Celebrating Our History In Music
My earliest memory of Ella Fitzgerald was when she was shattering glass in the Memorex commercials. It did not matter to me if she was “live or Memorex“, I was fascinated. I saw Ella perform live when I was 18 at the Chicago Jazz Festival. I was totally captivated by magnificent voice. I was fortunate to see her perform again at the Chicago Jazz Festival in the early 90’s before she went to sing with the angels in 1996.
Favorite Ella Songs: “Lady Be Good“, “How High The Moon“, “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered“, “Air Mail Special“, “Mr. Paginini“, and “Night and Day”
Favorite Ella Albums: “Like Someone In Love“, “The Complete Ella in Berlin: Mack The Knife“, “Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas“, “First Lady of Song“, “Ella and Louis“, and “These Are The Blues”
The Ultimate Ella Box Set: “The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books” (The quintesessetial 16 CD box set)
Favorite Ella Documentary: American Masters Series: Ella Fitzgerald “Something To Live For”
Very gifted and talented vocalist Ledisi will be performing an 85th anniversary tribute to Ella Fitzgerald backed by the Marcus Shelby 15-piece orchestra on Friday, February 21 at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco. The tribute is part of the second annual San Francisco Black History Month Celebration, an event presented by SF Noir, a Bay Area black arts and culture organization. For more details, please see the JazzTimes article or the SF Noir website.
My favorite Ella Fitzgerald song is Harold Arlen’s Blues in the Night.
I discovered the songbooks in college (in the 1980s) and loved the Gershwin and Ellington songbooks the best.
She is amazing and it’s a shame if her legacy is reduced to a song like “A Tisket A Tasket.”
Okay, don’t hate me; I’m just keeping it real. I have always had a tough time discerning between Ella and Sarah. Why is that?
There is a distinct difference between the two of them though they may have covered some of the same songs. Sarah was classically trained which gave her more of an operatic sound and Ella’s scatting was just beyond the imagination. Listen to each of their recordings from the 40’s and 50’s. You will definitely hear the difference. Also, both of them are featured on Quincy Jones’ “Back on the Block” which was recorded a year before Sarah passed in 1990.
Mr. J-notes must love “How High The Moon” since it was listed twice, unless those were different versions mentioned. I like it, too, along with “Night and Day” and “Dream a Little Dream of Me” both with and without Louis Armstrong. I grew up listening to Fitzgerald because my dad is such a big fan. He has a lot of swing and big band albums, but Fitzgerald was one of his favorites.
Joey,
Thank you very much for bring the error to my attention. It has been corrected and replaced with “Night and Day” which is also a favorite of mine.
hi! just happen to bump into your site here 🙂
i was looking for ella’s mr. paginini’s lyric..
do you have it?