Sunshine of Your Love (Live 1969)

Editors’ Notes In what was obviously a bid to update her repertoire to the times, this 1969 live album finds Ella Fitzgerald covering Cream (see the title track) and The Beatles. Things pick up with a nuanced take on Burt Bacharach’s “This Girl’s in Love with You.” More firmly in the Fitzgerald sweet spot and effective are “Give Me the Simple Life” and a hard-swinging “Alright Okay You Win.” Then halfway through the album, things downshift into a trio setting led by pianist Tommy Flanagan. Here we get a respectable version of the bossa nova classic “Useless Landscape” (with a fine scat solo), an excellent version of “Old Devil Moon,” and classic ballad versions of “Trouble Is a Man” and Bacharach’s “A House Is Not a Home.” This is being released digitally for the first time, with a fresh mastering job.