Sings the Rodgers and Hart Song Book

AMG Review of Sings the Rodgers and Hart Song Book

Scott Yanow
All Music Guide

The second of Ella Fitzgerald's famed Songbook series features her singing 34 of the best songs co-written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The arrangements by Buddy Bregman for the string orchestra and ig band only border on jazz but she manages to swing the medium-tempo numbers and give sensitivity to the allads. With such songs as "You Took Advantage of Me," "The Lady Is a Tramp," "It Never Entered My Mind," "Where or When," "My Funny Valentine," and "Blue Moon," it is not too surprising that these recordings (originally released on a two-LP set) were so popular. After being released on CD as part of the massive box set The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books, it was also released as a separate two-disc package in 1997.