Description
MATCHBALL RECORDS
LIMITED EDITION - 180g VIRGIN VINYL - NEW COVER ARTWORK - 2 BONUS TRACKS
By 1957, Ella Fitzgerald was already a star with over twenty years experience as a
professional singer. She had performed in countless venues and settings and recorded numerous sides. She was also the inspiration behind Norman Granz's "Songbook" concept, which had become possible with the recently developed technology of "long play" LPs. The "Songbook" albums consisted of carefully designed multiple-LP box sets devoted to Ella singing the works of some of the best jazz composers, many of which resulted in best-selling albums. Granz also presented Ella in an entirely different context. As a concert promoter with his Jazz at the Philharmonic, he recorded many performances and was one of the first record producers to issue live recordings. At forty-years old, Ella was reaching the peak of her abilities. Between 1957 and 1959, Ella recorded a series of sessions with the Frank DeVol Orchestra from which several albums were culled, among
them Hello Love, presented here, and the better known Like Someone in Love.
Ella and DeVol would record together on many other occasions. Other albums they collaborated on consist of Ella Sings Sweet Songs for Swingers (recorded on November 28, 1958), Ella Wishes You a Merry Christmas (from July 15-16, 1960), and Hello Dolly (March 3-4, 1964). Most of these albums were conceived and marketed more as pop than as jazz records, and thus included little information about personnel and extremely brief liner notes (the orchestra's exact personnel for the Hello Love dates remains unknown).
ELLA FITZGERALD,
vocals on all tracks, plus:
Arrangements and orchestra conducted by Frank DeVol.
Los Angeles, March 25, 1959 (A1-A4 & B1).
Los Angeles, October 28, 1957 (A5-A6 & B2-B3).
Los Angeles, July 24, 1957 (B4-B8).
Original sessions produced by Norman Granz.