Ella Fitzgerald: LIVE AT THE CONCERTGEBOUW 1961

1. Introduction by Norman Granz 01:14
2. Won’t You Please Let Me In 09:07
3. Too Close For Comfort 02:46
4. On a Slow Boat to China 02:22
5. How Long Has This Been Going On? 02:49
6. Heart and Soul 04:05
7. You’re Driving me Crazy 04:05
8. That Old Black Magic 03:40
9. Lover Come Back to Me 02:08
10. My Funny Valentine 03:36
11. I’ve Got a Crush on You 02:37
12. Lorelei 03:19
13. Mr Paganini 04:45
14. Mack the Knife 04:04
15. Saint Louis Blues 07:00

10 February 1961, the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. After a memorable performance in Berlin a year earlier, Fitzgerald was once again singing to a packed concert hall. Norman Granz, introduced the musicians. In her fresh, almost girlish voice and that hint of characteristic impertinence, she launched into “Too Close For Comfort”. By now the singer had the audience firmly in the palm of her hand. Fitzgerald settled in as if she were in her living room, welcoming each spectator like a privileged guest and each song she sang, a gracefully proffered glass of champagne. Ranging from the melancholy of “Heart And Soul” to her teasing in the midst of “Lorelei”, when she announced that she was about to strip, overall she was witty, dynamic and rousing. You could count on Ella, always resourceful, always entertaining. As Bing Crosby so aptly said, “Man, woman, or child, Ella is the greatest of them all.”