Ella and Louis Again - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

Ella and Louis Again is the second collaborative album by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, recorded over four sessions in July and August 1957 at Radio Recorders and Capitol Studios in Hollywood. Produced by Norman Granz for Verve Records, the album again features the Oscar Peterson Trio — Peterson on piano, Herb Ellis on guitar, and Ray Brown on bass — with Louie Bellson replacing Buddy Rich on drums. Released as a double LP, the set contains nineteen tracks: twelve duets plus four Armstrong solo vocals and three Fitzgerald solo vocals, all drawn from the Great American Songbook. The expanded format gave both singers more room than the first album, with Armstrong contributing trumpet solos on six tracks including "Autumn in New York," "Stompin' at the Savoy," and "Love Is Here to Stay." The "Stompin' at the Savoy" performance originated as a rehearsal take that Granz found so spirited he kept it for the final album, capturing Fitzgerald's scatting alongside Armstrong's trumpet and vocal ad-libs. The program includes compositions by Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, and others, with the singers alternating choruses and trading phrases in the conversational style established on the first record. The album was released in October 1957 as a deluxe gatefold LP and later reissued as part of The Complete Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong on Verve.