Backgrounder: 'Ella Swings Lightly'

One of my favorite Ella Fitzgerald albums is Ella Swings Lightly. Recorded for Verve in November 1958, the album was arranged by Marty Paich and features his Dek-tette backing Ella on a bright batch of songs outside the realm of her tiresome American songbook fare.

The all-star Hollywood 10 included Don Fagerquist and Al Porcino (tp), Bob Enevoldsen (vtb, ts), Vincent DeRosa (frh), Bud Shank (as), Bill Holman (ts), Med Flory (bar), Lou Levy (p), Joe Mondragon (b) and Mel Lewis (d). Ella, for her part, is in fine form, and you can almost hear her joy being liberated from the dusty confines of Porter, Weill, Gershwin, Rodgers and the rest. [Photo above of Marty Paich]

Here's the complete Ella Swings Lightly without ad interruptions...