Vernon Duke's "April in Paris" closes the 1956 Verve album Ella and Louis with one of the most extended trumpet statements on the record, Armstrong delivering a full chorus over the 32-bar ABCA' form at a slow 73 beats per minute in A-flat major. This is Armstrong's most substantial solo on the album, and he makes the most of the expanded space, his trumpet singing through Duke's exquisite chord changes with the melodic beauty and rhythmic poise that defined his contribution to music. The song, written in 1932 for the Broadway revue Walk a Little Faster, is one of the finest ballads in the Great American Songbook, its melody capturing a specific quality of romantic longing that few compositions can match. Fitzgerald's vocal interpretation brings her characteristic warmth and clarity to the material, creating a fitting conclusion to an album-length conversation between two of the greatest artists in American music. The Oscar Peterson Quartet, with Peterson on piano, Herb Ellis on guitar, Ray Brown on bass, and Buddy Rich on drums, provides accompaniment worthy of the occasion. Ella and Louis remains one of the essential recordings in jazz, and "April in Paris" ends it on a note of timeless beauty that has lost none of its power.
