| Newport News, Virginia, U.Beverly Hills, California, U.June 15, 1996), also known as Lady Ella and the First Lady of Song, is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century.Grammy Awards, and was awarded the National Medal of Art by Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H.Frances Da Silva, was born in 1923.Following these traumatic events, Ella's academic grades dropped dramatically, and she frequently skipped school.Eventually Ella escaped from the reformatory, and for a time was homeless.In January 1935 she won the chance to perform for a week with the Tiny Bradshaw band at the Harlem Opera House.Ella met drummer and bandleader Chick Webb here for the first time.Webb offered Ella the opportunity to test with his band when they played a dance at Yale University.Ella Fitzgerald photographed by Carl Van Vechten in 1940.Chick Webb died on June 16, 1939, and his band was renamed "Ella Fitzgerald and her Famous Orchestra" with Ella taking the role of bandleader.Tasket", were "novelties and disposable pop fluff."The Decca years
In 1942, Fitzgerald left the band to begin a solo career.Fitzgerald's relationship with Granz was further cemented when he became her manager, although it would be nearly a decade before he could record her on one of his many record labels.The advent of bebop caused a major change in Fitzgerald's vocal style, influenced by her work with Dizzy Gillespie's big band.Fitzgerald on the cover of her landmark 1956 album, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook.Still performing at Granz's JATP concerts, by 1955, Fitzgerald left the Decca label, and Granz, now her manager, created the jazz record company Verve around her.The Cole Porter Songbook with me.Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook, released in 1956, was the first of eight "Songbooks" Fitzgerald would record for Verve at irregular intervals from 1956 to 1964.The composers and lyricists spotlighted on each album, taken together, represent the greatest part of the cultural canon known as the Great American Songbook.Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook was the only Songbook on which the composer she interpreted played with her, Ellington and his longtime collaborator Billy Strayhorn wrote two new pieces of music for the album, "The E and D Blues" and he composed a four movement musical portrait of Fitzgerald.Here was a black woman popularizing urban songs often written by immigrant Jews to a national audience of predominantly white Christians."Ella Fitzgerald also recorded albums exclusively devoted to the songs of Porter and Gershwin in 1972 and 1983, the albums being Ella Loves Cole and Nice Work If You Can Get It, respectively.Jobim, featuring the songs of Antonio Carlos Jobim.While recording the 'Songbooks' and the occasional studio album, Ella toured 40 to 45 weeks per year in the United States and internationally, under the tutelage of Norman Granz.Granz helped solidify Ella's position as one of the leading live jazz performers.American to perform at the Mocambo, after Marilyn Monroe had lobbied the owner for the booking.The booking was instrumental in Fitzgerald's career.The incident was turned into a play by Bonnie Greer in 2005.Ella's material at this time represent a curious departure away from her typical jazz repertoire; for Capitol she recorded Brighten the Corner, an album of Christian hymns, Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas, an album of traditional Christmas carols, Misty Blue, a country and western influenced album, and 30 by Ella, a series of six medleys that neatly fulfilled Ella's obligations for the label.The surprise success of the 1972 album Jazz at Santa Monica Civic '72 led Norman Granz to found his first record label since the sale of Verve, Pablo Records.Ella recorded some 20 albums for the label.Her years on Pablo documented the decline in her voice; "She frequently used shorter, stabbing phrases," one biographer of Fitzgerald wrote, "and her voice was harder, with a wider vibrato".Plagued by health problems, Fitzgerald made her last recording in 1991 and her last public performances in 1993.Personal life
Ella's almost constant touring and recording from the mid 1930s till the early 1990s made sustaining any relationship difficult.In 1941 she married Benny Kornegay, a convicted drug dealer and hustler.The marriage was annulled after two years.Francis, whom they christened Ray Brown, Jr.Fitzgerald and Brown divorced in 1953, due to the various career pressures both were experiencing at the time, though they would continue to perform together.The singer was also notoriously shy.She was a lonely girl around New York, just kept herself to herself, for the gig."In 1996 she died of the disease in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 79.Several of Fitzgerald's awards, significant personal possessions and documents were donated to the Smithsonian Institution, the library of Boston University, the Library of Congress, and the Schoenberg Library at UCLA.Film and television
