Ella Fitzgerald & Oscar Peterson Ella and Oscar: Pablo Series

Ella Fitzgerald & Oscar Peterson's Ella and Oscar Reissued as Part of the Pablo Records Series on 180g LP: Mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab from the Original Analog Master Tape

Even with less than essential bonus material, Ella and Oscar — recorded May 19, 1975 — is a welcome reissue that warrants repeated listening. Bassist Ray Brown, closely associated to both artists, appears on four tracks, but this is a decidedly duo effort that focuses on two close friends who happened to be among jazz's most historic figures.

To call this collection of Great American Songbook standards intimate would be an understatement. Ella and Oscar is a low-key album of small, quiet pleasures. Even during the second half where Brown's bass provides additional rhythmic variety, the focus is squarely on voice and piano. Most of the album's tracks are under five minutes in length. Only on the closing number, "April in Paris," do they really stretch out significantly. Peterson delivers a relaxed but swinging solo. Fitzgerald follows suit with remarkably expressive scatting. Earlier on "When Your Lover Has Gone," she and Peterson trades four bars solos in captivating exchange of melodic ideas.

Mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab from the original analog master tape and pressed at Quality Record Pressings, this Analogue Productions 180-gram reissue is housed in a single pocket Stoughton Printing tip-on jacket.