Track Listing

1. A Tisket a Tasket - Natalie Cole
2. Lullaby Of Birdland - Chaka Khan
3. The Lady Is a Tramp - Queen Latifah
4. Dream a Little Dream Of Me - Diana Krall
5. (You'll Have To Swing It) Mr. Paganini - Natalie Cole
6. Oh Lady Be Good! - Dianne Reeves
7. Reaching For the Moon - Lizz Wright
8. Blues In the Night - Ledisi
9. Miss Otis Regrets - Linda Ronstadt
10. Someone To Watch Over Me - Gladys Knight
11. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me - Etta James
12. Angel Eyes - K.D. Lang
13. Too Close For Comfort - Michael Buble
14. You Are the Sunshine Of My Life - Stevie Wonder
15. Airmail Special - Nikki Yanofsky

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16549 in Music
• Released on: 2007-06-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Amazon.com
Covering songs made famous by Ella Fitzgerald is a daunting endeavor, since only Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan challenge her place as the premier female jazz vocalist in history. But the late Fitzgerald inspired and influenced a wide array of talented acolytes--from Natalie Cole to k.d. lang to Dianne Reeves--many of whom gather on this spirited, Phil Ramone-produced tribute to partially benefit the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation. Cole, backed by an eager gaggle of call-and-response male worshippers, breathes fun new life into the swingy "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," while Chaka Khan, showcasing the breadth of her range, delivers a transporting rendition of the enchanting jazz blues "Lullaby of Birdland." (The two also team up for a delicious scat-fest on "Mr. Paganini.") If lang is equally transfixing on the ballad "Angel Eyes," it's newcomer Ledisi who steals the show with "Blues in the Night," her expansive soprano often mimicking a muted or full-tilt trumpet, one of Fitzgerald's hallmarks. Performances from Etta James and Nikki Yanofsky also rivet, even if Diana Krall and Hank Jones's "Dream a Little Dream of Me" comes across as a little too sleepy, and Gladys Knight is probably not the best singer for "Someone to Watch Over Me." The album surprises with a live duet ("You Are the Sunshine of My Life") between Fitzgerald and Stevie Wonder, recorded at the 1977 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Although it seems tacked on, it doesn't grate nearly as much as Michael Bublé's "Too Close for Comfort," so slick it would put an eel to shame. Skip over that transgression, and turn to the antidote of Lizz Wright's sultry take on the melancholy "Reaching for the Moon," which plumbs emotional depths not even the ever-joyous Great Lady managed to attain. --Alanna Nash