. Beautiful voice, great performance, just not for me

Just a punishing length. No box sets please 1001albumsgenerator. It's good of course? Ella Fitzgerald is great Gershwin is no slouch and Nelson Riddle is the GOAT. Definitely gets old by like disc 3. The lyrics don't have much going for them but any time they're talking about like Marconi or Lincoln or something I'm having fun - I know who those guys are so I get to feel smart. The music is always pretty fun. As the album goes on and on you start to feel the burden it must have been to write and record 6 hours of material and I project onto the artists that they must be phoning it in. I want a 10 song album where she gets to belt instead of a filibuster.

No standouts

<3

A cool look at history. It was neat to learn about the great American songbook and Ella Fitzgerald life. She has an incredible voice, even if the songs were a little same-y.

Seemed okay. 6 disc's. 3 hours. I don't have time for that.

What a voice!

I won’t subject this to the long album tax because I thought it was really enjoyable actually, but still 3 hours is wayyy too much

She's super talented and the music is enjoyable but I don't know what a 3.5 hour, 4 disc collection is doing on this list. There's likely no way I'm ever finishing this in one go.

7/13/26. Simply blown away and can't get enough of Ella Fitzgerald's voice. It's a calm companion to help you get through the day and loved the variation of sentimentality.

So far I like “let’s call the whole thing off” the best, it’s a really fun song.

Not my cup of tea but beautiful voice

It is full of some classics but man there is a lot of songs on there.

This was excellent

Heard the 1st disk and that was great

As expected with such a 6 disk record (it must've been at least 10 if it was actually released on vinyl), this album had it's very high points and relatively low ones. The surprising part (perhaps the album is organized by George vs. Ira-written songs) is that I liked certain disks more than others. The jazz instrumentation was enjoyable throughout, very emblematic of its time, and the vocals were consistently excellent and sweet. However, the quality of the lyrics took a nosedive on disk 3 after 2 very strong disks to start. The fourth disk was a strong recovery, fifth was great, sixth was fine. Fortunately, my dad was in town so he educated me about the Gershwin's. Growing up with an old Broadway fan was underwhelming, but having him as a resource today was fantastic.

I may have found two songs for my upcoming same-sex wedding day on this thing: "Love Is Sweeping the Country" (the one that starts "Why are people gay all the night and day") for a first dance and "Treat Me Rough" for the Honeymoon Suite at the end of the night. On a serious note, I listened to all 59 tracks and didn't regret a single of those 194 minutes. I'd give this thing six stars if I could.

Me aburroooooo

Sweet nirvana. However, before we start, let me say that I never want to hear the abhorrent Treat Me Rough again. It should never have happened and I feel sick for having heard it. On the other hand, if there was anyone I had to hear an album over three hours, it would be Ella singing Gershwii-in. I've only ever heard these individually or maybe a best of the songbooks. As a whole, there's something else going on. I'd always thought that the point of the songbooks was to treat each piece like a fragile wondrous entity and to reproduce it in it's most sterile but perfect form. After three hours, I can tell that they were having fun and playing with the songs more that is obvious just from hearing one or two out of context. Some of these are just sublime (They Can't Take That Away From Me, A Foggy Day, But Not For Me) and to think Summertime isn't on here and I'm not sure that How Long Has This Been Going On? is the one I'm used to.

So far, just finished the first disc. There are a few that stick out, “but not for me”, “I’ve got beginners luck”, and “how long has this been going on”. I will say, it’s a little of a slog sometimes, as so far it’s a very predictable flow, like almost all big band jazz stuff, but I can already tell, on disc 2, since this is I imagine a collection of her songs, I can already hear a difference as we’re getting “newer and newer”. To be honest, I did not finish this. It was 6 discs in total, and I got half way through 4 and stopped. While I did “like” it, and can respect it, its roots and what it inspired, it felt as if I was in a 4 hour Christmas movie 2.9/5

Obviously it’s beautiful, but more than 1 or two songs gets boring.

This has every love song you'd ever need and more

Clocking in at 6-discs and a whopping 3h15 minutes, it’s quite the collection. It’s a virtually flawless collection of great songs written and performed at the highest level. That being said, it’s not really a collection one visits very often in its entirety. It’s just a LOT to digest for a casual fan or someone digging in to classics. Hardcore fans would LOVE this, but the casual listener exploring is easily overwhelmed, despite the high quality.

Doesn’t get much more classic than this. Not something that I would put on regularly, but Ella’s voice is amazing and she is a great interpreter of songs, s it was a nice listen.