In her most notable screen role, Fitzgerald played the part of singer Maggie Jackson in Jack Webb's 1955 jazz film Pete Kelly's Blues.Despite the fact that Ella had already worked in the movies (she had sung briefly in the 1942 Abbott and Costello film Ride 'Em Cowboy), she was "delighted" when Norman Granz negotiated the role for her, and, "at the time....Warner Brothers movie the biggest thing ever to have happened to her."Take the ingenious prologue....Or take the fleeting scenes when the wonderful Ella Fitzgerald, allotted a few spoken lines, fills the screen and sound track with her strong mobile features and voice."After Pete Kelly's Blues, the singer appeared in sporadic movie cameos, in St.Louis Blues (1958), and Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960).Much later, she appeared in the 1980s television drama The White Shadow.Perhaps her most unusual and intriguing performance was of the 'Three Little Maids' song from Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operetta The Mikado alongside Dame Joan Sutherland and Dinah Shore on Shore's popular weekly variety series in 1963.The tape was played back and the recording also broke the glass, asking "Is it live, or is it Memorex?"Fitzgerald also recorded a number of sides with Armstrong for Decca in the early 1950s.Fitzgerald features on one track on Basie's 1957 album One O'Clock Jump, but it is her 1963 album Ella and Basie!With the 'New Testament' Basie band in full swing, and arrangements written by a youthful Quincy Jones, this album proved a useful respite from the 'Songbook' recordings and constant touring that Fitzgerald was engaged in during this period.She recorded several albums with piano accompaniment, but a guitar proved the perfect melodic foil for her.Fitzgerald and Pass appeared together on the albums Take Love Easy (1973), Easy Living (1986), Speak Love (1983) and Fitzgerald and Pass...Azur for the 1966 album Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur, and in Sweden for The Stockholm Concert, 1966.Their 1965 album Ella at Duke's Place is also extremely well received.Fitzgerald had a number of famous jazz musicians and soloists as 'sidemen' over her long career.The trumpeters Roy Eldridge and Dizzy Gillespie, the guitarist Herb Ellis, and the pianists Tommy Flanagan, Oscar Peterson, Lou Levy, Paul Smith, Jimmy Rowles, and Ellis Larkins all worked with Ella mostly in live, small group settings.Statue of Ella Fitzgerald in Yonkers, New York.Bridgewater's following album, Live at Yoshi's, was recorded live on April 25th, 1998, what would have been Fitzgerald's 81st birthday.The album was nominated for a Grammy.Natalie Cole, Chaka Kahn, Gladys Knight, Diana Krall, k.The folk singer Odetta's album To Ella (1998) is dedicated to Fitzgerald, but features no songs associated with her, and Fitzgerald's long serving accompanist Tommy Flanagan affectionately remembered Fitzgerald on his album Lady be Good...Fitzgerald is also referred to on the 1987 song "Ella, elle l'a" by French singer France Gall, the 1976 Stevie Wonder hit, Sir Duke from his album Songs in the Key of Life, and the song 'I Love Being Here With You', written by Peggy Lee and Bill Schluger.If the content can be changed to be more encyclopedic rather than just a list of quotes, please do so and remove this message."Man, woman or child, Ella is the greatest of them all."Bing Crosby
"I call her the High Priestess of Song."Ira Gershwin
"She had a vocal range so wide you needed an elevator to go from the top to the bottom.In terms of musicianship, Ella Fitzgerald was beyond category."Amongst all of us who sing, she was the best."Dionne Warwick
"Her recordings will live forever..."The only thing better than singing is more singing.""Oh, I have gobs and gobs of ideas, but...They refuse to look for new ideas and new outlets, so they fall by the wayside...I'm going to try to find out the new ideas before the others do.""Once, when we were playing at the Apollo, Holiday was working a block away at the Harlem Opera House.And to know that you loved me for my singing is too much for me.Forgive me if I don't have all the words.Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz."Ella Fitzgerald, the Voice of Jazz, Dies at 79", The New York Times, 16 Jun 1996.Frank Rich (19 Jun 1996)."Sir Johnny up there with the Count and the Duke", Telegraph, UK, 31 Dec 2005.The Ella Fitzgerald Companion.Ella Fitzgerald: An Annotated Discography.External links
