Ella Fitzgerald

Harold Arlen was one of the most varied compositional talents of the early 20th century. A fan of blues and jazz who often wrote movie or Broadway songs to boot, he penned the ultimate down-in-the-depths saloon song, "One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)," as well as the eternal optimist's anthem "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive," and his work included serious subjects like "Stormy Weather" alongside The Wizard of Oz. When Ella Fitzgerald decided to make Arlen the subject of her sixth songbook, she made sure to include more than two dozen of Arlen's songs (it ended up a two-LP set). The Very Best of the Harold Arlen Song Book reprises 12 of those performances for those wishing to test the waters; it includes, of course, her versions of his major standards ("Stormy Weather," "That Old Black Magic," "Blues in the Night," "Come Rain or Come Shine," "I've Got the World on a String") with arrangements by Billy May, one of swing's best arrangers and conductors. Best of all is "Over the Rainbow," on which Ella adds a few rarely performed verses. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide