Ella Fitzgerald – Fine And Mellow

The impression that lingers after a couple of hearings of this album is that after a professional lifetime that has spanned forty years, Ella Fitzgerald is more completely in command than ever – of her voice, her material, her accompaniment. Just as she did back in those remote days when she was heard at the Savoy, Ella managers to deal with every song as if she were singing it for the first time. In or out of Jazz, this is one of the most vital yardsticks of greatness in any singer, and it is a quality I suspect Ella Fitzgerald will never lose.