Ella Fitzgerald Complete Discography
Ella Fitzgerald at the Library of Congress
Ella Fitzgerald's FBI record
Ella Fitzgerald's Gravesite
Official Web Site of Ella Fitzgerald
Redsugar's Ella page
'Remembering Ella' by Phillip D.This page was last modified 19:19, 2 January 2008.See Copyrights for details.NPR's Louis Armstrong Centennial Radio Project: Ella Fitzgerald
Jazz critic Stanley Crouch profiles the great Ella Fitzgerald, who made beautiful music with Satchmo on the Verve label in the 1950s.Ella Fitzgerald was orphaned in early childhood and moved to New York to attend an orphanage school in Yonkers.NPR's Murray Horwitz and jazz critic and poet AB Spellman recommend Ella's Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie (Verve).Among their first projects was a
series of 11 songbooks dedicated to major American songwriters.She issued many recordings for Granz's labels and made
frequent appearances at jazz festivals with Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, Tommy Flanagan, and Joe Pass.Unlike trained
singers, she shows strain about the break in her voice (d' and beyond) which, however, she uses to expressive purpose in the building of climaxes.Louis Armstrong to Aretha Franklin) and jazz instruments.The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Oxford University Press.Copying or other reproduction is prohibited.Ella Fitzgerald was the most popular female jazz singer in the United States for more than half a century.In her lifetime, she won 13 Grammy awards and sold over 40 million albums.Or rather, some might say all the jazz greats had the pleasure of working with Ella.She performed at top venues all over the world, and packed them to the hilt.Her audiences were as diverse as her vocal range.Her father, William, and mother, Temperance (Tempie), parted ways shortly after her birth.Together, Tempie and Ella went to Yonkers, N.Frances, was born in 1923 and soon she began referring to Joe as her stepfather.Tempie worked at a laundromat and did some catering.Their apartment was in a mixed neighborhood, where Ella made friends easily.Unable to adjust to the new circumstances, Ella became increasingly unhappy and entered into a difficult period of her life.Her grades dropped dramatically, and she frequently skipped school.Eventually Ella escaped from the reformatory.Never one to complain, Ella later reflected on her most difficult years with an appreciation for how they helped her to mature.Apollo and she won the opportunity to compete in Amateur Night.Ella went to the theater that night planning to dance, but when the frenzied Edwards Sisters closed the main show, Ella changed her mind.On stage, however, Ella was surprised to find she had no fear.In the process he and Ella became lifelong friends, often working together.In January 1935 she won the chance to perform for a week with the Tiny Bradshaw band at the Harlem Opera House.Sing It) You Have to Swing It.During this time, the era of big swing bands was shifting, and the focus was turning more toward bebop.Throughout her career, Ella would master scat singing, turning it into a form of art.Suddenly, Ella Fitzgerald was famous.Perhaps in search of stability and protection, Ella married Benny Kornegay, a local dockworker who had been pursuing her.Upon learning that Kornegay had a criminal history, Ella realized that the relationship was a mistake and had the marriage annulled.The two were married and eventually adopted a son, whom they named Ray, Jr.Norman saw that Ella had what it took to be an international star, and he convinced Ella to sign with him.It was the beginning of a lifelong business relationship and friendship.Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, the Gershwins, Johnny Mercer, Irving Berlin, and Rodgers and Hart.Ella also began appearing on television variety shows.The two divorced in 1952, but remained good friends for the rest of their lives.Dizzy Gillespie and Illinois Jacquet were shooting dice, and arrested everyone.The press went overboard.Still going strong five years later, she was inducted into the Down Beat magazine Hall of Fame, and received Kennedy Center Honors for her continuing contributions to the arts.Outside of the arts, Ella had a deep concern for child welfare.Though this aspect of her life was rarely publicized, she frequently made generous donations to