Jukebox Hits 1943-1953

This is a really nice collection of Ella's hits between 1943 and 1953. Nineteen of the twenty tracks made the Billboard R&B chart, Pop chart or both. The booklet that comes with the CD is well written and contains information on each song. There is one problem, however. As Ella herself said, "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall" and the rain is pouring down on track number twenty. "Crying In The Chapel" has the worst fidelity of any song I have ever heard on a CD or even a record! It isn't that the high end is slightly rolled off, it is missing in action completely. The audio is so muffled that you can hardly understand the words. I brought this to the attention of Acrobat Music in England and they agree that something is terribly wrong. At least you get nineteen good tunes, but number twenty is unlistenable. Five stars for the music, but no stars for the quality control of the mastering process. Somebody should have caught this prior to it ever reaching the shipping dock. As the CD currently stands, it earns a three-star average.August 2013 Update: After bringing the "Crying In The Chapel" problem to the attention of Acrobat Music, they have re-mastered the CD. Five stars to them for outstanding customer response. Buyers should therefore AVOID any used copies of this title since you can be sure that you will get one of the defective ones. If you do purchase a new copy and have an issue you will find that Acrobat Music, in my experience, always responds to e-mails.

I agree about Crying in the chapel -HORRIBLE SOUND. The rest of the disc is good with some rare items thrown in. I love Ella. There is some nice stuff here. Get it at a good price. Thanks Amazon

One of a vast series from Acrobat Music & Media Ltd. in the U.K. covering Muddy Waters, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Nat "King" Cole, Billie Holiday, Lucky Millinder, The Clovers, Erskine Hawkins, Andy Kirk & His Clouds Of Joy, Ivory Joe Hunter, Johnny Otis, Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, Buddy Johnson, T-Bone Walker, Jimmie Lunceford, Lionel Hampton, Ruth Brown, and Billy Eckstine. Some contain 26 tracks, a few just 20, and this one covering the First Lady Of Jazz is one of the latter. Which is too bad because, in the period covered by this volume (1943 to 1953), they leave out 7 legitimate hits, including these fairly major entries: And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine (# 10 Pop in January 1945 with Johnny Long's orchestra and The Song Spinners; I'm Beginning To See The Light with The Ink Spots - # 5 Pop in May 1945; and Guilty - # 11 Pop with Eddie Heywood's orchestra in April 1947.It starts off with the 1943 # 6 R&B (then called The Harlem Hit Parade) My Heart And I Decided, billed to Ella Fitzgerald And The Keys, followed by Cow-Cow Boogie (Cuma-Ti-Yi-Yi-Yay), which reached # 1 R&B and # 10 Pop in the spring of 1944, billed to Ella Fitzgerald And The Ink Spots. The same pairing then had a 2-sided # 1 Pop Hit in late 1944 with Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall b/w I'm Making Believe, with the A-side also going # 1 R&B and the B-Side reaching # 2 R&B. It's Only A Paper Moon, which had originally appeared in the Broadway production The Great Magoo under the title If You Believe In Me, then became a # 4 R&B/# 9 Pop in late summer 1945 billed to Ella Fitzgerald And The Delta Rhythm Boys.In the spring of 1946 she had a 2-sided hit duet with Louis Armstrong, backed by the Bob Haggart orchestra, when You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart) made it to # 10 Pop in April, while the B-side, The Frim Fram Sauce, scored at # 4 R&B. A few months later she hit again with yet another duet, this time with Louis Jordan (and His Tympany Five), as Stone Cold Dead In The Market (He Had It Coming) soared to # 1 R&B (and stayed there 5 weeks) and # 7 Pop, while the flipside, Patootie Pie, reached # 3 R&B. As 1946 came to a close, (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons reached # 8 Pop with The Delta Rhythm Boys. She only had two hits in 1947, the above-mentioned Guilty, as well as That's My Desire. a # 3 R&B that June billed to Ella Fitzgerald with The Andy Love Quintet.In the early summer of 1948 Ella hooked up once more with The Song Spinners to take My Happiness to # 6 Pop/8 R&B, and in July she was back with Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five on Baby, It;s Cold Outside, from the movie Beptune's Daughter, which peaked at # 6 R&B/# 9 Pop. Later that fall she was back with Jordan and his group with I'll Never Be Free, taking it to # 7 R&B. Even while that was still on the charts, she and Louis Armstrong then combined on Can Anyone Explain (No, No, No), taking it to # 30 Pop with the backing of Sy Oliver's orchestra.1951 produced Smooth Sailing, probably the best song to feature her scat singing, and this went to # 3 R&B/# 23 Pop in October with the backing of the Ray Charles Singers and Bill Doggett's orchestra. That would be her last R&B entry until 1960's Mack The Knife. In the meantime, Walkin' By The River got to # 29 Pop in November 1952 with Leroy Kirkland's orchestra, while in September 1953 her version of the much-recorded Crying In The Chapel reached # 15 Pop, again with Doggett's band and The Ray Charles Singers. Unfortunately, that track is abysmal in terms of sound quality.My first tendency was to award just 2 stars due to the reduced number of tracks compared to others in the series and the resulting exclusion of 7 hits. But the inclusion of That's My Desire, It's Too Soon To Know, and I'll Never Be Free - three of the hardest-to-find of Ella's hit singles - made me reconsider and go to 3.

.1.マイ・ハート・アンド・アイ・ディサイデッド〜with The Keys(R&B#6/1944).2.カウ・カウ・ブギ〜w.Inkspots(R&B#1/Pop#10/44).3.人生に雨はつきもの〜w.Inkspots(#1/#1/44).4.アイム・メイキング・ビリーヴ〜w.Inkspots(#2/#1/44).5.ペイパー・ムーン〜w.The Delta Rhythm Boys(#4/#9/45).6.フリム・フラム・ソース〜w.Louis Armstrong(R&B#4/46).7.ユー・ウォント・ビー・サティスファイド〜w.L.A.(Pop#10/46).8.ストーン・コールド・デッド・イン・ザ・マーケット〜w.Louis Jordan(#1/#7/46).9.ぺトゥーティ・パイ〜w.L.J.(R&B#3/46)10.センティメンタル・リーズンズ〜w.D.R.B.(Pop#8/46)11.おやすみを云うのはツラい〜w.D.R.B.(46)12.ザッツ・マイ・デザイア〜w.Andy Love 5tet(R&B#3/47)13.マイ・ハッピネス〜w.The Song Spinners(#8/#6/48)14.イッツ・トゥー・スーン・トゥ・ノウ(R&B#6/48)15.お外は寒いよ〜w.L.J.(#6/#9/49)16.アイル・ネヴァー・ビー・フリー〜w.L.J.(R&B#7/50)17.キャン・エニワン・エクスプレイン?〜w.L.A.(Pop#30/50)18.スムース・セイリング〜w.Bill Doggett(#3/#23/51)19.川べりを歩いて(Pop#29/52)20.月夜のチャペル〜w.B.D.(Pop#15/53)♪ブラックポップ・ファン向けの若きエラの名唱集。ノイジーなトラックも一部にあるが楽しい曲多し!!

I bought this because I've always liked Paper Moon, and I am grateful to discover so many tracks of the same era and style. The CD issue is excellent.