Ella and Louis - Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong/Verve/1st press/Jazz/Rare

$

140

?The Mad Platter presents:

An extremely hard to come by collection recently purchased, and listed for your buying pleasure.

Check my other listings for more rarities.

All respectable offers will be reviewed and considered.

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

Ella and Louis - Self Titled

Verve Records MG V-4003

1956 - 1st US Pressing w/ Orange & Yellow labels, machine stamped matrices cut at Radio Recorders, Deep Groove, and laminated cover.

Matrix / Runout (side A runout stamped): MGV ***** 4003 A 50078

Matrix / Runout (side B runout stamped): MGV ***** 4003 B 5007*9

Matrix / Runout (side A label): 50,078

Matrix / Runout (side B label): 50,079

Warning! Please read:

Any and all bidders! Records are an impulse buy. I do my best to grade accordingly, and with that being said; my NM might be your VG+, which makes record grading subjective. By bidding on this item, you as the bidder/potential buyer are accepting that possibility. You are also accepting that I will not discount a record once received because you believe it to be graded wrong. I do not accept returns unless you file a case with Ebay. Too many buyers in the past have looked for anything and everything to acquire a discount. This will not be tolerated. In bidding, you have accepted my terms. Thank you.

This original first pressing LP is ultra scarce in this condition, and as a result, it has become an item on many jazz collectors lists.

Vinyl: VG+ but nearly VG++ in my opinion, it has faint hairlines and scuffs, there is 1 scratch on Side 1 that runs the entire side, but it is very light, and doesn't affect playback on "my" system. Side 2 has a scuff on track 1 that also does not affect play.

Every copy of this I have ever seen has been in very poor condition. I believed a pristine copy did not exist; I still believe this, but this one is the closest you will get to perfection. Tons of gloss! It's just a brilliant listening experience.

Cover: VG+ to VG++, it would be NM if it weren't for a few lifts in the laminate and glue bubbles (pictured). Back cover has the circular impression from the vinyl being in it's sleeve for a substantial amount of time. No seam splits at all. I have run into this many times over the years, and the conditions were never this great. Don't let this one get away!

Labels: EX, just the very lightest of wear, check the pictures attached.

This will be shipped in a quality static free inner sleeve & brand new outer sleeve.

I ship media mail or priority, but I will send as you like, at your expense. 

Additional insurance is also your responsibility. 

Communicate with me and I will do as you like.

USA buyers only, too many issues shipping overseas.

Tracklisting:

Can't We Be Friends - 3:44

Isn't This A Lovely Day - 6:14

Moonlight In Vermont - 3:42

They Can't Take That Away From Me - 4:38

Under A Blanket Of Blue - 4:18

Tenderly - 5:10

A Foggy Day - 4:30

Stars Fell On Alabama - 3:30

Cheek To Cheek - 5:47

The Nearness Of You - 6:33

April In Paris - 6:30

Personnel:

Louis Armstrong - vocals, trumpet

Ella Fitzgerald - vocals

Oscar Peterson - piano

Ray Brown - bass

Herb Ellis - guitar

Buddy Rich - drums

Buddy Bregman - arranger/conductor

History on it’s release:

1956 was a defining year for American popular music. The foundations of rock and roll were solidified when Elvis Presley, newly signed to RCA Victor, released his eponymous first album. The harder-edged rockabilly band Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio did the same. The year’s jazz releases were just as iconic: “Chet Baker Sings” helped originate a smoother West Coast sound, and The Miles Davis Quintet would ultimately find four full-length albums worth of hard bop material recorded during only two day-long sessions. There was magic coming from every corner of musical expression — Glenn Gould, Sonny Rollins, The Jazz Messengers, Fats Domino — but one album, released in October of that year, was its own quiet revolution.

The album cover is a picture of two middle-aged black people, seated on folding chairs. The woman is in her late thirties, the man in his mid-fifties. She wears a plain print housedress and a wry expression; the man’s white socks are rolled at the ankles. A trumpet is on his lap, supporting his folded arms. There is no written information on the cover other than the name of the record label: “Verve,” it says. “A Panoramic True High Fidelity Record.” On the spine is the album’s title: “Ella and Louis.”

The first of three successful collaborations between Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, “Ella and Louis” is nearly perfect. It is one of those works of art — and they don’t come along often — that seems to have always existed. It features two of the greatest artists the century produced: Armstrong, the innovator and ambassador of jazz, and Fitzgerald, its most gifted singer. The album was produced by a man almost solely responsible for bringing jazz into the realm of respectability and desegregating its audience, who founded the label which released it, and assembled the all-star team of musicians who made it so marvelous. “Ella and Louis” helped rekindle interest in what would become known as The Great American Songbook. Though it is something only American culture could produce, “Ella and Louis” was also something a large part of American society worked hard to prevent. From "Long Reads" website.