Ella Fitzgerald
Script error: No such module "AfC submission catcheck". Introduction Ella Jane Fitzgerald was a Jazz singer in the 1930s known as “The first Lady of Swing”. She was praised for her elegance and vocal technique that granted her great versatility in her repertoire. She was also the main figure in “scat singing” which means the use of the vocals as an instrument by intonating improvised vocals in an instrument-like way. She worked with great jazz artists such as Chick Webb, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Biography Fitzgerald was born in Newport News the 25th of April of 1917. She was raised in Yonkers where she learnt how to dance and sung in Churches. Her mother died early in her life and thus went to live in Harlem with her aunt. Her aunt would treat her like and orphan. She was in and out of her home and sometimes living in the streets. She began her career early in life at the age of 16 when she dropped out of school and won the 1934 Apollo Harlem voice competition in New York. Chick Webb, American jazz drummer and bandleader, was present at that competition and was astonished by young Ella´s vocal range. Webb hired Ella for his orchestra in which she was the singer between 1934 and 1939. After Webb´s death in 1939, Fitzgerald went on to be the bandleader of the Chick Webb Band for 2 more years. Ella made her first record in 1935 with the Chick Webb Band titled Love & Kisses. After leaving the Chick Webb Band she began her solo career where she recorder her first solo album titled My Wubba Dolly. During her first years, her career consisted mainly of several collaborations with musicians in noire music. Such musicians include Louis Armstrong. In 1946, she initiated a tour through all of the United States, which put her on the spot for the whole country. She also worked with the producer Norman Granz and travelled Europe and Asia. She also performed in the established Jazz at the Philharmonic. By the 1950s she already made a name for herself and contributed with important musicians such as Duke Ellington and Cole Porter. This was her prime as a jazz singer. In 1955 she even made an appearance in the film Pete Kelly´s Blues. Through all these years she has been affiliated with the record label Decco, where she wrote mainly pop ballads. However, in 1956, she signed a deal with the record label Verve. This took a shift in her career in which she started to get closer to jazz. With them she recorder more than 250 songs by mid-seventies. Her orchestral recordings are considered of the bests in jazz history. Among them are Count & Ella (1963), where she collaborated with Count Basie and Quincy Jones; Ella sings the Cole Porter Playbook (1956), which is considered her best work; and A classy Pair (1979) with Count Basie again. Other honorable events of Ella Fitzgerald include her performance at Carnegie Hall, New York with Duke Ellington in 1958, numerous Europe performances with the Oscar Peterson Trio. Death In the 60´s her musical career took a pause due to Diabetes Mellitus. She came back mid-seventies and kept recording and performing. In 1986, she had an open-heart surgery, in which she came back to the stage a year later. Her last couple of albums: 30 by Ella and Misty Blue, both recorded in 1991 show her emotional strength. She eventually died June 15th of 1996 in Beverly Hills, California. Music innovations Ella Fitzgerald was a vocalist with unparalleled technique, creativity, range, rhythmic dexterity, and musical genius. She boasted a 4-octave range without her falsetto, which is very impressive and very shocking considering her shy offstage personality, which contrasted with the vivacious and aggressive personality she adopted onstage which delighted audiences. She was considered a “musician´s musician”. She was considered the gold standard for jazz and pop singing during the 50´s and 60´s Vocal style: even though she rarely sang the blues, her voice had a deep blues feeling but with a lot of energy and excitement. She uses cries and growls to play around with her vocal timbre which was exceptional and described as having a luscious, ripe quality. She was the preeminent to the vocal scat soloing. Scat singing is the “jazz vocal style using emotive, onomatopoeic, and nonsense syllables instead of words in solo improvisations on a melody.” She improvises vocally over advanced harmonies like and instruments would do. This led to not only singers, but also instrumentalists being jealous of her improvisation technique. In her song, Blue Skies you can clearly hear her imaginative scat-singing, instrumental-like riffs and motives, varied rhythm and unusual vocal timbres, and unexpected melodic quotations. Prejudices Even though her career was very successful and she was largely recognized in her era, Ella Fitzgerald did suffer from some racial prejudices early in her career. Back in 1934 when she was participating in these competitions, despite her astonishing singing, various bandleaders didn´t want to hire her because of her bad looks. She was described as a “big clunky girl, awkward in manner and badly dressed”. This shows once again the dark side of the music industry, and how prejudices can get in the way of an amazing woman innovator and singer. Who she inspired Ella Fitzgerald was a great inspiration for not just jazz singers and musicians, but a lot of icons in popular music today. Some of the people that were inspired by Ella includes: Adele, Mica Paris, Lady Gaga, Lana del Rey, KT Tunstall, Katie Melua , and finally, the Rolling Stones, especially guitarists Keith Richards.