organizations for disadvantaged youths, and the continuation of these contributions was part of the driving force that prevented her from slowing down.France followed suit several years later, presenting her with their Commander of Arts and Letters award, while Yale, Dartmouth and several other universities bestowed Ella with honorary doctorates.End of an eraIn September of 1986, Ella underwent quintuple coronary bypass surgery.Doctors also replaced a valve in her heart and diagnosed her with diabetes, which they blamed for her failing eyesight.Despite protests by family and friends, including Norman, Ella returned to the stage and pushed on with an exhaustive schedule.Ella experienced severe circulatory problems and was forced to have both of her legs amputated below the knees.She never fully recovered from the surgery, and afterward, was rarely able to perform.On June 15, 1996, Ella Fitzgerald died in her Beverly Hills home.Hours later, signs of remembrance began to appear all over the world.After a private memorial service, traffic on the freeway was stopped to let her funeral procession pass through.Sunset Mission Mausoleum at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, Calif.You already voted for this item today.Her first dream was to be a dancer.Ella Fitzgerald stepped on stage, but was too intimidated to dance.It was the beginning of one of the most celebrated careers in music history.Born in Newport News, Virginia in 1917, Ella Fitzgerald moved with her mother to New York after the death of her father.After her early success at the Apollo, and as a popular performer at a number of other amateur venues, Fitzgerald was invited to join Chick Webb's band.After Webb's death in 1939, Fitzgerald led the band for three years.During her time with Webb's band, Fitzgerald recorded with a number of other musicians, including Benny Goodman.Her vibrant and energetic voice showed an exceptional range and control.Rivaled only by Frank Sinatra, her recordings of work by Cole Porter, Ira and George Gershwin, and Rogers and Hart were incredibly successful.Her true genius, however, was not formal innovation or deeper expression, but artistic renderings of the enthusiastic songs of her time.But the moment I hit the stage, it's a different feeling.More than anything, it is this love of performing that won her the hearts of millions throughout the world.By the 1970s, she was performing with a trio headed by pianist Tommy Flanagan, and regularly with dozens of different symphony orchestras.Two years later President Ronald Reagan awarded her the National Medal of Honor.Suffering continued health problems, Fitzgerald spent the last few years of her life in her Beverly Hills home.She was the best there ever was.From those early days on Harlem streets to the upper stratosphere of musical fame, Ella Fitzgerald's life was the quintessential American success story.Grammys and more than forty million records sold, she elevated swing, bebop, and ballads to their highest potential.She was, undeniably, the First Lady of Song.ET
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Williams, T.Sign in to get personalized recommendations.Hours() * 3600 + newCurrentTime.Minutes() * 60 + newCurrentTime.See all 29 customer reviews...Ships from and sold by Amazon.Want it delivered Tuesday, January 8?Day Shipping at checkout.This item is part of our Music Deals Store, where you'll find extra savings on hundreds of CDs across all genres.See all 29 customer reviews...Music (See Bestsellers in Music)Popular in these categories: (What's this?To hear a song sample, click on "Listen" by that sample.Visit our audio help page for more information.Sheet music for Ella fitzgerald at Sheet Music Plus.Pick your songs, enter your number.Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?The easiest way to shoot video reviews.Ella in a very round about way.I'm amazed every time I listen to this collection, which is quite often.I'm so glad to have found this sanctuary that is Ella Fitzgerald.But this is a great introduction to her amazing, prolific career and even includes collaborations with Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong.How could you go wrong with a line up like that?Don't miss out on this collection!It's difficult to choose between this collection of Ella Fitzgerald's work and the collection Ken Burns issued along with Jazz.Ella Fitzgerald, but it's a shame to miss out on the early stuff.Still, if I really HAD to limit myself to only one Ella Fitzgerald CD, it would have to be this one.Fitzgerald and Armstrong together.Their honey and sandpaper voices play off each other in a way that defies description.Was this review helpful to you?In this case, Pure Ella is pure fun, a great package of famous performances of milestone songs.Even if you have a stack of Ella albums, this one is worth buying.See all 29 customer reviews...Absolutely stellar CD
