Ella and Louis - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

Recorded on August 16, 1956 at Capitol Studios in Hollywood and released on Verve Records, Ella and Louis pairs Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong for their first major collaborative album, produced by Norman Granz. The backing group is the Oscar Peterson Trio — Peterson on piano, Herb Ellis on guitar, and Ray Brown on bass — with Buddy Rich on drums. The session took place the day after both singers had appeared at an all-star Hollywood Bowl concert, and much of the material was arranged on the spot, with each song set in the singer's preferred key. The program consists of eleven Great American Songbook standards including "April in Paris," "Moonlight in Vermont," "The Nearness of You," "They Can't Take That Away from Me," and "A Foggy Day." The contrast between Fitzgerald's polished, precise soprano and Armstrong's gravelly, blues-inflected voice gives each duet its character, with the two singers trading choruses and weaving call-and-response passages. Armstrong also contributes trumpet solos that punctuate the vocal performances. The album reached number one on Billboard's jazz chart and number twelve on the pop chart. It was the first of three Fitzgerald-Armstrong collaborations for Verve, followed by Ella and Louis Again in 1957 and Porgy and Bess in 1959.