The perennial Yuletide classic from Ella Fitzgerald is getting a major upgrade. Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas, featuring the First Lady of Music performing some of the most beloved holiday tunes of all time, is getting a deluxe edition, available on October 18. The album, out via Verve Records and Decca Records, is available for preorder now.
Originally released in 1960, the new deluxe edition features six tracks available on vinyl for the first time. New additions to the album include two duets with iconic jazz singer and trumpeter Louis Armstrong (“Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good To You” and “I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm”) and a duet of classic “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” with Louis Jordan. Also included for the first time is Fitzgerald’s rendition of “Holiday In Harlem.” There are almost twice as many minutes of music in the deluxe edition as there were in its original form, 65 years ago.
The two-record collection is housed in a gatefold jacket with updated art of the original EP, this time placing Gene Grant’s unicorn painting against a gold background. The package also boasts an 8-page booklet of session notes and a new essay from journalist Will Friedwald. The deluxe edition of Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas is available in both green and gold variants beyond the traditional black vinyl. All versions also come with five cut-out ornaments to hang on a tree, or a mantle, or wherever you like.
In the years since Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas’ debut, it has come to be among the best-regarded holiday recordings of all time, both critically and commercially. Fitzgerald’s album ranked among the top ten in Rolling Stone’s and The Guardian’s lists of the genre, and the album has ranked up over 1 billion streams, proving its staying power well into the digital age. In 2002, it was reissued on CD, featuring the alternate versions of “The Christmas Song,” “White Christmas,” and “Frosty The Snowman,” which are now available on vinyl with the 2024 reissue.
Order Ella Fitzgerald’s Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas now.