Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Ella & Louis

Deluxe presentation with comprehensive 20-page booklet + 5 bonus tracks. Includes new specially prepared liner notes by Penguin Guide to Jazz writer Brian Morton and by Paris's prestigious Jazz Magazine.

These tunes, light in their way, almost homespun, are invested with an extraordinary humanity. There isn't an ounce of sentiment in Under a Blanket of Blue or Isn't This a Lovely Day?, but there is deep feeling and a profound sense of human solidarity. They were not singing about civil rights, there is no erotic charge in the encounter; when they sing about breaking hearts, it's clear that everything is mendable. The challenge of bebop had been met and quietly negotiated. Here was jazz with its original message: the individual matters, but others matter, too. - Penguin Guide To Jazz

The mutual respect with which Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and the other four exceptional musicians go through a repertoire of unforgettable standards selected by Norman Granz is readily apparent. Songs like They Can't Take That Away from Me, Tenderly and April in Paris make Ella & Louis a jewel of simplicity and timeless humanity. - Jazz Magazine