I recently downloaded a new to me Ella album, and I have been charmed since. Ella’s Sings Sweet Songs for Swingers contains some very good songs from less well-known songwriters, and the result is an incredibly pleasing album that features Ella at her finest.

Ella is in full voice on this album. She recorded it while also recording the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook, the pinnacle of the songbooks. These recordings taken together reflect Ella’s voice while she was making several significant contributions to the American songbook. Recorded in 1959, during the Verve years, this album marks some of Ella’s finest years in the recording studio.

It also shows Ella swinging swell, and her swing grows steadily throughout “East of the Sun,” which is one of my favorite tracks. “Moonlight Serenade,” “My Old Flame,” and “Can’t We Be Friends” are some of my other favorites, but every song on the album is good.

There are many Pure Ella moments on this album. I find myself listening day after day with shuffle on.