Few records have survived the test of time better than this songbook. Cole Porter could easily qualify as the best songwriter of the 20th Century, and each carefully constructed performance here is definitive.

Some music snobs of the time were critical, claiming the arrangements to be contrived, with none of the interplay that defined ‘true’ jazz, but this album transcends the rules of jazz. Porter’s songs certainly provided material for hundreds of jazz performances, but at heart, they were ‘pop’ songs used for theatrical purposes, written to specifications determined by the author. Fitzgerald and her producer Norman Granz show ultimate respect to Porter’s intent, which is why this album will never age, until or unless the songwriting skills of Porter somehow fall from favor one day, which is highly unlikely.

This show covers album number two in this amazing double-album set, featuring:

I Love Paris

You Do Something to Me 

Ridin' High

You'd Be So Easy to Love

It's All Right with Me 

Why Can't You Behave?

What Is This Thing Called Love?

You're the Top 

Love for Sale

It's De-Lovely

Night and Day

Ace in the Hole

So in Love 

I've Got You Under My Skin 

I Concentrate on You

Don't Fence Me In  (Robert Fletcher, co-lyricist)

May 1956 - Billboard Charted #15