Porgy and Bess is a studio album by jazz vocalist and trumpeter Louis Armstrong and singer Ella Fitzgerald, released on Verve Records in 1959. The third and final of the pair’s albums for the label, it is a suite of selections from the George Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess. Orchestral arrangements are by Russell Garcia, who had previously arranged the 1956 jazz vocal recording The Complete Porgy and Bess.
Track listing:
All music written by George Gershwin; all lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward except where noted.
Side one
1. “Overture” (instrumental) 10:52
2. “Summertime” DuBose Heyward 4:58
3. “I Wants to Stay Here” (Fitzgerald solo vocal) 4:38
Side two
1. “My Man’s Gone Now” (Fitzgerald solo vocal) DuBose Heyward 4:02
2. “I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin'” 3:52
3. “Buzzard Song” (Fitzgerald solo vocal) DuBose Heyward 2:58
4. “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” 5:28
Side three
1. “It Ain’t Necessarily So” Ira Gershwin 6:34
2. “What You Want Wid Bess?” (Fitzgerald solo vocal) DuBose Heyward 1:59
3. “A Woman Is a Sometime Thing” (Armstrong solo vocal) DuBose Heyward 4:47
4. “Oh, Doctor Jesus” (Fitzgerald solo vocal) 2:00
Side four
1. “Here Come de Honey Man / Crab Man / Oh, Dey’s So Fresh and Fine” DuBose Heyward 3:29
2. “There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin Soon for New York” (Armstrong solo vocal) Ira Gershwin 4:54
3. “Bess, Oh Where’s My Bess?” (Armstrong solo vocal) Ira Gershwin 2:36
4. “Oh Lawd, I’m on My Way!” (Armstrong solo vocal with chorus) DuBose Heyward 2:57
Personnel:
Ella Fitzgerald — vocals
Louis Armstrong — vocals; trumpet on “Summertime,” “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” “A Woman Is a Sometime Thing,” and “There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon for New York”
Orchestra:
Russell Garcia – arranger, conductor
Victor Arno, Robert Barene, Jacques Gasselin, Joseph Livoti, Dan Lube, Amerigo Marino, Erno Neufeld, Marshall Sosson, Robert Sushel, Gerald Vinci, Tibor Zelig — violins
Myron Bacon, Abraham Hochstein, Raymond Menhennick, Myron Sandler — violas
Justin Di Tullio, Kurt Reher, William Van Den Burg — cellos
Frank Beach, Buddy Childers, Cappy Lewis — trumpets
Milt Bernhart, Marshall Cram, James Henderson, Lloyd Ulyate — trombones
Vincent DeRosa – French horn
Bill Miller, Paul Smith – piano
Tony Rizzi – guitar
Joe Mondragon – double bass
Alvin Stoller – drums
____________________
Released: April 1959
Recorded: August 18–19 and October 14, 1957 in Los Angeles
Length: 66:04
Label: Verve MGV 4011-2
Verve MGVS 6040-2
Verve 827 475-2 (1990)
Producer: Norman Granz
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