"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. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
100 Hits Legends
20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Ella Fitzgerald & Louis A