Biography by 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). Blessed with a
beautiful voice and a wide range, Fitzgerald could outswing
anyone, was a brilliant scat singer, and had near-perfect
elocution; one could always understand the words she sang.
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. However, when one
evaluates her career on a whole, there is simply no one else
in her class.
One could never guess from her singing that Ella
Fitzgerald's early days were as grim as Billie Holiday's.
Growing up in poverty, Fitzgerald was literally homeless for
the year before she got her big break. In 1934, she appeared
at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, winning an amateur contest
by singing "Judy" in the style of her idol, Connee Boswell.
After a short stint with Tiny Bradshaw, Fitzgerald was
brought to the attention of Chick Webb by Benny Carter (who
was in the audience at the Apollo). Webb, who was not
impressed by the 17-year-old's appearance, was reluctantly
persuaded to let her sing with his orchestra on a
one-nighter. She went over well and soon the drummer
recognized her commercial potential. Starting in 1935,
Fitzgerald began recording with Webb's Orchestra, and by
1937 over half of the band's selections featured her voice.
"A-Tisket, A-Tasket" became a huge hit in 1938 and
"Undecided" soon followed. During this era, Fitzgerald was
essentially a pop/swing singer who was best on ballads while
her medium-tempo performances were generally juvenile
novelties. She already had a beautiful voice but did not
improvise or scat much; that would develop later.
On June 16, 1939, Chick Webb died. It was decided that
Fitzgerald would front the orchestra even though she had
little to do with the repertoire or hiring or firing the
musicians. She retained her popularity and when she broke up
the band in 1941 and went solo; it was not long before her
Decca recordings contained more than their share of hits.
She was teamed with the Ink Spots, Louis Jordan, and the
Delta Rhythm Boys for some best-sellers, and in 1946 began
working regularly for Norman Granz's Jazz at the
Philharmonic. Granz became her manager although it would be
nearly a decade before he could get her on his label. A
major change occurred in Fitzgerald's singing around this
period. She toured with Dizzy Gillespie's big band, adopted
bop as part of her style, and started including exciting
scat-filled romps in her set. Her recordings of "Lady Be
Good," "How High the Moon," and "Flying Home" during
1945-1947 became popular and her stature as a major jazz
singer rose as a result. For a time (December 10,
1947-August 28, 1953) she was married to bassist Ray Brown
and used his trio as a backup group. Fitzgerald's series of
duets with pianist Ellis Larkins in 1950 (a 1954 encore with
Larkins was a successful follow-up) found her interpreting
George Gershwin songs, predating her upcoming Songbooks
series.
After appearing in the film Pete Kelly's Blues in 1955,
Fitzgerald signed with Norman Granz's Verve label and over
the next few years she would record extensive Songbooks of
the music of Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Rodgers & Hart,
Duke Ellington, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, and Johnny
Mercer. Although (with the exception of the Ellington sets)
those were not her most jazz-oriented projects (Fitzgerald
stuck mostly to the melody and was generally accompanied by
string orchestras), the prestigious projects did a great
deal to uplift her stature. At the peak of her powers around
1960, Fitzgerald's hilarious live version of "Mack the
Knife" (in which she forgot the words and made up her own)
from Ella in Berlin is a classic and virtually all of her
Verve recordings are worth getting.
Fitzgerald's Capitol and Reprise recordings of 1967-1970 are
not on the same level as she attempted to "update" her
singing by including pop songs such as "Sunny" and "I Heard
It Through the Grapevine," sounding quite silly in the
process. But Fitzgerald's later years were saved by Norman
Granz's decision to form a new label, Pablo. Starting with a
Santa Monica Civic concert in 1972 that is climaxed by
Fitzgerald's incredible version of "C Jam Blues" (in which
she trades off with and "battles" five classic jazzmen),
Fitzgerald was showcased in jazz settings throughout the
1970s with the likes of Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, and Joe
Pass, among others. Her voice began to fade during this era
and by the 1980s her decline due to age was quite
noticeable. Troubles with her eyes and heart knocked her out
of action for periods of time, although her increasingly
rare appearances found Fitzgerald still retaining her sense
of swing and joyful style. By 1994, Ella Fitzgerald was in
retirement and she passed away two years later, but she
remains a household name and scores of her recordings are
easily available on CD.
Content provided by All Music Guide. Copyright 2008 All Media
Guide, LLC.