Classy lady singng classy songs, the lyrics of corny and corny but she's working with what's in front on her

Super Dope

For a three hour long album, don't got a lot to say other than that it's really good. Three hours of Fallout-core isn't a bad thing in my book. But yeah, it very much is vibe music for me. Can't pick out specific songs I like when it all blends together, especially at that length. Just sit back, listen, and vibe.

Das ist kein Album sondern Fitzgeralds halbe Diskografie.. von allen Künstlern kriegt sie eine 3 Stunden compilation?

I prefer the Gershwin covers Ella did with Ellis Larkins, but here you’ve got George and Ira, Ella Fitzfreakinggerald, AND Nelson Riddle. Tough to beat.

Classic soulful sounds

Wah bhana wah

long album, butt i fw

i just couldn’t get through this…….. 3 hours???? i spent two days trying to get through this and it felt like i didn’t even make a dent regardless of how beautiful her voice is

Excellente musique de fond pour fumer un cigare dans un bar mal éclairé en 1953.

Love love love jazz and Ella, so cozy and beautiful to listen to, her voice is amazing, loved this album so very although it is very long

Couple of stars for a great singer and the songwriters. Minus the rest of the stars for the length. Great for when you have a dinner party with the fancy dishes and don’t want to curate a whole playlist.

Wow. This is something else. For starters I haven’t listened through all of the box set yet (3h 14 mins), but I really enjoy Ellas singing voice, the big band style and the jazz tunes. I will be listening to the rest of the albums, but I need to take it in portions. Still I defintely think that this deserves a top score. It is just that good! Favourites so far: Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off, Someone To Watch Over Me.

Absolute colossus of an album. Not gonna call it a compilation, since neither Wikipedia nor MusicBrainz considers it as one. And as far as I can tell, all of the songs were recorded in the same exact year, so that's not really "compilation" material to me. Despite its sheer size, I quite enjoyed the listen. Never a bad moment. But the fact that it's three hours does kinda water it down, making individual tracks that much less special. It's also pretty hard to listen in one sitting. And while I did like it, it's perhaps not my favourite kind of jazz. Hence I'd still edge towards 4/5 instead of 5/5.

its fire and all but i cant get myself to listen to all 60 songs so im going to use my past listening experiences with this lady

60 songs is crazy but I like this lady she was the first black lady to win a grammy she also died from diabetes

its fine but 60 songs is crazy

Ella Fitzgeralds vocals are insane. No doubt about that. Did I get kind of bored after the 3rd song? Yes, unfortunately... I think the problem is more about the generel style of the music back then rather than about the songs itself. The style is just kind of repetitive? I really like "But not for me". Nice album to use as background music, but for me it's nothing more than that.

mmm not really into jazz …

Fabulous voice. Superbly written songs. It's just...a bit much, especially when you consider this was one of EIGHT albums dedicated to what were the great American songwriters of the time. Of the time, of its time.

listened to the first songs and decided it was a bit boring haha

Honestly a 6 disc compilation of songs my gran would have listened to is a bit much

This is a fine collection of Ella Fitzgerald's singing and some good arrangements. As an album collection I would gladly take it. Not sure I would need it and be blown away by it. But yeah. Yeah...

Sublime, some great tunes romantic beautifully crafted and sung.

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook... immediately starts out with two instrumental tracks. I was never going to like this. Don't like this style of music at all. Will not deny the talent, but there was no way I was going to make it through this whole thing. Also, I gather that compilations like this were generally not put into this project, otherwise we'd probably be listening to nothing but greatest hits albums. So why was this one allowed in? 1 star review less for the talent, and more for the fact that it probably shouldn't be in here in the first place.

A really fantastic showcase for both Ella Fitzgerald as well as for George and Ira Gershwin's songwriting. Sure it's a mammoth collection of songs but it's such a wonderful, rich listening experience (and one that's easy enough to break into more manageable chunks).

what a monster of an album, took me the whole weekend to listen to. i love fitzgerald and gershwin both and each song sounds good individually but all together it does get pretty repetitive. i think i'd rather pick songs off of it into a playlist than sit down with the album itself, which is rare for me. still giving it a 4/5

