Customer Rating: 
Summary: Ella abraca Jobim
Comment: A timeless classic from Miss Fitzgerald. Her renditions of these songs is magic. A must have for pop fans.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Excellent song selection, poor arrangements
Comment: This was one of the first Ella CD's I bought, and even though I had read mixed reviews on this album, I wanted to hear her interpretations of one of my favorite songwriters. It is obvious that Ella's voice has diminished due to her health condition, but she still managed to deliver a good performance. She sings with passion in most of the songs, but she sounds flat in some songs like Wave, which is one of my favorite songs of all time. Regarding the arrangements in this album, they sound too 80's bossa nova/syntethized that do not work well with Ella's voice at this stage of her career. A gentle bossa nova/jazz arrangement would have been more suitable, like when she recorded her rendition of "Desafinado" in the mid 60's.
Customer Rating:
Summary: THIS TIME ELLA SINGS JOBIM
Comment: ELLA FITZGERALD MADE QUITE A LIVING DOING A SERIES OF ALBUMS THAT FEATURED INDIVIDUAL COMPOSERS, HER "SONGBOOK" RECORDINGS. THIS ONE FEATURES ELLA DOING JOBIM SONGS. RECORDED ON THE PABLO LABEL IN THE 70'S, IT MAY NOT BE HER ALLTIME BEST RECODINGS, AFTER ALL, SHE WAS GETTING UP THERE IN AGE AND HER VOICE WASN'T QUITE WHAT IT HAD BEEN. BUT.......I WOULD STILL RATHER HEAR ELLA SINGING AT 75-80%, THAN A LOT OF OTHER SINGERS AT ALL. A GOOD CD, IF YOU LIKE ELLA THEN YOU WILL ENJOY IT. CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ALBUM INCLUDE ALEX ACUNA, JOE PASS, ZOOT SIMS, CLARK TERRY, TOOTS THIELMANS, AND OTHERS AS WELL.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Proof that she was human.
Comment: Ella Fitzgerald was such a gigantic talent with such a wide influence, that it's sometimes hard to believe that she was human like the rest of us. This recording proves that she is not perfect--she makes mistakes. Recorded with long-time producer Norman Granz, this CD features eighteen Brazilian songs by Antonio Carlos Jobim and an all-star cast of supporting players--including Zoot Sims on tenor sax, Joe Pass on solo electric guitar, and legendary Toots Thielemans on harmonica. While they perform flawlessly and seem totally comfortable with their material, Ella, unfortunately, does not.
She sounds tentative and uncomfortable at the beginning of most of her songs, and does not seem to relate to her material until late into several songs when she is able to use her upper register and wail in the familiar Fitzgerald manner, even breaking into scat on several tracks. "The Girl from Ipanema" is terrific with her scatting at the end, and "Triste," which also features a great Joe Pass solo, lets her be the jazz star that she is. Because the first two songs, "Somewhere in the Hills (Favela)" and "Girl from Ipanema" are well done and interesting, I thought I would enjoy this CD, but a few missed notes and the dirge-like beginnings to later songs made this CD an uncomfortable listening experience for me. (If you have the opportunity to test-play this CD, listen to "A Felicidade" before buying it, and then decide.)
The fault is not all hers. Many of the songs begin in a key that is too low for Ella, and, with her lower register nearly gone, at this point in her career, she does not always hit her notes. This is glaringly obvious in "Wave," which even "perfect-pitch Mel" (Torme) found nearly impossible to sing, to the point that he turned it into a running joke with the audience whenever he sang the refrain "The fundamental loneliness goes whenever two can dream a dream--together," deliberately straining at the bottom note for effect. Ella misses the bottom note at the beginning and then does not try to hit it on later repeats. I love and admire Ella Fitzgerald, but this CD reminds me that she was human. n Mary Whipple
Customer Rating:
Summary: Grows on you
Comment: Ok, so this is obviously an older Ella, combined with early 80's sensibilities(electric piano for one), and at first, I sort of doubted I would enjoy it.
I have to say that I really like it, when realizing that originally I desired 40's Ella singing 1959 Jobim. The truth is, at face value it is actually quite fun. Ella has fun, the playing of the soloists is , if not Blue Train Coltrane inspired,fairly upbeat and interesting. The translations are fun as well.
I read a review that said that this album came 20 years too late. Yeah, sad but true. But to embrace the joys of the fact that it exists at all. Ella, the classic old house with worn out pipes, finding her way through a spirited set.Jobim's beautiful music coming through dated orchestrations(why is it that 40's and 50's orchestrations don't seem dated to me, but 80"s orchestrations do). For me, the world of even the lightest jazz rings true these days.
I for one, though dubious, am glad that Ella Abracad Jobim.(I am assuming Abraca is portuguese for sings)
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