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List Price: $18.98 | | Label: Polygram Records
Salesrank: 3834
Released: March 7, 2000 |
| Our Price: $10.49 |
| Used Price: $8.50 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Ella and Louis Track Listing:
1. Can't We Be Friends?
2. Isn't This a Lovely Day?
3. Moonlight in Vermont
4. They Can't Take That Away from Me
5. Under a Blanket of Blue
6. Tenderly
7. Foggy Day
8. Stars Fell on Alabama
9. Cheek to Cheek
10. Nearness of You
11. April in Paris
Editorial Review:
What we have here is the mating of honey and molasses. Or is it the sound of melted butter over gravel? Never mind--sweeter, more joyous music has never been recorded (although the follow-up, Ella and Louis Again, may be even better). You can't listen to these two without smiling. It's such an inevitable pairing that you wonder what titanic forces of nature could have kept Ella and Satchmo apart until they made this record together in 1957, accompanied by the Oscar Peterson trio and Buddy Rich on drums. The songs are standards--extraordinary standards, of course, like "Moonlight in Vermont" and "A Foggy Day"--but nirvana is reached on "Cheek to Cheek." Heaven. --Jim Emerson
Ella and Louis Reviews:
Dr. 
2009-08-09 - Aging, but still wonderful. (The record - not me.) Pianist was a bonus.
Great re-mastering and wonderful music
2009-04-16 - I am always skeptical of music that claims to be re-mastered. I have a reference audio system and any flaw stands out immediately. I have a large collection of re-mastered cd's I simply don't listen to because they sound flat and not musical at all. Verve my hat's off to the re-mastering of this cd...It's spectaculiar. The music is dynamic, clear and all the instruments are perfect. Quality re-mastering and wonderful music that I can get lost in..simply perfect!
Almost the perfect release 
2009-01-04 - As my fourteen-year-old and I were listening to the line "... the way you sing off-key..." my daughter laughed that neither were singing off-key. Of course not- in their own way, each defines musical perfection.
Can't We Be Friends?, They Can't Take That Away From Me, Tenderly and Cheek to Cheek are reasons to buy this album. I'd even go so far as to say they are reasons to listen to jazz. This is Ella at her smooth and silky best, and Armstrong showing how much control is required to make "rough" sound good.
I'm kind of eh on Isn't This a Lovely Day, Moonlight in Vermont and The Nearness of You- almost too much of Ella's smoothness and not enough of the, well, dissonant jazziness you sometimes hope for. And I absolutely cannot listen to Stars Fell on Alabama- in fact, I have to restrain myself from putting my hands on my ears. It always amazes me how two incredibly talented vocalists can butcher a wonderful song. Sometimes you can be too smooth. They had to lose a star for that. Check out Billie Holiday to see how it should be done.
But that's the only flaw, and there are ten other tracks which make up for it.
If there's a fire in my house.....
2008-03-31 - ...this would be one of the 5 CDs I'd take with me out of the 700+ I own. This is standards jazz at its greatest. It not only features two of the best and most iconic jazz vocal interpreters of all time, but also people like Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown and Herb Ellis as the swinging and relaxed musicians, with Armstrong on the trumpet, of course. Jazz takes many forms as it evolves, but this is the sweet, plain vanilla flavor that never goes out of style. The joy that went into making it is palpable and you can see it just on the cover picture. This is great to play in any setting: car, home, dinner. A great introduction to anyone who is interested in learning about jazz.
am I only allowed 5 stars?
2007-12-31 - 5 stars? 50 stars...500 stars! This is truly as good as it gets. Two masters at their peak with the greatest music ever. and Oscar Peterson and Buddy Rich, too...ridiculously great music.
