Thirty seconds of listening to “Cheek to Cheek,” the opening track of the newly released “The Lost Berlin Tapes” (Verve), make it clear that we are hearing, at her pinnacle, the greatest of all artists American music has ever offered. And yet what we experience on this previously unheard concert recording from March 25, 1962, was just business as usual for Ella Fitzgerald—she performed at this level, or nearly so, every night of her long professional life. To truly surprise us, she would have had to give a performance in which she doesn’t swing, generates no excitement, and sings without any feeling. Obviously, this never...

Source: Wall Street Journal October 03, 2020 11:03 UTC