Ella Fitzgerald was simply the best. No two ways about it; that's the best way to describe her. And this boxed set showcases nothing but her very best recordings, pulled from the best years of her career at the Verve Jazz label. Starting in 1949 and going through the late '60s, there are three CDs and nearly twenty years of pure perfection to enjoy here.

All the ones you've always heard about are here. Her heartbreaking "Angel Eyes," "April in Paris" with Count Basie and His Orchestra, and the untouchable recording of "Summertime" with Louis Armstrong. You can't listen to that one and not think, "Wow." Satchmo and Lady Time do one of the greatest duets in jazz with "Can't We Be Friends." Her "Lady Be Good" is included, with the brassy classic "After You've Gone." The two best tracks from her concert set with Duke Ellington at the Cote d'Azur, Jobim's popping "Jazz Samba" and Duke's rowdy "It Don't Mean a Thing," are present also; listen to how saxophone-like she sounds in her scat session on "Samba," and how she wails like one of the trumpets and becomes one of the band on "Don't Mean a Thing." "Let it Snow" represents her 'Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas," one Christmas CD every jazz fan should own; and yes, the legendary live Berlin version of "Mack the Knife," where Ella forgets the words halfway through and goes through a mean scat before launching into her crowd-pleasing Louis Armstrong impression, as well as the unbelievable scatting on the track that followed it, "How High the Moon," which sealed that song into Ella's repetoire along with "Mack."

Good helpings of Ella's 'Great American Songbook' series are here. Her treatment of Cole Porter's "Too Darn Hot" matched with that great arrangement is jazz perfection. From her kingly Duke Ellington Songbook album, "Just a Lucky So and So" is one of Ella's best, bluesy and soulful, with letter-perfect solos by Duke and the marvelous Johnny Hodges. She has great fun on "Get Happy," and the beautiful arrangement of Arlen's "Heart and Soul" (you know, the song from 'Big'), with its heavenly waterfall of strings in the intro, gives Ella just what she needs to make this one a keeper. Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" is Ella at her finest, swinging free and easy, as the song starts off light and builds to a screaming climax.

Along with the famous ones, this set is also notable for so many great Ella recordings that cannot be found on CD elsewhere. This includes the stomping eight-minute-plus Jazz at the Philharmonic All-Stars version of "Perdido," with Roy Eldridge, Charlie Parker, and a bandful of greats backing Ella, a gorgeous live "Lullaby of Birdland," a Latin cover of "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" from the 1950s, the breezy "Swingin' Shepherd Blues," and Ella's superb "Don't Be That Way." Other not-so-well-known treats are a smooth, poetic "Night in Tunisia" that rivals Dizzy's wild original; Ella blowing every other version of "Black Coffee" out of the water; sugar-rush scatting on "Air-Mail Special"; the blues with Wild Bill Davis on organ with "Hear Me Talkin' to Ya"; and a seductive and swinging "Hernando's Hideaway," with lyrics set to the tune of the popular tango melody. Ella's "Makin' Whoopee" is, I guarantee you, one of the funniest songs you'll ever hear. It goes on and on, drawing bigger laughs with each verse, and Ella sings it with a wink and milks it for every laugh, especially that last verse! Perhaps the best, and most sadly little-known, recording here is Ella wailing through a bold, brassy arrangement of "Can't Buy Me Love." While Ella's reading here is nowhere near the golden treatment she gave it on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' in 1964, the arrangement never fails to stun, and is still one of the best jazz arrangements I've ever heard.

There will never be another Ella. Buy this set, and see just why.

Your rating system does not have enough stars available to rate this collection. The sound of Ella's voice, the music selected to make this compilation and the engineering that has re-mastered her earliest recordings is just simply ten stars!

"First Lady of Song" is a great starting point for Fitzgerald looking for sampling of her work while on the Verve label from 1956 to 1966; probably her most seminal and memorable work, not to slight her Decca recordings in the decade before. Verve gave Ella the freedom to do what she wanted and Ella pursued that with a vengeance, releasing a series of landmark recordings covering the "Songbooks" of American Pop Standards that may never be equaled. Ella covered them all, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Rogers and Hart, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, and Jerome Kern. "First Lady of Song" covers all those songbooks and whole lot more including her recordings with Louis Armstrong, Nelson Riddle, and others. While this is a great sampler it's more of a survey of what Ella was up to at Verve and if anything only whets your appetite for more. Her vocal prowess, agility, and versatility are neatly showcased here and it makes you wonder if there was anything she couldn't sing. I frequently found myself wishing to hear more of Ella in particular style, be it Ellington, Porter, or even her very swinging Christmas record. True, Ella lacked the drama of Billie Holiday, the sass of Sarah Vaughn, but she more than made up for it in a willingness to take gambles and risks that more often that not paid off. This collection will leave you begging for more!

Ella Fitzgerald / First lady of Song (3 CD set - Verve): This is a truly great set. These are the classic tracks from her time with Verve from 1949 to 1966. Five Stars

This does come in a `book' form that is larger then the typical CD case and the three CD's are in envelopes in the book. This may be inconvenient for some, but don't let that keep you from having these great tracks.

This C.D. set is one of the finest I've ever heard. I borrowed it initially from a friend, and listened again and again. I don't think I can tire of Ella Fitzgerald.