Ella Fitzgerald discography
This article presents the discography of the jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, covering her recording career from 1935 up to 1989.
Between 1935 and 1955 Ella Fitzgerald was signed to Decca Records. Her early recordings were as a featured vocalist and were frequently uncredited. Her first single, recorded with The Chick Webb Orchestra, issued on a 78 rpm and was entitled "I'll Chase the Blues Away". Fitzgerald continued recording with Webbs' orchestra until Webb's death in 1939, after which the orchestra was renamed Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra. With the introduction of 10" and 12" Long-playing records in the late 1940s, Decca released several original albums in the latter part of her time at Decca Records and many of her previous single only releases were re-issued on these formats.
In 1956 Ella Fitzgerald signed with Verve Records the Norman Granz record label, Fitzgerald recorded with Verve until the mid-1960s. Included in this era were a series of eight songbook albums, with interpretations of the greater part of the Great American Songbook, with songs from the pens of Cole Porter (1956), Rodgers & Hart (1956), Duke Ellington (1957), Irving Berlin (1958), George and Ira Gershwin (1959), Harold Arlen (1961), Jerome Kern (1963) and Johnny Mercer (1964). The late 1960s and early 1970s saw Fitzgerald release albums on several major record labels, including three albums on Capitol Records and two on the Reprise Records label. In 1972 Norman Granz formed Pablo Records, the label continued to release Ella Fitzgerald's albums up until her last recorded album All That Jazz in 1989.
In recent years the Ella Fitzgerald back catalogue has continued to grow, this includes complete albums of previously unreleased live material and alternative recordings from her studio sessions.
Albums
Decca
From 1935 to the late 1940s Decca issued Ella Fitzgerald's recordings on 78rpm singles and album collections, in book form, of four singles that included eight tracks. These recordings have been re-issued on a series of 15 compact disc by the French record label Classics Records between 1992 and 2008.
Year | Album | Record label |
---|---|---|
1950 | Ella Sings Gershwin | Decca |
1954 | Songs in a Mellow Mood | |
Lullabies of Birdland | ||
1955 | For Sentimental Reasons (A collection of previously available recordings from the late 1940s and early 1950s) | |
Miss Ella Fitzgerald & Mr Gordon Jenkins Invite You to Listen and Relax (A collection of previously available recordings from the late 1940s and early 1950s) | ||
Sweet and Hot | ||
Verve
Singles
Ella Fitzgerald released many stand alone singles throughout her Verve years, these were re-issued in 2003 on the 2-CD set, Jukebox Ella: The Complete Verve Singles, Vol. 1. Studio and live albums released at a later date are also included here.
Albums
1956
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook
- Metronome All-Stars 1956 with Count Basie
- Ella and Louis (with Louis Armstrong)
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers & Hart Songbook
1957
- Ella and Louis Again (with Louis Armstrong)
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook (with Duke Ellington) – Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance, Soloist
- Like Someone in Love
- Porgy and Bess (with Louis Armstrong)
1958
- Ella at the Opera House (Live)
- Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday at Newport (Live) (Reissued with tracks featuring Carmen McRae in 2001)
- Ella Swings Lightly – Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance, Soloist
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook – Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
- Ella in Rome: The Birthday Concert (Live) (Released in 1988)
- Ella Fitzgerald live at Mister Kelly's (Live) (Released in 2007)
1959
- Get Happy!
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings Sweet Songs for Swingers
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook – Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
1960
- Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife (Live) – Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
- Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas
- Hello, Love
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings Songs from "Let No Man Write My Epitaph" (Available on CD as The Intimate Ella)
1961
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook
- Ella in Hollywood (Live)
- Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie!
- Ella Returns to Berlin (Live) (Released in 1991)
- Twelve Nights In Hollywood (Live) (Released in 2009)
1962
- Rhythm Is My Business
- Ella Swings Brightly with Nelson – Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
- Ella Swings Gently with Nelson
1963
- Ella Sings Broadway
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook
- Ella and Basie! (with Count Basie)
- These Are the Blues
1964
- Hello, Dolly!
