Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife | |
Type: | live |
Artist: | Ella Fitzgerald |
Cover: | Ella in berlin.jpg |
Released: | 1960 |
Recorded: | February 13, 1960 |
Venue: | Deutschlandhalle, Berlin |
Genre: | Vocal jazz |
Length: | 33:08 |
Label: | Verve |
Producer: | Norman Granz |
Prev Title: | Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook |
Prev Year: | 1959 |
Next Title: | Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas |
Next Year: | 1960 |
Ella in Berlin is a 1960 live album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. This album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."[1]
One of Fitzgerald's most acclaimed live performances, at this concert in Berlin, Fitzgerald improvised lyrics for "Mack the Knife" after forgetting the original lyrics. In recognition of this, she received the Grammy for Best Female Vocal Performance (Single) and the Best Vocal Performance, Female (Album) at the 3rd Annual Grammy Awards.
Original Verve release from 1960 Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife on MG VS-64041; featuring 9 tracks.
Verve re-issue from 1993 The Complete Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife on Verve 314 519 564–2; featuring 13 vocal performances.
The 1993 re-issue, and all later releases, include 4 bonus tracks. Tracks 2 and 3 were recorded at the Berlin concert in January 1960 and had been rediscovered on a reel-to-reel tape of the concert initially recorded for radio broadcast. Tracks 10 and 11 were mistakenly identified as being part of the live recording made from the concert, both tracks had appeared on a Dutch pressing of the album in 1960. The two performances had actually been recorded in August 1956 and previously released on the 2-LP set Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl on Verve MG V 8231–2. The mistake was discovered post-production of this CD release.[2]