I’ve had this problem since I got Ella Fitzgearld’s 12 Nights In Hollywood and I can’t find the answer. Because it is undoubtedly is the best music I’ve heard this year, how do I make a live recording from 1962 my fave of 2009.
The answer is I dont – I just give it a specially award and move on (I mean, what year this decade wouldn’t it have been this best album? It screws up the ratings).
HOWEVER, shockingly enough I have found a flaw in the album. The Live version of “Goodmorning Heartache” is not all that. Technically masterful (Listen to her sing “si-he-he-he down”) the thing is, Ella is a pop singer in the jazz idiom wheras Billie Holiday was a blues singer in the jazz idiom and the song calls for blues not pop. Ella swings it, sometimes angrily almost, but it is a bad fit. So that’s one iffy song, 76 great ones… Not much of a case, eh?