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook
- Ella at Juan-Les-Pins (Live)
- Ella in Japan: 'S Wonderful (Live) (Released in 2011)
1965
- Ella in Hamburg (Live)
- Ella at Duke's Place (with Duke Ellington)
1966
- Whisper Not
- Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur (Live) (with Duke Ellington)
Capitol
1967
1968
MPS Records
1969
- Sunshine of your Love (Live)
Reprise
1969
1970
Atlantic
1972
- Ella Loves Cole (Released on the Pablo label as Dream Dancing)
Columbia
1973
Pablo
1966
- The Stockholm Concert, 1966 (Live) (with Duke Ellington) (Released in 1984)
1967
- The Greatest Jazz Concert in the World (Live) (with Duke Ellington) (Released in 1990)
1970
- Ella in Budapest, Hungary (Live) (Released in 1999)
1971
- Ella à Nice (Live)
1972
1973
- Take Love Easy (with Joe Pass)
1974
- Fine and Mellow (Released in 1979) – Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal
- Ella in London (Live)
1975
- Ella and Oscar (with Oscar Peterson)
- Montreux '75 (Live)
1976
- Fitzgerald and Pass... Again (with Joe Pass) – Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal
1977
- Montreux '77 (Live)
1978
- Lady Time
- Dream Dancing (First released on the Atlantic label as Ella Loves Cole)
1979
- Digital III at Montreux (Live) – Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female
- A Classy Pair (with Count Basie)
- A Perfect Match (Live) (with Count Basie) – Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female
1981
1982
- The Best Is Yet to Come – Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female
1983
- Speak Love (with Joe Pass)
- Nice Work If You Can Get It (with André Previn)
1986
- Easy Living (with Joe Pass)
1989
- All That Jazz – Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female
2001
- Sophisticated Lady (Live) (with Joe Pass) (recorded in 1975, 1983)
Notable guest appearances
1952
- The Drum Battle (Verve Records, live, with Jazz at the Philharmonic)
1953
- JATP In Tokyo - Live at the Nichigeki Theatre 1953 (Live in Tokyo with Jazz at the Philharmonic)
1955
1956
- Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl (Live in Hollywood with Jazz at the Philharmonic)
1957
- One O'Clock Jump (with Count Basie and Joe Williams)
- Classic Duets (Three duets with Frank Sinatra, recorded for the 1957 ABC television The Frank Sinatra Show; released in 2002 by Capitol Records).
1983
- Jazz at the Philharmonic – Yoyogi National Stadium, Tokyo 1983: Return to Happiness (Pablo Records, live, with Jazz at the Philharmonic)
1989
- Back on the Block (Qwest, Quincy Jones)
Boxed sets and collections
- 1994 The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Songbooks
- 1995 Ella: The Legendary Decca Recordings
- 1997 The Complete Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong on Verve
Hit singles
Year | Single | Chart positions | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US | US AC |
UK | US R&B |
Germany | US Country | ||
1936 | "All My Life" (with Teddy Wilson) | 13 | |||||
"Sing Me a Swing Song (and Let Me Dance)" (with Chick Webb) | 18 | ||||||
"My Melancholy Baby" (with Teddy Wilson) | 6 | ||||||
"(If You Can't Sing It) You'll Have To Swing It" (with Chick Webb) | 20 | ||||||
1937 | "Goodnight My Love" (with Benny Goodman) | 1 | |||||
"Dedicated to You" (with The Mills Brothers) | 19 | ||||||
