Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep with the record.

— Paul, Vinyl Curator

Ella Fitzgerald And Louis Armstrong

Ella And Louis

1972 · Verve 2-V6S-8811 · Stereo · US · 2xLP, gatefold · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Verve
Catalogue number	2-V6S-8811
Year	1972
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	US
Format	2xLP, gatefold
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Vocal
Producer	Norman Granz (original sessions), Eric Miller (produced for reissue)
Musicians	Ella Fitzgerald (vocals), Louis Armstrong (vocals, trumpet), Oscar Peterson (piano), Ray Brown (bass), Herb Ellis (guitar), Buddy Rich (drums), Louie Bellson (drums)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  MGS-2950 2V6-8811-A-PRC-2-1 MASTERDISK GK PRC
Side B:  MGS-2951-1-1-1 2V6-8811 PRC KM Q
Side C:  MGS-2952-1-1-1 2V6-8811 PRC
Side D:  MGS-2953-1-1-1 2V6-8811 PRC KM Q

Condition

Cover: VG+
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1956/1957 - Original single-LP Verve pressings 'Ella And Louis' (V6-4003) and 'Ella And Louis Again' (MGV/V6-4006-2)
1972 - MGM-era Verve compilation reissue combining both LPs into one 2xLP set, black label with white 'Verve' script and T-bar logo, Polydor Inc./810 Seventh Ave rim text, PRC (Precision Record Pressing) stampers with Masterdisk mastering, catalogue 2-V6S-8811  <- this copy

This Pressing

1972 MGM-era Verve compilation reissue (2xLP) - Polydor-address labels, PRC pressing/Masterdisk mastering; not an original first pressing of either source album.

The Album

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong first paired on record for producer Norman Granz in August 1956, backed only by the Oscar Peterson Trio, resulting in the intimate 'Ella And Louis' LP; a second session the following year, expanded with drummers Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson, produced 'Ella And Louis Again.' Granz deliberately stripped the arrangements down to a small-group setting so the two singers' voices - Fitzgerald's pure, agile instrument against Armstrong's gravelly, behind-the-beat phrasing - could play off each other on a shared songbook of Gershwin, Porter, Berlin, Kern and other Great American Songbook staples. The pairing let two of the era's biggest jazz stars, each already commercially and critically towering in their own right, meet as conversational equals rather than star-and-support, and the chemistry between them became one of the defining vocal-duet templates in jazz history. These sessions, alongside the subsequent 'Porgy and Bess,' cemented the Fitzgerald-Armstrong partnership as a genre landmark and are routinely cited among the finest vocal jazz recordings of the 1950s. Critically the original albums were beloved on release and have only grown in stature, frequently appearing on best-of-jazz-vocals lists, prized for their warmth, wit and effortless swing. This particular release packages highlights of both original sessions together, presenting the full arc of the Fitzgerald-Armstrong collaboration in one set.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Can't We Be Friends
2. Moonlight In Vermont
3. They Can't Take That Away From Me
4. Under A Blanket Of Blue

Side 2

1. A Foggy Day
2. Stars Fell On Alabama
3. Cheek To Cheek
4. The Nearness Of You

Side 3

1. Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
2. Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You
3. Don't Be That Way
4. Stompin' At The Savoy

Side 4

1. Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)
2. I Won't Dance
3. Love Is Here To Stay
4. I'm Puttin' All My Eggs In One Basket

The Label

All four side labels are the standard black Verve label with the large white script 'Verve' logo and white T-bar/star design, with rim text reading 'MANUFACTURED AND MARKETED BY POLYDOR INCORPORATED 810 SEVENTH AVENUE N.Y. N.Y. 10019' on every side of this copy. That Polydor-address rim text, plus the printed credit 'Produced for reissue by Eric Miller' and the 1972 MGM Records copyright on the jacket, place this squarely in the 1972 MGM-era Verve reissue program that repackaged the two individual 1956/57 Ella-and-Louis LPs as a single 2-LP set (catalogue 2-V6S-8811), distinct from the later 1970s pressings of the same catalogue number that show a mixed Polydor/Polygram Classics rim text across the four sides. The matrix prefixes (MGS-2950/2951/2952/2953) carry Masterdisk mastering marks and PRC pressing-plant codes, consistent with a PRC-pressed stamper generation of this catalogue number's overall pressing run. This is a reissue-era compilation, not an original first pressing of either source album, so it sits below both 1956/57 originals in the collector hierarchy.

Fidelity

This is a Masterdisk-cut, PRC-pressed reissue from 1972, not the original Van Gelder-adjacent Capitol-era Verve masters; collectors generally regard the 1956/57 original Verve pressings (and later audiophile cuts such as the Analogue Productions and Acoustic Sounds series) as sonically superior. Collectors on the forums favor original Verve pressings and the modern audiophile reissues over 1970s MGM/Polydor-era repressings, which are considered decent but not top-tier sonically. This copy sits below the originals and below any audiophile reissue in the fidelity hierarchy, offering a reasonably clean but not benchmark listening experience.

Notes

This is the 1972 MGM Records-manufactured Verve reissue combining tracks from the separate 1956 'Ella And Louis' and 1957 'Ella And Louis Again' LPs into one 2-LP set, catalogue 2-V6S-8811. The 'Produced for reissue by Eric Miller' credit, MGM 1972 copyright, and Polydor Incorporated/810 Seventh Avenue rim text on all four labels confirm this era rather than the 1956/57 originals or the later Polygram-era pressings. Matrix prefixes (MGS-2950 through 2953) carry PRC pressing-plant marks and Masterdisk mastering, consistent with a PRC-pressed stamper generation within that same series.

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