BEST OF

Limited, HQ 180gr, White Colored Vinyl. BERTUS DISTRIBUTION INTRODUCES NORTH SEA JAZZ CONCERT SERIES Bertus Distribution, in collaboration with NTR, AVROTROS and MOJO, presents a new vinyl series consisting of live recordings of legendary artists through the decades made at the renowned North Sea Jazz Festival. The North Sea Jazz Concert Series will include officially licensed releases that will be released as standard on 180-gram white vinyl in a sleeve of heavy paper printed on reversed board. The records will be captured in mainly black-and-white artwork by Hans Pol in his signature style of the festival with inspiration from the covers of classic older jazz releases from the Blue Note label, for example. The liner notes are written by journalist and jazz expert Jeroen de Valk. For the first release in this series, the honour is given to one of the most famous jazz singers ever, Ella Fitzgerald. On Friday 13 July 1979, she gave a raucous and peerless performance at the festival then still held in The Hague. The "First Lady Of Song" worked her way with verve through standards like 'There Will Never Be Another You', 'Satin Doll', 'Round Midnight' and 'Mr Paganini'. Her accompanists that night were Paul Smith on piano, Keter Betts on bass and Mickey Roker on drums; a trio line-up with the power of a big band. Future releases will include NSJ recordings by such notables as Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Rich, Ray Charles, Dexter Gordon and Jan Akkerman. It will be a long-running series with the aim of releasing the most extraordinary NSJ performances on vinyl. The first edition of the North Sea Jazz Festival took place in 1976 at The Hague's Nederlands Congresgebouw with some 9,000 visitors. In the first year, jazz legends such as Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz performed alongside a host of artists from the Dutch avant-garde. The festival, officially NN North Sea Jazz since 2018, has now developed into a major international event that is also known beyond the Dutch borders as an event where jazz from the past, present and future merges with other genres such as blues, soul, funk, hiphop, pop and more. Over the years, it has grown to fifteen venues, around thirteen hundred musicians and an annual audience of between eight-five and ninety thousand. Since 2006, the festival has been held in new wider venue, namely Rotterdam Ahoy.

POLYGRAM Ella Fitzgerald THESE ARE THE BLUES

Vinyl LP pressing. Ella Fitzgerald virtually invented the live album. Her performances were so consistently great that almost any live show was special enough to release as a record. For Ella Fitzgerald, every night was The Moment of Truth. In the summer of 1967, Ella Fitzgerald was in the middle of a three-year touring and recording collaboration with Duke Ellington and was incorporating hit pop songs of the late-60s into her concert repertoire - two of which are presented here for the first time on record.

Ella Fitzgerald virtually invented the live album. Her performances were so consistently great that almost any live show was special enough to release as a record. For Ella Fitzgerald, every night was The Moment of Truth. In the summer of 1967, Ella Fitzgerald was in the middle of a three-year touring and recording collaboration with Duke Ellington and was incorporating hit pop songs of the late-60s into her concert repertoire - two of which are presented here for the first time on record.

ALL THE HITS AND MORE 1936-62

Ella Fitzgerald -"Jukebox Ella: The Complete Verve Singles, Volume 2" [3 CD] Ella Fitzgerald began her glorious association with the newly formed Verve label in 1956, and her Verve album debut 'Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book,' bankrolled the label's initial success. Singles taken from that album turned out to be big hits, as did many other singles in this collection, all of which were pulled from Ella's albums and helped make them top-selling LPs. 'Jukebox Ella: The Complete Verve Singles, Volume 2' provides 3 CDs worth of snapshots of Fitzgerald, singing with an incomparable level of artistry, whether it's songs by Cole Porter, the Gershwins or the Beatles. 3-CD Digipak set with booklet included.

MACK THE KNIFE / ELLA IN BERLIN

2024 collection. Known internationally as "The First Lady of Song", Ella Fitzgerald was also, importantly, the first lady of Verve Records-the label that was essentially created for her by her manager and the label's founder, Norman Granz. This collection brings together Ella's most cherished recordings in the company of American music's greatest performers and composers-Louis Armstrong, George & Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern, among many others.