A Beautiful Voice Trapped in a Three-Hour Slog Look, I see the value in this record. Ella Fitzgerald has an absolutely gorgeous voice and the arrangements are undeniably well-crafted. I get why people love this. But honestly? This type of music bores the ever-loving shit out of me. It's fantastic background music. Perfect for a fancy dinner or a cocktail house party. But as an album to actively sit down and listen to? It's a goddamn slog. Most of these songs sound the same and are about love. After about 10 tracks, you get the whole picture. The biggest issue is the length. Three and a half hours of old-timey jazz standards is a unique experience, but is it a good experience? Is it worthy of listening before death? For me, not really. I've got about 40 minutes of tolerance for most music recorded before 1965. This record had me checking the tracklist every few songs wondering how much time was left. To be fair, I wish I could like music like this. But I can't. It's just not my vibe. What I value in albums is a story and a point of view. I like openers and closers that act as strong bookends, variety in the tracklist, a cohesive sound, and experimental moments that make the record stand out. This is an anthology, not a carefully constructed album with personality. It would have been a 5 or 6 if it ended after a third of the runtime, but over three hours of the same vibe is just too much. Rating: 4.5/10

Disc 1 Track 2 & Track 4. Enough said

Wow

This shouldn't be on the list. It's 1001 albums to listen to before you die and this isn't an album. That said, I listened to a disc a day and enjoyed it to a degree. A lot of the songs felt very dated, but there were the odd ones here and there that I'd like to hear more often and of course, Ella Fitzgerald had a magnificent voice. A three I guess.

love jazz, her lyrics ruin it though

A really impressive feat, but not an album I see myself returning to.

Hard to rate as I don’t agree with this being included on the 1000 albums list. It’s an exhaustive boxset, not an album. However, I enjoyed a lot of this and it has a nice balance of showtunes and melancholic ballads.

too long

The vocals were good but this was too insanely long to be enjoyable. It was also a slower pace, quieter album, which made it hard to push through at work.

Fint dette. Men 3 timer med det!? Ble gammelt etter 30 min. Nei takk. Trekker et poeng for lengden.

Syntes det var litt kjedelig.

damn that sht long

хорошо, приятно никакого негатива за исключением трех часов здесь скорее знакомство с исполнителем нежели выделение конкретного альбома это приятная музыка, ее можно включать на фоне, можно слушать уделяя внимание, но тогда думаю надоест хорошие инструменталы, хороший вокал, перенос во времени кайф 3.3

This was a crazy long album my God lol but it's nice to hear these classic songs, might not be my first or even 100th choice to listen to but I enjoyed hearing these songs being out there!

I loved this! I had to listen to it gradually (it took me over a month), but it was so enjoyable. Her voice is just amazing and I'm a musical gal, so how could I not love this?!

It's too much. I don't have time to listen to the whole lot. She's great, but not all of these 6 discs at once.

i unfortunately do not have the time this evening to listen to this entire masterpiece. but boy do i plan to make the time! ella is a star! banger after banger after banger. fave tracks: i've got rhythm but not for me

Classic American music! Not always what I want to listen to, but she has such a great voice. Also, the album cover is so cool.

It’s Ella. What more do I need to say?

Very long album, but Ella is iconic

Well, I love listening to this old music. There’s definitely a time and a place for it. I paused the project so I wouldn’t have to rush through this. I listened to sections of it while at the lake at Minnesota, and the vibe there worked. This will always remind me of the time there, so that’s a good thing.

She has a wonderful voice and i never thought I would listen to a whole album.... but 3 hours later I am totally burned out

Not really into show tunes but can't deny this was worth listening to.

Took me about 3 days but still really good

leider nicht fertig gehört, aber swinging und cute

Classic Vocal Jazz. Complete and very good.

Uffff, una infinita película de navidad donde el aburrimiento prima y la trama se trata sobre nada. No lo disfruté. Seré una inculta? Probablemente

Chill para escuchar, me la imaginaba a ella cantando en un escenario all the time, y me recordó a festividades tipo Navidad. Nice album para escuchar en invierno o con frío y tomarse tipo una COCOA caliente by the fire. Would I listen to it again though? I don’t think so

A delight, full of whimsy, innocence and cleverness. I knew many more of these songs than I thought I would. I absolutely love the ‘introductory verse’ as a song element. I couldn’t get through the whole album in one shot, but these songs more often than not put a smile on my face.

great vibe, amaing voice, good storytelling. Way too long

I just got home from a month long road trip. Covered almost 4 thousand miles. Slept in my bed for the first time in weeks and when I woke up I made my own coffee, dealt with laundry, and cleaned out camping stuff. This was the most perfect album for this. Beautiful background music as I came back to earth and got stuff in order. I dreaded getting it, but have absolutely loved listening to it in this context. Don't know if I'll ever listen to it again, but this listen may end up being one of my favorite memories of this whole project.

