CD: We All Love Ella

Tribute albums are sometimes interesting, most often shamelesslycommercial and occasionally wonderful (Til the Night is Gone: A Tributeto Doc Pomus, is one of the latter). They hit stores disguised as aheartfelt tribute to an artist who (apparently) inspired reverentcontemporaries (the same contemporaries who sing on the album). While thatmay be true, most of the time tribute albums are just a way for artists tosing credible songs in credible company and take part in a successfulmarketing exercise to win new fans or simply release something (anything) toensure not slipping off the public radar.

We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song is the latesttribute album to make the shelves and while it is rather bland in places,there is enough flavour in its 16 tracks to make it stand out. Thesehighlights come thanks to the wide variety of artists who were approachedand leapt at the chance to appear on the album. They also reflect the widevariety of styles Fitzgerald sang during her long life (1917 - 1996) andsixty year career. Not one to stick to a formula, Fitzgerald experimentedand invented and the people putting this record together obviously tried ashard with artists as diverse as Michael Buble, Queen Latifah, Diana Krall,kd lang, Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan all taking part.

Another factor in the album's favour is that the none of the performerstry to "do Ella." Instead, they infuse the songs with their own style. DianaKrall is beautiful with her tender delivery of Dream a Little Dream ofMe which also features Hank Jones; Queen Latifah shows considerablestyle and flourish on The Lady is a Tramp and Michael Buble turns ina nice albeit safe version of Too Close For Comfort.

This album works as a whole, which is something not every tribute albumcan claim. The performers featured do their best to breathe new life intosome of Fitzgerald's most loved songs and for the most part they succeed,creating an album that will give fans of the singers an insight into whyElla was and remains the "First Lady of Song".

We All Love Ella is out now through Universal.