Not their best performances and poorly recorded
As noted in the album liner notes this CD is a poor example of even Ella Fitzgerald's work. Second, as noted in the Amazon Review: "Worse, the stage announcer's audible suggestion that she (Ella) move closer to the microphone results in overmodulated distortion on four-fifths of the set." Finally, Billie Holiday's voice is weak and Carmen McRae's voice is harsh in these performances.

As suggested (between the lines) in the D. Davis review this CD is really only for hardcore collectors of live music. If you want to have the feeling of being at Newport for these 1957 performances including the original sound distortions and performance glitches this CD will take you there. Ella's scat singing on "Airmail Letter" is undeniably charming. Nonetheless, For most listeners almost any other CD by these artists should be considered before this one.

Ella Shines!
The 5 stars are for Ella's contribution to this album. Here she is folks -the one and only singin' and swingin' and havin' a ball - and you will too! Right from the getgo with This Can't Be Love, Ella gets you in the mood to feel you're right there at Newport 50 years ago...50 years...amazing! Ella caps off a great set that includes Too Close For Comfort, Lullaby of Birdland and Body and Soul, with a fantastic interpretation of Airmail Special, a true tour-de-force of incredible timing, perfect pitch and brilliant inventiveness. Others have had a stab at this number, but this is the original - and the best!
I'm afraid, Billie and Carmen had to take a backseat to Ella at this concert. Billie sounds tired, and almost comes to a near stop during What a Little Moonlight Will Do, and the usually polished Carmen McRae just sounds distracted and under rehearsed.
No, this is Ella's album - a brilliant, blazing, and joyous performance from the best jazz singer in the world.

I really wanted to love this!
The reviewer D.Davis (see reviews below) really did an excellent job on his/her review of this recording, in fact, he pretty much nailed it. Folks, I love all three of these legends and I was so excited to hear this CD after I made the purchase. Having said that, it has to be one of the most disappointing albums in my entire jazz collection. Billie's performance (or lack thereof) really was just plain awful and depressing. It is almost painful to listen to at times and you can really tell that she was not only dying physically due to the drugs, alcohol, etc... but also emotionally and spiritually as well. Ella does an admirable job and is by far the highlight of this album. For the most part, she will not disappoint most of her fans. The very young Carmen McCrae not only (as the above referenced reviewer pointed out) sounds a bit too 'loud' on most of her songs, she also sounds to me like she was a bit overwhelmed, almost as if she was trying to hard. She just doesn't quite have it yet, and of all of the great many recordings she has done in her life, this one is by far the least memorable in my opinion.

As I stated before, I really thought that I was going to go gaga over this live recording at Newport. Unfortunately, I can not recommend this, knowing that there are countless recordings by these three legends that are so much better. I usually don't like to write negative reviews (especially when it's regarding favorite performers of mine) but this CD really does disappoint. Is it horrible? Not by a long shot. However, it's just not the Billie and Carmen that we are so accustomed to hearing and loving.

Ella, Lady Day, and Carmen, too! A Hat Trick Plus.
It was the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival and promoter George Wein programmed on successive nights arguably the four greatest jazz divas of all time--two in their prime, one clearly past it, and the fourth not as yet there. Ella and Sarah, performing on July 4 and 7, were the "book-ends," both clearly at the top of their games (I'm not one of those listeners who prefers the later Sassy). Lady Day, sounding as shaky as ever and slurring both her speech and lyrics, appeared after Ella, and an exuberant, overachieving Carmen McRae served as a set-up for the culminating concert by The Divine One.

The performances are far from consistent, and not one of the four is stellar enough to merit its recommendation to someone new to any of these singers. But as a teenager I had the original Verve LP, limited to most of Ella's concert on one side, and Billie's on the other. As much as Ella's scat singing impressed me ("Air Mail Special"), it was Billie's performance that made the lasting impact (perhaps akin to the effect Judy Garland's latter-day recorded concerts have on some listeners). Never before had I absorbed the dramatic lessons of a song's lyrics as completely as when Billie started her program with "Nice Work If You Can Get It." Far from seeming like she was on auto-pilot, she utterly seduced me, leading to my discovery not just of "Lady in Satin" but of all the early Columbia and Commodore recordings as well.

Carmen's performance had been omitted until now, and it's an eye-opener. Far from seeming gushy and hyper, as some critics have charged, she reveals the powerful and lovely soprano register that was once hers and, above all, her gift of elocution--every syllable, consonant, vowel, and diphthong gets full value when she sings, a respect for diction that would be her trademark throughout her career. Compare Carmen's reading of "Body and Soul" with Ella's on the same disk. Carmen changes the awful construction, "My life a wreck you're making," to something far more palatable before she projects it with her customary, unmistakable clarity.

Sarah Vaughan was under contract with Mercury records, so her performance has been made available for the first time, more than 45 years later, on a separate Pablo release, "Linger Awhile." She almost equals her consummate singing on another recording made at about the same time: "Live at Mr. Kelly's." About her performance at this Newport event there's one recorded moment that always grabs me: she sings way out of tune for one of the phrases at the end of the first chorus of "Sometimes I'm Happy." Intentionally? To get the listener's attention? (She succeeded.)

Finally, the listener of this CD will have an opportunity to compare not merely the first three singers but 4 different rhythm sections (since Carmen's own trio was late to arrive, she employed two different trios during the course of her set).

Sometimes you can get as much if not more from performances that fall short of perfection. With 3 divas and 24 songs, this recording no doubt represents one of the best values available on a single CD. Add the second CD with Sarah's performance and head for a desert island.

Approach It As A Timepiece And You Will Enjoy It
When you get 3 divas on stage at Newport each singing great material that should be a cause for celebration.
Ella sounded pretty good,Billie close to death, and Carmen elated but overbearing missing her band that did not make it there for the most part.the backing bands rather loose presenatation makes this CD a package of musical curiousity.
Not exactly a performance that will rank as a milestone from all the other great recorded gems that came out of Newport,but one of these kinks of a CD that offers you a glimpse of realsm into 3 singers that are important in Jazz history.
Enjoyable and playful with added time,remastering and colorful packaging,yes, wondering what went wrong also yes, essential for the collector also yes...crucial,no.