Wow!The 18 cuts here say all that needs to be said about the art of Ella Fitzgerald.Published 3 months ago by Steven A.It's Ella, a pure delight from beginning to end.These arrangements are very well orchestrated, and the recordings let Ella's voice shine...Good, but not enough
I really like Ella Fitzgerald.She was probably the greatest Jazz singer ever.Published 12 months ago by A.Every track on this CD brought out Ella's
superiority of a vocal artist.Ella live in concert
two times.The most talented singer of our time!The first time I heard her voice I was hooked!I'm only 20 years old and I just looooove her music so much.Published on June 22, 2005 by A.She opens her mouth and heaven flows.This Fella Loves Ella
Ella is an extraordinary and refreshing exception to most Jazz vocalists.Many Jazz singers have a very bad technique, producing their sound from their throats in an unhealthy...Published on February 21, 2004 by Trevor M.Most underrated guitar player in rock history...Be the first person to add an article about this item at Amapedia.Music You Should Hear: Artists' PicksWant to know what Norah Jones, Sting, and Il Divo are listening to?Find out in Music You Should Hear, where these and other artists tell you about the music they love.If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?Track your recent orders.View or change your orders in Your Account.Visit our Help department.You have no recently viewed items or searches.After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.Update Your Cell In Under 30 Seconds with Ella Fitzgerald Ringtones.ManneredSweetCheerfulReflectiveBittersweetLivelySentimentalVocalsOther EntriesMovie EntryClassical Music EntryAMG Artist IDP 6503Corrections to this Entry?Biographyby Scott Yanow"The First Lady of Song," Ella Fitzgerald was arguably the finest female jazz singer of all time (although some may vote for Sarah Vaughan or Billie Holiday).The one fault was that, since she always sounded so happy to be singing, Fitzgerald did not always dig below the surface of the lyrics she interpreted and she even made a downbeat song such as "Love for Sale" sound joyous.One could never guess from her singing that Ella Fitzgerald's early days were as grim as ...Claire BarlowKT TunstallBrandi ShearerAlexa Ray JoelSt.Moved Permanently
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Y!"The First Lady of Song," Ella Fitzgerald was arguably the finest female jazz singer of all time (although some may vote for Sarah Vaughan or Billie Holiday).Blessed with a beautiful voice and a wide range, Fitzgerald could...CD of hers playing in the back.While I was trying to figure out some way around having to ask, I got lucky, and someone else asked.She needs no more introduction.My heart melts at the mention of her name.Rather than feeling like your voice sounds stupid next to hers, her voice
encourages you to belt out the song along with her.I've never heard anyone do Love For Sale, Night and Day, Don't Fence Me In, I've Got You Under
My Skin, Anything Goes, Lets Do It, Begin the Beguine, or any of this others, with the spirit and talent that Ella did.It's meant to cheer you up and want to sing along, and that's what Ella always did.Most of my friends listen
primarily to punk and heavy metal music, like me, and have no interest in jazz, but I have never played Ella Fitzgerald for
anyone who didn't rush right out and buy her CDs, and listen to them incessantly.Soundgarden, Ella, NOFX, Ella, Marilyn
Manson, Ella, Black Sabbath, Ella, Misfits, Ella, Korn, Ella.She doesn't interfere with your other musical tastes, she's
just a whole different thing that you never imagined until the first time you heard her voice.As long as
they don't call me 'Grandma Jazz.She could sing with a full orchestra, or just with a guitar.She could sing specifically Harlem high life songs like "When I Get Low I Get High" and "Wacky
Dust," with as much ease as she did songs from foreign countries and lifestyles like "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen," "MacPherson
is Rehearsin'," and "Irish Black Bottom," (she was better at the swinging o' the green than many Irish and Scots singers of
the time), and even "Swinging on the Reservation."According to various biographers, Ella was born in Newport News, Virginia, on April 25, 1917,
