The Complete Cole Porter Songbooks
It's rare that a great tunesmith is also a great lyricist, but Porter was both, and the formal perfection of his best songs made them favorites among both singers and instrumentalists. These three discs (two vocal, one instrumental) raid the archives for renditions by jazz types (from Ella Fitzgerald to Roland Kirk), more straightforward pop singers, and a few ringers, like Fred Astaire, who does nicely by "I Concentrate on You." The singers love Porter for the depth, wittiness, and just-repressed-enough sentimentality of his lyrics, and for the melodies clustered around a few notes that let them show off whatever they've got; the non-singers dig his deft, unpredictable chords and adaptability of mood.--Douglas Wolk