The Good: Ella Fitzgerald! The Bad: It’s not a book… The Ugly: Having to listen to 3+ hours of Gershwin songs… I am not going to repeat what most people have already said. Shame that we couldn’t have just been presented with Ella Fitzgerald’s In A Mellow Mood… 38 minutes of mellowness, probably an easy 4*, or more… Anyway, plenty of memorable Gershwin tunes on this album, if you can sit through them all… and it was not easy. 3*

Very theatrical and old timey sounding. She’s got a fantastic voice though. SUPER long tracklist. Not sure if I listened to a deluxe or original release, but wow… it’s long. 2.4/5.0

Rate: 10/10

Beautiful

Ella Fitzgerald invented love I think. Amazing jazz, and a beautiful singer. I felt like I was in a black and white film during a dance scene.

3 hours! I think, yes, there were a couple good songs in this, but a lot of the album was frankly unnecessary. I just found it boring after only a couple songs in. So as a whole, I give this album a 2/5

Who has time to listen to a 3+ hour album?

Because there are so many tracks, I'm rating them in blocks of 5. Tracks 1-5 - 9/10. Classic Jazz standards, and Ms. Fitzgerald has the perfect voice for them. Tracks 6-10 - 10/10. Absolute bangers. Tracks 11-15 - 11/10. Three nearly perfect, and S'Wonderful and Someone to Watch Over Me. This block goes to 11. Tracks 16-20 - 8/10. Excellent. Great backing band, and excellent singing. Tracks 21-25 - 9/10. Excellent and smooth tracks here. Tracks 26-30 - 9/10. Outstanding. Tracks 31-35 - 9/10. Truly amazing music. Tracks 36-40 - 9/10. Amazing. Tracks 41-45 - 10/10. Ms. Fitzgerald is so very easy to listen to. Especially with amazing music. Tracks 46-50 - 9/10. Really excellent. Tracks 51-55 - 8/10. Very good. Last two were instrumentals, but still very good ones. Tracks 56-59 - 8/10. Excellent instrumentals in a Big Band style. Overall Rating - 4.54/5 (9.08/10). So many songs that I didn't know were Gershwin songs.

Ok, I listened to the first couple of songs. I get it. good I guess but so old it feels corny.

Going into this, I knew that three hours of Ella Fitzgerald was going to be a challenge, and I honestly thought this might be the first album in the 1001 challenge that I wouldn’t finish. By 9pm, I finally got there. That said, I do think this is slightly unfair to judge in the same way as a normal 30–40 minute, 10-track album. This is really more of a box set or collection than a traditional album, and I think that matters. You don’t really sit down and consume all of this in one go in the same way you would a standard studio album — it feels more like something to dip in and out of over time. In that sense, it was easier to get through because it works well in the background. I found myself dropping in and out of it throughout the day rather than actively listening to every second. The collection moves through so many styles — cabaret, jazz standards, Disney-style vocals, pop and more — that it can feel a bit all over the place. My biggest question is simply whether it needed to be this long. There were moments I found genuinely beautiful and interesting, but there were also large sections that drifted into the background or felt a little dull. A lot of it, if I’m honest, passed by without leaving much of an impression. One thing that absolutely has to be said, though, is that Ella’s voice is wonderful. Even when the material wasn’t connecting with me, her vocal talent was impossible to ignore. The warmth, clarity and effortless control in her singing are remarkable. This collection isn’t really my thing overall, but there are undeniably beautiful moments throughout. Favourite tracks: “But Not for Me” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It” were both enjoyable Least favourite tracks: So much of this went by without fully grabbing my attention Album artwork: Cool album cover

9/10 Let's Call the Whole Thing Off is absolute peak

This is just too damn long. I can’t in good conscience give this a 1 because all the songs are good. Fitzgerald is likely a top 5 greatest singer of the 20th century. Nelson Riddle’s arrangements are excellent. But when you have them for over 3 continuous hours it just becomes a slog.

Absolutely lovely. Some very fun songs on here however took me 3 days to listen to it due to the length

What a delightful romp. Boy Wanted - EXCELLENT rhyming - favourite is rhyming 'advertisement' with 'flirt is meant'; incredible. Fascinating Rhythm - the name is correct! Love the weird timings in this one.

