I have the 2 disc compilation "Gold", the "Porgy and Bess" album and her AMAZING jazzy christmas album,
but i need to buy some more Ella albums, so please recommend me some CDs

Of the ones I own, my favorites are:

Pure Ella: The Very Best of Ella Fitzgerald

The Complete Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife (Live recording, 19 tracks, you capture her true essence and personality)

And, of course, you need one with Louis:

The Best of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

I like all of these becasue EVERY song you want to hear by Ella you will get. Enjoy!

Thanks cubic61052

I`ve heard about the Ella in Berlin album

One day i`ll have to buy the sixteen (!) disc set "The complete Ella Fitzgerald songbooks"



CD1
1.All Through The Night
2.Anything Goes
3.Miss Otis Regrets (She's Unable To Lunch Today)
4.Too Darn Hot
5.In The Still Of The Night
6.I Get A Kick Out Of You
7.Do I Love You?
8.(I'm) Always True To You In My Fashion
9.Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)
10.Just One Of Those Things
11.Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
12.All Of You
13.Begin The Beguine
14.Get Out Of Town
15.I Am In Love
16.From This Moment On

CD2
1.I Love Paris
2.You Do Something To Me
3.Ridin' High
4.Easy To Love
5.It's All Right With Me
6.Why Can't You Behave?
7.What Is This Thing Called Love?
8.You're The Top
9.Love For Sale
10.It's De-Lovely
11.Night And Day
12.Ace In The Hole
13.So In Love
14.I've Got You Under My Skin
15.I Concentrate On You
16.Don't Fence Me In
17.You're The Top
18.I Concentrate On You
19.Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)

CD3
1.Have You Met Miss Jones?
2.You Took Advantage Of Me
3.A Ship Without A Sail
4.To Keep My Love Alive
5.Dancing On The Ceiling (He Dances On My Ceiling)
6.The Lady Is A Tramp
7.With A Song In My Heart
8.Manhattan
9.Johnny One Note
10.I Wish I Were In Love Again
11.Spring Is Here
12.It Never Entered My Mind
13.This Can't Be Love
14.Thou Swell
15.My Romance
16.Where Or When
17.Little Girl Blue

CD4
1.Give It Back To The Indians
2.Ten Cents A Dance
3.There's A Small Hotel
4.I Didn't Know What Time It Was
5.Ev'rything I've Got
6.I Could Write A Book
7.Blue Room
8.My Funny Valentine
9.Bewitched
10.Mountain Greenery
11.Wait Till You See Her
12.Lover
13.Isn't It Romantic?
14.Here In My Arms
15.Blue Moon
16.My Heart Stood Still
17.I've Got Five Dollars
18.Lover

CD5
1.Rockin' In Rhythm
2.Drop Me Off In Harlem
3.Day Dream
4.Caravan
5.Take The 'A' Train
6.I Ain't Got Nothing But The Blues
7.Clementine
8.I Didn't Know About You
9.I'm Beginning To See The Light
10.Lost In Meditation
11.Perdido
12.Cotton Tail
13.Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me

CD6
1.Just A-Sittin' And A-Rockin'
2.Solitude
3.Rocks In My Bed
4.Satin Doll
5.Sophisticated Lady
6.Just Squeeze Me
7.It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
8.Azure
9.I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart
10.In A Sentimental Mood
11.Don't Get Around Much Any More
12.Prelude To A Kiss
13.Mood Indigo
14.In A Mellow Tone
15.Love You Madly
16.Lush Life
17.Squatty Roo

CD7
1.I'm Just A Lucky So And So
2.All Too Soon
3.Everything But You
4.I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)
5.Bli-Blip
6.Chelsea Bridge
7.Portrait Of Ella Fitzgerald: First Movement (Royal Ancestry)/Second Mo
8.The E And D Blues (E For Ella, D For Duke)
9.Rehearsal
10.Chelsea Bridge (Alternate Take)

CD8
1.Let's Face The Music And Dance
2.You're Laughing At Me
3.Let Yourself Go
4.You Can Have Him
5.Russian Lullaby
6.Puttin' On The Ritz
7.Get Thee Behind Me Satan
8.Alexander's Ragtime Band
9.Top Hat, White Tie, And Tails
10.How About Me?
11.Cheek To Cheek
12.I Used To Be Color Blind
13.Lazy
14.How Deep Is The Ocean?
15.All By Myself
16.Remember