"Big Boy Blue" (with The Mills Brothers) | 20 | ||||||
"If You Ever Should Leave" | 12 | ||||||
"All Over Nothing At All" | 20 | ||||||
1938 | "Rock It For Me" (with Chick Webb) | 19 | |||||
"I Got a Guy" (with Chick Webb) | 18 | ||||||
"A-Tisket, A-Tasket" (with Chick Webb) | 1 | ||||||
"I Found My Yellow Basket" (with Chick Webb) | 3 | ||||||
"Wacky Dust" (with Chick Webb) | 13 | ||||||
"MacPherson Is Rehearsin' To Swing" (with Chick Webb) | 14 | ||||||
"F.D.R. Jones" (with Chick Webb) | 8 | ||||||
1939 | "Undecided" (with Chick Webb) | 8 | |||||
"T'ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)" (with Chick Webb) | 19 | ||||||
"Chew, Chew, Chew (Your Bubble Gum)" (with Chick Webb) | 14 | ||||||
"I Want the Waiter (With the Water)" | 9 | ||||||
"My Wubba Dolly" | 16 | ||||||
1940 | "The Starlit Hour" | 17 | |||||
"Sing Song Swing" | 23 | ||||||
"Imagination" | 15 | ||||||
"Sugar Blues" | 27 | ||||||
"Shake Down the Stars" | 18 | ||||||
"Five O'Clock Whistle" | 9 | ||||||
1941 | "Louisville K.Y." | 23 | |||||
"Hello Ma! I Done It Again" | 26 | ||||||
"The Muffin Man" | 23 | ||||||
1943 | "My Heart and I Decided" (with The Keys) | 6 | |||||
1944 | "Cow-Cow Boogie" (with The Ink Spots) | 10 | 1 | ||||
"When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" | 27 | 2 | |||||
"Once Too Often" | 24 | ||||||
"I'm Making Believe" (with The Ink Spots) | 1 | 2 | |||||
"Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall" (with The Ink Spots) | 1 | 1 | |||||
1945 | "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine" | 10 | |||||
"I'm Beginning To See the Light" (with The Ink Spots) | 5 | ||||||
"It's Only a Paper Moon" | 9 | 4 | |||||
1946 | "The Frim Fram Sauce" (with Louis Armstrong) | 4 | |||||
"You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart)" (with Louis Armstrong) | 10 | ||||||
"Stone Cold Dead In the Market (He Had It Coming)" (with Louis Jordan) | 7 | 1 | |||||
"Petootie Pie" (with Louis Jordan) | 3 | ||||||
"(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" | 8 | ||||||
1947 | "That's My Desire" | 3 | |||||
"Guilty" | 11 | ||||||
1948 | "My Happiness" | 6 | 8 | ||||
"Tea Leaves" | 24 | ||||||
"It's Too Soon To Know" | 6 | ||||||
1949 | "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (with Louis Jordan) | 9 | 6 | ||||
1950 | "Can Anyone Explain (No, No, No)" (with Louis Armstrong) | 30 | |||||
"I'll Never Be Free" (with Louis Jordon) | 7 | ||||||
1951 | "Smooth Sailing" | 23 | 3 | ||||
1952 | "Trying" | 21 | |||||
"Walkin' By the River" | 29 | ||||||
1953 | "Crying In the Chapel" | 15 | |||||
1954 | "Melancholy Me" | 25 | |||||
"I Need" | 30 | ||||||
1956 | "A Beautiful Friendship" | 74 | |||||
1958 | "The Swinging Shepherd Blues" | 15 | |||||
1959 | "But Not for Me" | 25 | |||||
1960 | "Mack the Knife" | 27 | 19 | 6 | |||
"How High the Moon (Part 1)" | 76 | 46 | |||||
1961 | "Mr. Paganini (You'll Have to Swing It)" | 103 | 20 | ||||
1962 | "Desafinado (Slightly Out of Tune)" | 102 | 38 | ||||
"Stardust Bossa Nova" | 129 | ||||||
1963 | "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home" | 75 | |||||
1964 | "Hello, Dolly!" | 125 | |||||
"Can't Buy Me Love" | 34 | 24 | |||||
1965 | "Ringo Beat" | 127 | |||||
1968 | "I Taught Him Everything He Knows" | 22 | |||||
1969 | "Get Ready" | 126 | |||||