• Track Listing

Ella started with Jimmy Dorsey and found fame with Freddie Slack before notching a string of solo hits from 1943–53. She could sing (and found herself alternately filed under) jazz, blues, country and pop, but her hard-swinging sides sure sound like rock ’n’ roll (years before the term was coined). Here are 34 of those rockers plus a 52-page booklet: her breakthrough song, Cow-Cow Boogie; her early-’50s hits Oakie Boogie and 40 Cups of Coffee, plus Money Honey; Daddy Daddy; False Hearted; Seventeen; Give Me Love; Have Mercy Baby; Bouncin’ Ball; Razzle Dazzle, and more!