Ella Fitzgerald - Bridges Auditorium

A poster advertising the First Lady of Song in concert in Los Angeles on November 7, 1959. There are no more revered vocal jazz releases in history than Ella Fitzgerald's heralded Song Book albums, in which she would take a famous composer and record a whole LP of their work. She released eight of these for the Verve label under producer Norman Granz, and they're the stuff of legend, eminently listenable to this day and credited with helping make "the great American songbook" well-known to everyone. At this point in time, Ella had released Song Book albums covering Cole Porter (1956), Rodgers & Hart (1956), Duke Ellington (1957), Irving Berlin (1958) and George & Ira Gershwin (this year - 1959). Among the Gershwin tracks on her current Gershwin LP, arranged by Nelson Riddle, were "Fascinating Rhythm," "Nice Work If You Can Get It" and "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off." Even Ira Gershwin himself was quoted as saying, "I never knew how good our songs were until I heard Ella Fitzgerald sing them." You got a better year for an Ella concert poster? No wonder this poster calls her "incomparable." Still to come in the early 60's were her Song Book LPs covering Harold Arlen ("Over the Rainbow"), Jerome Kern ("The Way You Look Tonight") and Johnny Mercer ("I Remember You"). Are you reaching for your CDs yet? Claremont is a suburb of Los Angeles, with several college campuses. Half-a-dozen fun ticket locations are given, including record stores and hi-fi shops. Printed by the Colby Poster Printing Company, the most well-known poster printer of the era in southern California.