 |
     |
Born: 1917 04 25
iSound Site: www.isound.com/ella_fitzgerald
|
|
|
| In 1934, an awkward sixteen-year-old girl made her singing debut at the the Harlem Apollo Theatre amateur night in New York City. She intended to dance, but she lost her nerve when she got on stage. The man said, do something while youre out there, the singer later recalled. |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Romance and Rhythm
by Ella Fitzgerald
|
 |
|
Label: Proper Box UK
2004-06-28
Media: Audio CD
|
|
|
| |
Tracklisting:
1. Love and Kisses
2. My Melancholy Baby
3. All My Life
4. Sing Me a Swing Song (And Let Me Dance)
5. (If You Can't Sing It) You'll Have to Swing It
6. Goodnight My Love
7. Oh Yes, Take Another Guess
8. Did You Mean It?
9. Organ Grinder's Swing
10. Darktown Strutters' Ball
11. Big Boy Blue
12. Dedicated to You
13. All Over Nothing at All
14. If You Ever Should Leave
15. I Got a Guy
16. Rock It for Me
17. I Want to Be Happy
18. Dipsy Doodle
19. If Dreams Come True
20. Hallellujah!
21. It's Wonderful
22. I Was Doing All Right
23. A-Tisket, A-Tasket
24. If You Only Knew
25. Ella
26. F.D.R
27. I Found My Yellow Basket
28. Undecided
29. Tain't What You Do (It's the Way That Cha Do It)
30. My Heart Belongs to Daddy
31. Chew-Chew-Chew (Your Bubble Gum)
32. Don't Worry 'Bout Me
33. If Anything Happened to You
34. If You Ever Change Your Mind
35. Little White Lies
36. Stairway to the Stars
37. I Want the Waiter (With the Water)
38. Out of Nowhere
39. You're Gonna Lose Your Gal
40. Moon Ray
41. Sugar Blues
42. Starlit Hour
43. What's the Matter With Me?
44. Baby, Won't You Please Come Home?
45. If It Weren't for You
46. Sing Song Swing
47. Imagination
48. Deedle-De-Dum
49. Shake Down the Stars
50. Gulf Coast Blues
51. Five O'Clock Whistle
52. Louisville K-Y
53. Taking a Chance on Love
54. Cabin in the Sky
55. I'm the Lonesomest Gal in Town
56. Three Little Words
57. Hello Ma! I Done It Again
58. One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else)
59. My Man
60. I Can't Believe That You're in Love With Me
61. I Must Have That Man
62. When My Sugar Walks Down the Street
63. I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good
64. Can't Help Lovin' That Man
65. Jim
66. This Love of Mine
67. Somebody Nobody Loves
68. Make Love to Me
69. Mama Come Home
70. He's My Guy
71. Cow Cow Boogie
72. Once Too Often
73. Time Alone Will Tell
74. Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall
75. And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine
76. I'm Beginning to See the Light
77. It's Only a Paper Moon
78. Flying Home
79. Stone Cold Death in the Market (He Had It Coming)
80. You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart)
81. Frim Fram Sauce
82. Sentimental Journey
83. Oh, Lady Be Good
84. Robbin's Nest
85. How High the Moon
86. Baby It's Cold Outside
87. Basin Street Blues
88. Don'cha Go 'Way Mad
89. Dream a Little Dream of Me
90. Looking for a Boy
91. My One and Only
92. How Long Has This Been Going On
93. I've Got a Crush on You
94. But Not for Me
95. Soon
96. Someone to Watch Over Me
97. Maybe
98. Smooth Sailing
99. Airmail Special
100. Rough Ridin'
|
|
|
In 1934, an awkward sixteen-year-old girl made her singing debut at the the Harlem Apollo Theatre amateur night in New York City. She intended to dance, but she lost her nerve when she got on stage. The man said, do something while youre out there, the singer later recalled. So I tried to sing Object of My Affection and Judy, and I won first prize. She drew the attention of the bandleader Chick Webb. After personally coaching the shy performer, Webb introduced her at the Savoy Theatre one evening as his orchestras singer *. That evening marked the beginning of Ella Jane Fitzgeralds singing career. One of the great compliments paid to Ella was from Ira Gershwin who said \'I didnt realise our songs were so good until Ella sang them.
Ellas life was marked both by extreme highs and lows. Born in Newport News, Virginia in 1917 and orphaned at the age of 15, Ella was placed in the Colored Orphan Asylum in Riverdale, one of the few orphanages at the time that accepted Afro-American children. From there, she was transferred to the New York State Training School for Girls, a reformatory at which State investigations later revealed wide-spread physical abuse. Having escaped from the reformatory, Ella was literally living in the streets of Harlem when she was discovered by Webb. She was married twice, first at the age of 24 to a shady character by the name of Benjamin Kornegay, and then again to bass player Ray Brown at the age of 30. Both marriages ended in divorce. A diabetic for many years, the disease compromised her vision as well as her circulatory system before taking her life. In 1992, both of her legs were amputated below the knee due to diabetes related circulatory problems. As an artist, however, Ella achieved legendary success in a career that spanned six decades, yielded recordings numbering into the thousands, and earned the singer countless awards including a Kennedy Center Award for her contributions to the performing arts, honorary doctorate degrees from Dartmouth and Yale, and thirteen Grammy Awards.
Despite never having received formal vocal training, Ellas technique and range rivalled that of the conservatory trained singer. Throughout her three-octave vocal range, Ellas voice remained uniform in its clarity and child-like timbre. Her diction was unfailingly crisp, and her intonation was absolutely flawless. Coupled with this textbook-perfect technique, Ella had an improvisational talent on par with that of the best jazz instrumentalists. Her spontaneous, often pyrotechnic scat vocalisations, in fact, were a trademark of her style.
In looking back upon Ellas rich catalogue of recordings, the name of Norman Granz consistently emerges in conjunction with that of Ellas. Ella met the record producer and founder of both the Verve and Pablo jazz labels in 1949, after which the two developed a working relationship which lasted forty years. Under the direction of Norman Granz, Ella recorded her legendary songbook albums — a series of albums each devoted to the songs of a particular American composer. Between the years of 1956 and 1964, Ella recorded songbook albums featuring the music of Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern and Johnny Mercer. Collectively, these are one of Ellas crowning achievements. Granz also produced Ellas phenomenal collaborations with Count Basie and Duke Ellington, respectively entitled On the Sunny Side of the Street and Ella at Dukes Place. All of these recordings are on the Verve label, and are available on CD. After founding the Pablo label, Granz recorded the four Ella Fitzgerald/Joe Pass duet albums, each of which are deservedly considered jazz classics.
As amazing as Ellas musical talents were, equally amazing was the fact that she managed not to fall through the cracks of the segregated child welfare system of the 1930s. A victim of poverty and abuse, Ella was able to transcend circumstance and develop into one of the greatest singers that America produced. Ella died on June 15th 1996 of complications associated with diabetes. She was 79 years old. Despite suffering poor health Ella remained an active performer until 1992. She passed away two years later, but she remains a household name and scores of her recordings are easily available on CD.
Bio written by: ellano1fanfureva |
|
|
|
|
|
Add to Profile