References[edit]
Introduction Ella Jane Fitzgerald was a Jazz singer in the 1930s known as “The first Lady of Swing”. She was praised for her elegance and vocal technique that granted her great versatility in her repertoire. She was also the main figure in “scat singing” which means the use of the vocals as an instrument by intonating improvised vocals in an instrument-like way. She worked with great jazz artists such as Chick Webb, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Biography Fitzgerald was born in Newport News the 25th of April of 1917. She was raised in Yonkers where she learnt how to dance and sung in Churches. Her mother died early in her life and thus went to live in Harlem with her aunt. Her aunt would treat her like and orphan. She was in and out of her home and sometimes living in the streets. She began her career early in life at the age of 16 when she dropped out of school and won the 1934 Apollo Harlem voice competition in New York. Chick Webb, American jazz drummer and bandleader, was present at that competition and was astonished by young Ella´s vocal range. Webb hired Ella for his orchestra in which she was the singer between 1934 and 1939. After Webb´s death in 1939, Fitzgerald went on to be the bandleader of the Chick Webb Band for 2 more years. Ella made her first record in 1935 with the Chick Webb Band titled Love & Kisses. After leaving the Chick Webb Band she began her solo career where she recorder her first solo album titled My Wubba Dolly. During her first years, her career consisted mainly of several collaborations with musicians in noire music. Such musicians include Louis Armstrong. In 1946, she initiated a tour through all of the United States, which put her on the spot for the whole country. She also worked with the producer Norman Granz and travelled Europe and Asia. She also performed in the established Jazz at the Philharmonic. By the 1950s she already made a name for herself and contributed with important musicians such as Duke Ellington and Cole Porter. This was her prime as a jazz singer. In 1955 she even made an appearance in the film Pete Kelly´s Blues. Through all these years she has been affiliated with the record label Decco, where she wrote mainly pop ballads. However, in 1956, she signed a deal with the record label Verve. This took a shift in her career in which she started to get closer to jazz. With them she recorder more than 250 songs by mid-seventies. Her orchestral recordings are considered of the bests in jazz history. Among them are Count & Ella (1963), where she collaborated with Count Basie and Quincy Jones; Ella sings the Cole Porter Playbook (1956), which is considered her best work; and A classy Pair (1979) with Count Basie again. Other honorable events of Ella Fitzgerald include her performance at Carnegie Hall, New York with Duke Ellington in 1958, numerous Europe performances with the Oscar Peterson Trio. Death In the 60´s her musical career took a pause due to Diabetes Mellitus. She came back mid-seventies and kept recording and performing. In 1986, she had an open-heart surgery, in which she came back to the stage a year later. Her last couple of albums: 30 by Ella and Misty Blue, both recorded in 1991 show her emotional strength. She eventually died June 15th of 1996 in Beverly Hills, California. Music innovations Ella Fitzgerald was a vocalist with unparalleled technique, creativity, range, rhythmic dexterity, and musical genius. She boasted a 4-octave range without her falsetto, which is very impressive and very shocking considering her shy offstage personality, which contrasted with the vivacious and aggressive personality she adopted onstage which delighted audiences. She was considered a “musician´s musician”. She was considered the gold standard for jazz and pop singing during the 50´s and 60´s Vocal style: even though she rarely sang the blues, her voice had a deep blues feeling but with a lot of energy and excitement. She uses cries and growls to play around with her vocal timbre which was exceptional and described as having a luscious, ripe quality. She was the preeminent to the vocal scat soloing. Scat singing is the “jazz vocal style using emotive, onomatopoeic, and nonsense syllables instead of words in solo improvisations on a melody.” She improvises vocally over advanced harmonies like and instruments would do. This led to not only singers, but also instrumentalists being jealous of her improvisation technique. In her song, Blue Skies you can clearly hear her imaginative scat-singing, instrumental-like riffs and motives, varied rhythm and unusual vocal timbres, and unexpected melodic quotations. Prejudices Even though her career was very successful and she was largely recognized in her era, Ella Fitzgerald did suffer from some racial prejudices early in her career. Back in 1934 when she was participating in these competitions, despite her astonishing singing, various bandleaders didn´t want to hire her because of her bad looks. She was described as a “big clunky girl, awkward in manner and badly dressed”. This shows once again the dark side of the music industry, and how prejudices can get in the way of an amazing woman innovator and singer. Who she inspired Ella Fitzgerald was a great inspiration for not just jazz singers and musicians, but a lot of icons in popular music today. Some of the people that were inspired by Ella includes: Adele, Mica Paris, Lady Gaga, Lana del Rey, KT Tunstall, Katie Melua , and finally, the Rolling Stones, especially guitarists Keith Richards.
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