Ella Fitzgerald -"Sings the Rodgers and Hart Song Book (Verve Acoustic Sounds Series)" The second of her celebrated song book albums and heralded as one of the best vocal jazz albums ever made, Ella and arranger/conductor Buddy Bregman began work on the Rodgers and Hart sessions three months after the release of her Cole Porter Song Book. Like it's predecessor, it features the cream of West Coast session musicians, many of whom graced the fabulous recordings that Frank Sinatra was making around the same time in the same studio. Maynard Ferguson (trumpet), Milt Bernhart (trombone), Herb Geller, Ted Nash & Bud Shank (reeds), Barney Kessel (guitar), and Alvin Stoller (drums). The album is full of standards that everyone knows and loves, but in Ella's hands these songs become even more special. Standouts include "There's a Small Hotel," "You Took Advantage of Me," and the perennial, "My Funny Valentine." Verve's Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from analog tapes and remastered 180g vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.

Even with less than essential bonus material, Ella and Oscar - recorded May 19, 1975 - is a welcome reissue that warrants repeated listening. Bassist Ray Brown, closely associated to both artists, appears on four tracks, but this is a decidedly duo effort that focuses on two close friends who happened to be among jazz's most historic figures. To call this collection of Great American Songbook standards intimate would be an understatement. Ella and Oscar is a low-key album of small, quiet pleasures. Even during the second half where Brown's bass provides additional rhythmic variety, the focus is squarely on voice and piano. Most of the album's tracks are under five minutes in length. Only on the closing number, 'April In Paris, ' do they really stretch out significantly. Peterson delivers a relaxed but swinging solo. Fitzgerald follows suit with remarkably expressive scatting. Earlier on 'When Your Lover Has Gone, ' she and Peterson trades four bars solos in captivating exchange of melodic ideas. Mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab from the original analog master tape, and pressed at Quality Record Pressings for optimal sound quality, this Analogue Productions 180-gram reissue is a must-have for jazz fans. Housed in a single pocket Stoughton Printing tip-on jacket. 180-gram vinyl Mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab from the original analog master tape Pressed at Quality Record Pressings Housed in Stoughton Printing tip-on jacket Tracklist: Side 1 1. Mean To Me 2. How Long Has This Been Going On? 3. When Your Lover Has Gone 4. More Than You Know 5. There's A Lull In My Life Side 2 1. Midnight Sun 2. I Hear Music 3. Street Of Dreams 4. April In Paris

Louis Armstrong's career began nearly 15 years before Ella Fitzgerald's. In fact, Louis was one of Ella's first musical idols. Although both Ella and Louis had probably met and performed together previously, they wouldn't be heard on record together until January 18, 1946, when they waxed a single 78 rpm disc coupling "The Frim Fram Sauce" with "You Won't Be Satisfied". They wouldn't record a lot together until 1956, when producer Norman Granz reunited them for three memorable albums: Ella & Louis (presented here), it's sequel Ella & Louis Again and the selection of tunes from George Gershwin's folk opera Porgy & Bess. The results: some of the most fascinating jazz music ever produced. THE COMPLETE LP - 180-GRAM VIRGIN VINYL - LIMITED EDITION

Fitzgerald, Ella: The First Lady of Song (1950-1959)

FITZGERALD, Ella: A-Tisket, A-Tasket (1936-1941)

Classical Music

The First Lady of Song and Mrs. Swing each get a CD in this set of vintage radio broadcasts. Ella's stellar 1940 performances include her hits A-Ticket, A-Tasket; T'ain't What You Do; I Want the Waiter, and more. Mildred's star-studded 1945 broadcasts feature Tommy Dorsey, Earl Hines and others on Smoke Gets in Your Eyes; Stompin' at the Savoy; Summertime, and more!