CD9
1.Suppertime
2.How's Chances?
3.Heat Wave
4.Isn't This A Lovely Day (To Be Caught In The Rain)
5.You Keep Coming Back Like A Song
6.Reaching For The Moon
7.Slumming On Park Avenue
8.The Song Is Ended (But The Melody Lingers On)
9.I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket
10.Now It Can Be Told
11.Always
12.It's A Lovely Day Today
13.Change Patterns
14.No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)
15.I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
16.Blue Skies

CD10
1.Ambulatory Suite
2.The Preludes: Prelude I/Prelude II/Prelude III
3.Sam And Delilah
4.But Not For Me
5.My One And Only
6.Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
7.(I've Got) Beginner's Luck
8.Oh, Lady Be Good
9.Nice Work If You Can Get It
10.Things Are Looking Up
11.Just Another Rhumba
12.How Long Has This Been Going On?
13.'S Wonderful
14.The Man I Love
15.That Certain Feeling
16.By Strauss
17.Someone To Watch Over Me
18.The Real American Folk Song
19.Who Cares?

CD11
1.Looking For A Boy
2.They All Laughed
3.My Cousin In Milwaukee
4.Somebody From Somewhere
5.A Foggy Day
6.Clap Yo' Hands
7.For You, For Me, For Evermore
8.Stiff Upper Lip
9.Boy Wanted
10.Strike Up The Band
11.Soon
12.I've Got A Crush On You
13.Bidin' My Time
14.Aren't You Kind Of Glad We Did?
15.Of Thee I Sing (Baby)
16.'The Half Of It, Dearie' Blues
17.I Was Doing All Right
18.He Loves And She Loves

CD12
1.Love Is Sweeping The Country
2.Treat Me Rough
3.Our Love Is Here To Stay
4.Slap That Bass
5.Isn't It A Pity?
6.Shall We Dance?
7.Love Walked In
8.You've Got What Gets Me
9.They Can't Take That Away From Me
10.Embraceable You
11.I Can't Be Bothered Now
12.Boy! What Love Has Done To Me!
13.Fascinating Rhythm
14.Funny Face
15.Lorelei
16.Oh, So Nice
17.Let's Kiss And Make Up
18.I Got Rhythm
19.Somebody Loves Me
20.Cheerful Little Earlful
21.Oh, Lady Be Good
22.But Not For Me

CD13
1.Blues In The Night (My Mama Done Tol' Me)
2.Let's Fall In Love
3.Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All The Time)
4.Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
5.My Shining Hour
6.Hooray For Love
7.This Time The Dream's On Me
8.That Old Black Magic
9.I've Got The World On A String
10.Let's Take A Walk Around The Block
11.III Wind (You're Blowin Me No Good)
12.Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive

CD14
1.When The Sun Comes Out
2.Come Rain Or Come Shine
3.As Long As I Live
4.Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe
5.It's Only A Paper Moon
6.The Man That Got Away
7.One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)
8.It Was Written In The Stars
9.Get Happy
10.I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues
11.Out Of This World
12.Over The Rainbow
13.Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead
14.Sing My Heart
15.Let's Take A Walk Around The Block
16.Sing My Heart

CD15
1.Let's Begin
2.A Fine Romance
3.All The Things You Are
4.I'll Be Hard To Handle
5.You Couldn't Be Cuter
6.She Didn't Say 'Yes'
7.I'm Old Fashioned
8.Remind Me
9.The Way You Look Tonight
10.Yesterdays
11.Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
12.Why Was I Born?

CD16
1.Too Marvelous For Words
2.Early Autumn
3.Day In-Day Out
4.Laura
5.This TIme The Dream's On Me
6.Skylark
7.Single-O
8.Something's Gotta Give
9.Trav'lin Light

Looks like you are headed in the right direction!

The 16 disk set looks like a keen gift....go for it!

Besides the "Swingin' Christmas" record, which is a huge favorite, I think "Ella Swings Brightly With Nelson" is a fantastic, really UP Ella collection -- she scats like a mutha on a few tracks and the arrangements are nothing but smiles and styles. The Louis Armstrong collection (and the "highlights" version) Verve put out about 8 or 9 years ago is also a big favorite of mine. And the Mack the Knife record is an absolute must. Also check out Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur (I think there's a highlights version of that, too).

I personally like The Cote D'azure Concerts she did with Duke Ellington. Although much of that is ellington performances without Ella, it's still great.

Get her 'At Duke's House' for a start

She was @ the peak of her artisty during her verve years(circa 50's). No more novelty songs, anymore.
[Edited 9/26/06 23:39pm]

Icicle said:

You don't have to buy the Complete Songbooks. They are available individually in 1- or 2-disc sets. The Gershwin Songbook is the exception; it's so massive it's on 4 discs.