The first time that any one singer had sung so many songs by one composer on one release, Ella Fitzgerald's Sings the Cole Porter Song Book was an immediate masterwork that introduced vast swaths of the public to every possible facet of Cole Porter's charms. It covered nearly 30 years of his writing career, included both the very famous songs ("I Get a Kick out of You," "Just One of Those Things," "In the Still of the Night," "Begin the Beguine,") and the almost unheard ("It's All Right with Me"), and caused the composer himself to exclaim "Wonderful!" and compliment her diction. The 2007 Verve compilation The Very Best of the Cole Porter Song Book includes only one-third of the songs from the original, but it forms a solid introduction to one of Fitzgerald's best works. For those who don't have the confidence to spring for the full set, these 12 songs will probably convince them.
