During her long career, Ella Fitzgerald recorded contemporary pop tunes with a jazz-swing flavour. In 1968 for a live concert in San Francisco the “First Lady of Jazz” reinterpreted evergreen rock and pop tunes of The Beatles with “Hey Jude” and especially The Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” which attracted my attention as it takes a stab at this song and finding the blues root in it linking it to jazz. Eric Clapton would certainly approve it. The entire Ella’s performance reminds somehow of Janis Joplin recreating an explosive sound that erupts the singing of 1960’s Soul, Rock and R&B.
This record deserve six out of five stars, maybe at the time it was a courageous move and many critics would be unkind to the way as she was trying to be contemporary and ahead of the time pointing out to an artistic success rather than a merely commercial one. In a single line: this album is a true masterpiece and is ageing magnificently.