A great later Norman Granz live production – with work by Ella Fitzgerald, Flip Phillips, Illinois Jacquet, Louis Armstrong,
Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and others – beautifully given the red carpet treatment in this great 2CD edition from Verve/
Hip-0 Select! The original album is a landmark historic document, as it was the first ever live jazz album recorded at the legendary LA venue – and on top of that, the talent on hand and in peak form is pretty much jaw-dropping. Disc 1 of this first time ever CD release (which is also kind of amazing) opens with with the Norman Granz info that leads to the Jam Session portion with Harry Edison, Roy Eldridge, Illinois Jacquet, Oscar Peterson, Buddy Rich, rolling nicely into material led by
Art Tatum on piano, including "Someone To Watch Over Me", "Begin The Beguine", "Willow Weep For Me" and "Humoresque". From there, Ella Fitzgerald and her group dig into "Love For Sale", "Little Girl Blue", "I Can't Give You Anything But Love", "Airmail Special" and more. Disc 2 opens with a couple great numbers by the Oscar Peterson Trio: "9:20 Special" and "How 'Bout You". From there it gets really great with 10 previously unreleased numbers by Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra: "When It's Sleepy Time Down South", "The Gypsy", "Indiana", "Stompin' At The Savoy", "Mop Mop", "You Can Depend On Me", "Mack The Knife", "Perdido" and more. The set closes with a pair of numbers featuring Ella out front of Louie & his players: "You Won't Be Satisfied"a nd "Undecide", and the finale of "When The Saints Go Marching In". Beautiful!
(Out of print.)