but moved to Yonkers with her stepfather and mother, as an infant.Very little is known about
her early childhood, but the most romantic rumor is that she ran way from her abusive stepfather after her mother died, and
made money by singing and dancing on the sidewalks of Harlem and by telling the prostitutes when the police were coming.The Apollo was then nothing but a cool local club in Harlem, not a landmark.Ella
said, "And the man said, 'well, you're out here, do something!Fortunately, Bardou Ali, the showman of Chick Webb's band, heard her and decided she was worth
the expense.I'd heard Connee Boswell do," Fitzgerald recalled, "Chick had a boy singer and didn't want a girl, and he
grudgingly said, 'well, we're playing Yale tomorrow.Get on the band bus and, if they like you there, you've got a job.Once Webb had been convinced, Fitzgerald still had to audition for
the band's manager, Moe Gale.Gale looked at her and said "Ah no, Chick."Listen to the voice," Chick said, "Don't
look at her."Physically,
mentally, and spiritually, she was such a beautiful person.Upon hearing Fitzgerald sing, Gale was speechless (even at 16, how could he not be?Tasket" in 1938, but Fitzgerald consolidated it.It was her idea, and she and Feldman created it just for her.It was perfect for her age and style.It was Chick's only
number one record and Ella's most popular for several years.It was at the top of the Hit Parade for almost the whole year.It's a great song, but she sings it rather seriously, for a nursery rhyme.The original is nothing compared to her later
versions of it, in my opinion, when she really sang it with the hilarity it deserved.By 20 she was a legend in Harlem, and
her voice drew audiences from south of 125th street too.She had as many fans within her genre as she did throughout the world.Bennett declaimed, apropos of nothing, "now that's my idea of a great singer!"When she was making "There's No Business Like Show Business," her first musical, her
trainer bought her a whole bunch of Ella Fitzgerald records, and told her to listen to them constantly.Fitzgerald simply exists in tune, and she hits every note that there is without
the slightest trace of effort.Fitzgerald always
sounds like she's already there.If anything, she's descending from her heavenly perch and swooping down to whatever pitch
she wants."Betts says of her, "a real
true artist is like a projector."She had a vocal range so wide you needed an elevator to go from the top to the bottom.Her artistry, wrote Duke Ellington,"brings to mind the words of the maestro, Mr.In terms of musicianship, Ella Fitzgerald was beyond
category."Ella Fitzgerald sing them," said Ira
Gershwin.Ella's film credits include Pete Kelly's Blues, St.Carol Burnett (the others are before my time) but I'm willing to bet I did.She won zillions of awards over the years.She won the Esquire Gold and Silver Awards in 1946 and 1947, first place in the
Down Beat's Critics' Poll 18 years in a row, starting with its creation in the 60s, and first place in Playboy's poll for 13
years.Society of Singers named an award after her, and even near the end, after 60 years of
cheering fans, hearing the unbridled roar of her audience, she was amazed at it."In all those years, and all those
performances, she still couldn't believe the response of the crowd."She was shy and often too insecure to speak, so she let her songs do the talking.Friends did the talking for her at her many tributes.Although I always refer to her as "Ella," I'm sure I would've have
enough respect (and hopefully presence of mind) to call her Miss Fitzgerald, or probably just "Ma'am," if I'd ever had the
pleasure of meeting her.She was married twice, but who really needs that?She was a private person, with her own insecurities and needs, and husbands
often don't mix with a personality like that.With her second husband, bassist Ray Brown, she had a son, Ray
Brown Jr.She had health problems, beginning with her eyes in the seventies and continuing with her heart in the eighties, which slowed
her career, but she continued to perform, even if she was on crutches, until the early nineties.Her fans, ranging in age from their teens to their eighties, still raced to see her.At the same time, it's so wonderful that her talent hasn't been lost.It could just as easily have been created a week ago, and won't sound old
50 years from now, when my grandkids are just learning to listen to her.There will never be anyone who even comes close to
her talent.The glory and risk of her genius were the type that exist only once on a planet like this.I've been meaning to do this for years.They are amazing, and are big fans like
you and me! |
