The story behind puzzle No. 30
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong · Ella and Louis · Verve · 1956
Heaven, I'm in heaven. Fred Astaire sang it to Ginger Rogers in 1935. Twenty years later, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong made it their own.
Irving Berlin wrote Cheek to Cheek for the 1935 film Top Hat, where Fred Astaire sings it to Ginger Rogers as they dance. It spent five weeks at No. 1 on Your Hit Parade, was nominated for an Oscar, and later placed No. 15 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest movie songs.
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong recorded Ella and Louis in a single day, August 16, 1956, at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, for Norman Granz's Verve label. The album is mostly slow and medium-tempo ballads.
The contrast is the fun: Ella's smooth, bright voice against Louis's gravel, with Oscar Peterson's group swinging quietly underneath.
Who's on it
Keep listening
Play West End Blues, puzzle No. 15, to hear Armstrong nearly 30 years earlier.
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