SCREENINGS FOR ELLA
“….any day with Ella Fitzgerald is a grand day. ….that song [is] another one I hadn’t heard before.” –from a June 13 comment to my last (June 6th) post by Silver Screenings (a blog published by ‘Ruth’)
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In my reply to Ruth, I noted that with June 15 nearing (the 23rd anniversary of Ella’s death), I’d use the occasion to post a remembrance, including clips of other songs she may not have heard Ella sing. Over the years, I’ve probably done over a dozen Ella clips, including a half dozen in my April 25th post titled THE FIRST LADY OF SONG. After screening a few previous Ella posts to try to avoid repetition, hopefully the songs that follow will fall fresh on Ruth’s ‘Ella-fan-true’ ears (as opposed to mistermuse’s Elephant ears).
Let’s start with an early Ella (as ‘girl’ vocalist with Chick Webb’s Orchestra in April 1936):
Next, we turn from the swinging Ella to a more dreamy Ella:
Before you tune out, I know some of you guys aren’t fans of my kind of music (or the songbirds who warble it), so next time I’ll consider a return to posting about your (and Mexico’s) favorite tweeter of note, Donaldo el Trumpo — mean-o-while, I bid you a fond….
blindzanygirl 1:26 am on June 15, 2019 Permalink |
SUCH a Lady!
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calmkate 3:18 am on June 15, 2019 Permalink |
What a Woman, What a Voice … love your choice of song!
Assassination is the only option … and I don’t mean Ella, she’s moved on
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mistermuse 7:52 am on June 15, 2019 Permalink |
As much as I’d like to sing “That’s All, Brother” to Donaldo El Trumpo, assassinating a human being is against the law — not that Donaldo is human, or that he has a problem with breaking the law whenever it’s in the way of what he wants.
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calmkate 8:55 am on June 15, 2019 Permalink
damn I thought it was a right of passage for your presidents …
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Rivergirl 7:26 am on June 15, 2019 Permalink |
Ella was before my time… but it doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the talent.
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mistermuse 7:55 am on June 15, 2019 Permalink |
Well said.
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Elizabeth 4:36 pm on June 15, 2019 Permalink |
Funny how often Ella is an answer in a crossword puzzle. Thanks for sharing some music.
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mistermuse 5:33 pm on June 15, 2019 Permalink |
I seldom do crossword puzzles anymore, but I’m glad to hear she’s still remembered in them.
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masercot 1:10 pm on June 16, 2019 Permalink |
Band leaders back then wanted eye-candy. Ella was NOT that. But, talent will come out in the end.
She sang a number in an Abbott and Costello movie (Tisket a Tasket, I think). It was fun seeing her so young.
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mistermuse 4:30 pm on June 16, 2019 Permalink |
Actually, Chick Webb’s was one of the better jazz bands of the Swing era, and while it didn’t hurt to be good-looking, I don’t think Chick or most of the top jazz leaders hired mediocre vocalists (though I grant you that wasn’t the case with some of the ‘sweet’ bands back then).
At any rate, I’m glad you enjoyed the clips, and you’re right about Ella singing that song in an Abbott and Costello movie (it was RIDE ‘EM COWBOY, 1942).
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Don Ostertag 1:26 pm on June 20, 2019 Permalink |
She was so great, both as a singer and a person. I had the good luck to have worked her many times. When she was on stage I never left the wings. I listen to her darn near every day. Doesn’t seem like it has been 23 years since she died.
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mistermuse 4:15 pm on June 20, 2019 Permalink |
Thanks for your comment, Don.
I only saw her once in person (at a hotel in San Francisco almost 40 years ago). She of course sang great, but my most vivid memory of that night was when she paused in the middle of a song and asked a smoker (who was seated right in front of the stage) to put out his cigarette because the smoke was drifting up into her face and throat. You probably have some ‘unscripted’ moments of Ella as well — if you’d care to share one of them, I invite you to do so.
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Don Ostertag 5:06 pm on June 20, 2019 Permalink
No stories actually because she was so easy to work and so polite to every one. The first time I ever saw her was at a jazz club shortly after I got out of the service. I was sitting next to a ‘cat’ and we got to talking, waiting for her to come on. She came on, smiled at my new friend and after her first song introduced him. He had told me his name was Joe, but not that he was Philly Joe Jones, the drummer with the Miles Davis Quintet. Then later he introduced me to Ella and told her that I was in love with her. I didn’t deny it.
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mistermuse 6:55 pm on June 20, 2019 Permalink |
That’s a great story in itself, Don. I wouldn’t have denied I was in love with her either.
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Silver Screenings 5:06 pm on June 21, 2019 Permalink |
Thanks for this treat. I listened to all these songs as I’m catching up on my blog reading, and I’m about to listen to them all again. These are wonderful.
And thanks for the shout-out too! 🙂
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Ética Hoje 6:00 pm on July 20, 2019 Permalink |
Olá
Muito bom ler sobre música
Tudo de bom
Um abraço
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