A new, never-before-heard album is coming from the First Lady Of Soul. The Moment Of Truth: Ella At The Coliseum, an unearthed live album from Ella Fitzgerald’s performance at the Oakland Coliseum on June 30, 1967, will be released on all formats on February 28, 2025. First single “The Moment Of Truth” is out now with its own new animated music video directed by Sharon Liu.
The nine-track album was recently found in the private collection of Verve Records founder Norman Granz, and has since been mixed and mastered to high-fidelity audio from the original analog tapes. In addition to preserving the unparalleled performance of Fitzgerald, Moment Of Truth also documents the Duke Ellington Orchestra, who accompanied the vocalist on the evening. The musicians put their touch on some of Fitzgerald’s classic repertoire while also incorporating some contemporary pop hits. Both Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Alfie” and Andy Williams’ “Music To Watch Girls By” reside on this rediscovered set, for the first on any recording.
Other tracks on Moment Of Truth are songs that will be plenty familiar for Fitzgerald fans, like “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love)” and “Mack The Knife.” The latter track is one of her most-loved songs, with her live performance in Berlin on the 1960 album Ella In Berlin winning a Grammy in 1960 for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. After Fitzgerald forgot some of the words in the second half of the song, she demonstrated her unmatched skill in improvisational singing. The rendition recorded here promises to be another one-of-a-kind performance, as do other previously unheard renditions of songs like “Bye Bye Blackbird” and “In A Mellow Tone.”
Beyond Fitzgerald and Ellington, the album is stuffed with other musical talent. Jimmy Jones, Bob Cranshaw, and Sam Woodyard feature as Fitzgerald’s regular band, while Ellington’s orchestra includes Cat Anderson, Cootie Williams, Harry Carney, Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Hamilton, Johnny Hodges and Russell Procope.
Order Ella Fitzgerald’s The Moment of Truth: Ella At The Coliseum now.