Ella's magnum opus. A warm bath of timeless classics sung with unmatched soul. It's an indulgent affair; a little too long perhaps.. I broke it down into multiple listening sessions. Love it for the performances, but Christ almighty it's long. Spins: 1 Playlist Additions - But Not for Me - 'S Wonderful - Someone to Watch Over Me - Love Is Here To Stay

Very interesting album for this particular project. I believe this is the longest album in the whole 1001 set. I think it suffers from being too long/much of a project. Her voice is incredible and there are many classic songs in here. But after awhile the songs and arrangements sounded similar.

Ran through this over the past two days. It's all very pretty. Pretty, gorgeous voice. Pretty bland songs. Pretty long. But it's an incredible endeavor.

Talk about the OG crooner!!! The voice behind so many songs I hear in TV shows and movies but had no idea who it was (Ella!) till now!

Too much jazz

3+ hours is simply unlistenable for a challenge like this. this isn't a cohesive album; it’s a massive box set and a luxury museum piece that completely destroys the concept of a regular record. on top of that, I couldn't care less about the Roaring '20s and early American pop culture

I listened to the abridged "best of" album. Ella's voice is beautiful, no doubt about that. The band can play smooth, simple,big band style jazz. For me the music is not dynamic enough, with a similar tone that runs through each song. There is no challenge, no hidden layers in these tunes. Ponderous.

I couldn't do it. 3 hours is just too long. Loved the beginning, probably love all the songs in this album but BRUH. Just choose your favorites.

Apart from the corny songs, I had fun with this one.

Not listenin' to allat

Alright I shouldn't be caught off guard by something as culturally critical as this but it's stunning and perfect even though this is not my wheelhouse. The quality of the recording is very good. Things are looking up.

This is a rather large album, over 3 hours. Ella Fitzgerald is one of the great jazz singers and this album showcases that with a great, full swing band backing her up and the songs of the Gershwins. She has the ability to evoke emotions here. 5.

Ella did a lot of “songbook” albums in her career, and this one is considered perhaps the best. After hearing this I feel like I just watched a Broadway show, although I’m unclear what the story was about. The Nelson Riddle orchestra did a nice job providing the background music. The release that I listened to was a six disc set, with disc six just the orchestra. Ella never was a favorite of mine, but this album deserves a good rating because of its lyrical, singing, and orchestral arrangements.

Haha oh no, I'm in danger. Luckily I got this QUADRUPLE* album on a weekend! I do find the concept appealing, as a completionist and fan of themes, even if I'm not an especial fan of Ella Fitzgerald or The Gershwins™ (honestly, I didn't even know there were two of 'em... only know about the airplane song). Now that I meditate on it, my dad might have a (?blue, cardboard?) Gershwin(s?) album, but I must have found it very boring since I am not quite sure it exists. Will get back to you. [Update: he does have one, but it's neither blue nor cardboard; that was a different instrumental album ("Slaughter On Tenth Avenue"). It sure is easy to mix things up! In fact, I might have mixed up both albums with a large paperback book of baby names that had storks on it ("The Best Baby Name Book in the Whole Wide World"). I could probably read that whole book and listen to both albums and this would still be playing.] *or SEXTUPLE? There's a lot of versions floating around out there; I tried my best to listen to the original release, which is described on ellafitzgerald.com as both a "5LP Box Set" and a "six LP collection" - further text goes on to clarify that it is "5 LPs and a 10" LP", which I think adds up to.... six LPs. Even if one is just a little guy. Imagine telling someone you have five cats and one very small cat. What an outrageous thing to say. Do you have 5 cats? Or 6?? Well, isn't every 6-disc collection also a 5-disc collection? No!! Are we living in a Mitch Hedberg joke?! Anyway, I listened to the 6 album version with the tiny 6th album. It's pleasant and a cool project, but I don't know that many of the songs... even though a lot of them are from 1920s-30s (film) musicals, which is neat. Maybe these guys were the Rogers + Hammerstein of their time. Or the Sondheim of their time. Is the current Sondheim Sondheim? Maybe if Lin-Manuel Miranda does more stuff it'll be him. Where are all the lady musical composers?? >:( The singing is obviously good, but it's not a style I'm that into. It's like... vocal jazz. (Update: wow the wiki genre is "vocal jazz"! I'm getting better at this!) So slow... no choruses... no variety! I did learn the idiom "the worm has turned", though. other Linguistic Intrigue: "I'm biding my time/'cause that's the kinda girl I'm" is surely ungrammatical; "Have a crush on" apparently dates to at least 1903; "lovelight" is a word you only hear in 100-year old songs; "All the sexes from Maine to Texas / Have never known such love before" is a wild line for 1931 (assuming a societal presupposition that the # of sexes = 2) Highlights: 'Let's Call the Whole Thing Off' (because it's a language-related song, even though it probably entrenched some toxic ide-"ɑ"-logy), "When you said you care, imagine my emosh / I swore then and there, permanent devosh" (feels very early to have those clippings!), 'Slap That Bass' (for some reason this is one of the songs I knew, even though I have no idea how. [Update: Nick Cave sings it in the movie 'Joker: Folie à Deux'. Culture!]), 'Fascinating Rhythm' (especially fascinating: it's a song about an earworm that isn't an earworm! and it has the word "flivver" in it (=janky old car), which is another word you only hear in 100-year-old songs) Lowlight: 'Strike up the Band' is a UCLA song. Boooo.