The year was 1961, the venue the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. After a memorable performance in Berlin a year earlier, Fitzgerald was once again singing to a packed concert hall. This release has captured that performance, and has been remastered for crystal-clear sound quality. It’s the closest thing to being right there in the audience those five decades ago. (Fondamenta)

“She didn't reinvent ‘How High The Moon’ every night; on the other hand, not once did she fail to reinvent Ella Fitzgerald.” Alain GERBER

Ella Fitzgerald's "Songbook" records - with her peerless renditions of the best songs from iconic composers from Irving Berlin to Rogers & Hart to Cole Porter to George & Ira Gershwin - are the cornerstone of the Verve catalog and the standard for jazz vocal recordings. Ella never released a live version of these Songbooks. This record, discovered in the private collection of Norman Granz, will make the first time a live Songbook has been released from the First Lady of Song.

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket. After appearing together at an all-star concert the night before, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong went into an L.A. studio to record this gem of an album. Despite having little to no time for rehearsals, the sublime artistic mastery of Ella and Louis and the instant chemistry they achieved resulted in one of the few truly indispensable recordings in all of jazz. Verve's Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from analog tapes.

Double 180gm vinyl LP pressing housed in gatefold jacket. The duo that critics have called "a match made in heaven" are in peak form on the sequel to their 1956 debut. Ella's voice - warm and sweet as honey - and Louis' gravelly croon formed a sound built for commercial success. Ella & Louis Again is a key element of what could be considered the most iconic jazz duo of all time. Verve Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from analog tapes.

Ella Fitzgerald's Live At Montreux 1969 features the First Lady of Song backed by the Tommy Flanagan Trio performing a set combining contemporary tracks, such as "Sunshine Of Your Love" and "Hey Jude" alongside classics like "I Won't Dance," "That Old Black Magic," and a host of others. Available on CD for the first time. Frank de la Rosa - bass / Tommy Flanagan - piano / Ed Thigpen - Drums / Ella Fitzgerald - vocals

Ella Fitzgerald - "Let No Man Write My Epitaph (Verve Acoustic Sounds Series)" - Verve Label Group; Jazz; Considered one of Ella's greatest recordings, she's backed on this 1960 release by pianist Paul Smith. Let No Man Write My Epitaph was a 1960 Hollywood movie featuring Fitzgerald. The album hits at a rare depth of emotional understanding and once again establishes Fitzgerald as one of the supreme interpreters of the Great American Songbook. Verve's Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from analog tapes and remastered 180-gram vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.

Nina Simone - "Nina's Back" / Recorded in 1985 after a break from recording and time spent living in Barbados and Liberia, Nina's Back features a rejuvenated Nina Simone reaching out to a wider musical audience. Featuring a number of memorable Simone compositions, the band includes horns and backup singers for a unique recording in Nina's catalog. Now available again on vinyl with new album artwork.

Double vinyl LP pressing. Experience the ultimate holiday collection from the First Lady of Song! This expanded edition of Ella Fitzgerald's classic 1960 album, Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas, features a second LP with six tracks making their vinyl debut. For the first time, all of Ella's holiday recordings for Verve Records and Decca Records are together on one collection. Also included is an essay from journalist Will Friedwald and a sheet a collectable cut-out ornaments. As Ella herself once said, "the only thing better than singing is more singing," and the only thing better than the original Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas is the new, deluxe edition!

LIVE AT THE PALLADIUM - NEW YORK CITY 1951

Ella Fitzgerald in Copenhagen April 1959 was said to be still shy at age 42 and still modest after the 25 years of downright success reign as “Queen of Jazz”. The third volume of “In Concert” series features Ella’s quintet. Roy Eldridge, Swing Era’s greatest trumpeter, opens the program with two tracks. The live recording of this concert in Copenhagen has been essentially unknown for half a century. We are happy to add this release to Ella Fitzgerald’s legacy of supreme vocal art of American jazz.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Ella Fitzgerald's iconic vocals are given new life by marrying newly recorded string arrangements from the London Symphony Orchestra. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, and conducted by James Morgan and Jorge Callandrelli, this new approach to Ella's timeless music reinvigorates her catalog and is sure to excite and please long time Ella fanatics and classical music connoisseurs at the same time. Guest vocalist Gregory Porter also lends his incredible talent to "People Will Say We're in Love".