Jazz Vinyl Countdown: Ella Sings Cole
I realized the other day I may have a problem with this Great Jazz Vinyl Countdown. And that problem has to do with Ella Fitzgerald. I realized this when I had a bit of free time with the lovely Mrs. JC and she asked me to put on some music. “How about something nice?” she said. Something nice, in her eyes, is usually a nice jazz vocal, or perhaps a Stan Getz on Verve, or Bill Evans Waltz For Debby. Anyway, I put on this LP, Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Cole Porter Song Book, Verve 4001-02, and Mrs. JC was quite pleased, as was I. This is Ella’s first songbook effort and you will not find too many records better than this and there is no doubt about it garnering a place in the top 1,000. What I realized when I put the vinyl on the turntable, however, is this:
I would probably like to keep most of my Ella Fitzgerald records. I enjoy listening to many of the Verves and there’s history in the Deccas and even if I wanted to sell the Pablos or later Verves there’s no real demand for them, anyway, so what would I do, give them away? Hardly. So I counted all of my Ella vinyl just now and I come up with 72 records, not counting duplicates. That is quite a lot of Ella and even if 50 were to survive the countdown, that would still be 5 percent of the overall total. That’s probably not a good idea, is it? But there’s plenty time before I have to make any final decisions and so may records to go before I sleep. So I decided not to worry about that quite yet. Right now the only decision is Ella Sings Cole and, yes, that stays right where it is, on the shelf and on the turntable. A high-end collectible? No. A record worth keeping? Absolutely.
…Sometimes the best LP’s are not always the rarest or even the ones in near mint condition that top price guides. They are the ones that we have had tucked away in our collections since the beginning. Those timeless classics that we reminisce with every once in while over a single malt scotch when feeling nostalgic. These albums are the reason we all collect, and truly carry the most value. Like our oldest and dearest friends, the ones we may have spent countless hours with in the beginning, but may have lost touch with as the years pass. Those that never seem to change, and remain just as great now in –VG as they were in M…
what he said
yes, what he said. this record certainly fits into that category for me. probably one of the first records I owned, and one I’ve listened to hundreds of times.
Well put,don-lucky! Whenever I need to put things in perspective, I also think back to my tiny,portable,mono transitor radio-with the cheesy strap attached-that somehow made the Beatles sound so damn good,and the pre-Dolby,pre-ginormous multiple speaker theatre layout that allowed “A Hard Days Night” to bring tears to my 12-year old eyes. And when I taped a penny to the top of my Webcor cartridge to keep the needle from skipping over Miles’ 5tet “Oleo” solo(ouch!),thr lp sounded BETTER to me! At the time. For the moment. (Some memories are better than others,clearly)