Here's an album that never fails to lift my mood and make me smile whenever I hear it. There are a huge number of re-issues. My favorite on digital is the First Impression Music UltraHD edition and on vinyl the Direct Metal Mastering Waxtime version.
This is my all-time favorite vocal Jazz album - Ella & Louis. Whenever I play it, I always cannot help but smile when Ella sings "Can't we be friends?" - and it is obvious that she is smiling when she sings this. Considering that Ella Fitzgerald's career began nearly 15 years after Louis Armstrong's, he was one of her first musical idols, and this was their first major collaboration - so her pleasure is pretty obvious and captured on tape!
Recorded in the studio in 1956, this album sounds as fresh as the day it was done. This album features probably the strongest line-up of any album I have:
Ella Fitzgerald - vocals
Louis Armstrong - trumpet & vocals
Oscar Peterson - piano
Ray Brown - bass
Herb Ellis - guitar
Buddy Rich - drums
It's an album I've played so many times over the years that I would have worn the grooves clear through to the other side. Good thing that I have so many copies. The follow-up album, 'Ella and Louis Again' was not as successful in my opinion.
An original 1956 Verve mono pressing would probably cost you over $200, but there have been many re-issues - my favorite is the one on the Waxtime label. The Speaker's Corner issue is a little bit more audiophile. I'm sure that there are others - and there will be many more.
Mono & Stereo friend Gary Koh of Genesis Advanced Technologies, Inc.