Turns out the Gershwin songbook is longer than "War and Peace." Love the voice; this probably should be four stars for execution, but I appreciate it without loving it.

Nice voice, pretty easy listen. But a 6-disc, 59-track, 3 hour and 15 minute album on this list?? Probably 3-star material if broken into segments, but any album longer than the “Titanic” movie gets at least a 1-star deduction

Preference - 1 Musicianship - 1 Legacy - 1 Total - 3

Lovely.

Og

While this genre of music is not to my liking, Ella is amazing. I can't say I needed to hear this album but under the right circumstances I would listen to it.

It's fine. I find a lot of these standards to be fairly boring but I can't overly knock them either.

How can I be civil when hearing this drivel?

With all due respect, this is just too long and boring. The songs themselves aren't bad, Ella Fitzgerald has an amazing voice, but holy is it just hard to sit down for so long listening to all of this because it gets repetitive pretty quickly. But again the songs themselves aren't inherently bad, but safe to say i could never see myself putting this on and fully listening to it all again.

4 discs is “too much chocolate cake”. The performer and artist are both among the greatest ever, but consuming too much of the same thing, the dense puns and wordplay and the same harmonic vibe, it’s hard to keep paying attention.

Wow, what a daunting proposition…over three hours and six disks of any album would be overkill. I tried to satiate my desire to listen to some Ella Fitzgerald by consuming the top ten most listened on Spotify (none of which feature on any of these disks…). I didn’t feel like this would count as listening to this record and was sad at the prospect of having to click ‘Did not listen’, and then found a ‘Ella Sings Gershwin - Best Of’ that was only 25 minutes long…this is the best I can offer. Ridiculous choice to have the original album on here in my opinion, putting that aside, the voice and tone are intoxicating. Everything considered, I think this is the best I can give this album.

Sublime.

I'm not listening to a three hour 14 minute album. What I did listen to before quitting was great though.

Amazing voice

Beautiful and mesmerising to listen to. I'm so happy

The band are incredible, obviously Ella Fitzgerald is incredible, but I don't know how to listen to this. Am I supposed to do it in one stint? I don't have that kind of stamina. Am I supposed to listen one record at a time? If so, pick one. It feels like the author got tired or choosing and just threw this at the book without any thought.

- Good to listen to, a really magnificent voice - Some songs are fun and feel quite modern

Quite enjoyable. Not something I'd listen to daily but it is great.

This is a compilation across six discs. It felt a bit disjointed as a result. Of course, Ella is a fabulous vocalist and a mainstay of this period of jazz/swing.

Soft album, well recorded. Not my most favorite genre. Some songs are very well written and others are very poorly written.

3 hours huh? Gonna have to review this one disk at a time. Disk 1: Pretty good. I like this kind of music, it's very soothing and I feel distinguished listening to it xD. I really enjoyed 'Let's call the whole thing off'. One thing I'm sure will be an issue for me going forward: variety. Instrumentation, voice, and melodies are top notch, but you can only take so much before it either bleeds together or becomes insufferable. Feels more like background music to me. Disk 2: This side is more soothing than the last. Still enjoying listening to it! "They All Laughed" stood out to me. Disk 3: I've become numb to this music, it doesn't affect me. Disk 4: When the album finishes, the sound of silence will feel louder than Ella's voice. It's as if Ella Fitzgerald was there when I was born, interpreting the Gershwin Songbook starting from my first breath. Also, the meaning of "Love is Sweeping the Country" changes a lot with a more modern interpretation of the word 'gay'. Disk 5: Great interpretation of "They can't take that away from me". It's almost over but please kill me quickly. Disk 6: What the fuck is this shit? I wish I was listening to Ella Fitzgerald.