Popular song - Jazz: Ella Fitzgerald (OCR) p122-125

Question 1

What was her first recording?

Answer 1

1935, “I’ll chase the blues away” with Chick Webb and his orchestra

Question 2

Where was she brought up?

Answer 2

In Yonkers, New York (15 when her mother died)

Question 3

Where did she learn to sing?

Answer 3

From performing gospel music in church and from popular artists of the day

Question 4

What was regularly heard on the radio?

Answer 4

Louis Armstrong’s jazz solos on trumpet and vocals, and the hard driven swing of the Boswell Sisters (often in partnership with Bing Crosby) on record and radio

Question 5

What contest did she enter?

Answer 5

She modelled her singing in Connee Boswell, won a talent contest at Apollo Theatre in Harlem at 17

Question 6

What followed when winning the contest?

Answer 6

Work with the Chick Webb orchestra

Question 7

Why was she so important to the band?

Answer 7

Her vocal contributions became important to the band’s success. While the instrumental swing numbers were popular with dancers, there were plenty of similar bands in a competitive market, it was her singing which made the band stand out and gave it more than a local profile

Question 8

Recordings with vocals sold… than instrumental recordings

Answer 8

More

Question 9

At a young age she became….

Answer 9

A leading figure in popular music

Question 10

How long did she stay with the band for?

Answer 10

6 years and became leader when Webb died

Question 11

What was her stand-out hit with Chick Webb?

Answer 11

A Tisket, A Tasket (1938), a hard swinging arrangement of a nursery rhyme from her childhood

Question 12

Why was A Tisket A Tasket so popular to the public?

Answer 12

It sold successfully to both black and white audiences, who responded to its combination of child-like simplicity and emotional depth

Question 13

Why was A Tisket A Tasket so popular to vocalists?

Answer 13

It set a trend for other female vocalists to look for simple melodies in order to top charts, and perhaps signalled a move away from the sophisticated artistry of the successful song composers of the 1920s and 1930s

Question 14

What if she often referred to as?

Answer 14

The First Lady of Song

Question 15

After a Tisket A Tasket did she top the charts?

Answer 15

Not often make the Top Ten singles charts, but her recordings always sold reliably

Question 16

In 1954, Decca claimed that their recordings of her had sold…

Answer 16

22 million copies

Question 17

What magazine did she regularly top for Best Female Vocalist until 1971?

Answer 17

Down Beat magazine readers’ poll

Question 18

Sing early in her career who was her manager, what did this show?

Answer 18

Moe Gale, the industry was dominated by white business men and opportunities for black singers were limited

Question 19

What could white singers have that black singers couldn’t?

Answer 19

Radio shows, blacks relied on guest appearances

Question 20

How did Gale increase her public profile?

Answer 20

Strong connections with the broadcasting company NBC

Question 21

What was the controversy that happened with Gale?

Answer 21

She performed at Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts, earning $50,000 a year by 1953, he overlooked the need to pay taxes, leaving her shocked when the US tax authorities demanded back payment

Question 22

Who took over her management?

Answer 22

Gales contact as manager expires the year of controversy, Granz took over management and payed the tax bill out of his own pocket

Question 23

What was Granz’s plan?

Answer 23

Get her to be the vocal star of his new record label, Verve, determined to prise her away from long-standing contract with Decca

Question 24

LP became established, the album format was developing, Sinatra has achieved success with…

Answer 24

albums which grouped songs under themes

Question 25

What did Granz promote in relation to Cole Porter?

Answer 25

Due to recording the pianist Oscar Peterson, for albums focusing on specific jazz composers, he was satisfied that an album of Cole Porter songs would be a commercial success, he laid the groundwork with extensive publicity, making it known Cole Porter admitted her diction

Question 26

Why did the album format suit her?

Answer 26

She was very experienced in delivering a full set in live performance. She had a huge repertoire of songs and could set down a recording with minimum rehearsal. There were enough of the Cole Porter songs available to take the unusual step of recording a double album

Question 27

Where did the recording sessions for Ella’s Cole Porter LP take place?

Answer 27

Capitol Melrose Studios in LA

Question 28

Who were the arrangements for Ella’s Cole Porter album by?

Answer 28

Buddy Bregman, Granz appointed Verve’s Head of Artists and Repertoire (A&R)

Question 29

Why was the format of the Cole Porter Songbook influential?

Answer 29

Record companies that had struggled to find new material for a 50-60 minute LP, filled up their albums with recordings of the standard

Question 30

How would singers record an album full of standards?

Answer 30

Teaming up with an arranger to create new versions of well-known songs

Question 31

What are her albums like?

Answer 31

She followed up with a series of albums devoted to particular songwriters, eg Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, and George and Ira Gershwin

Question 32

Singing style: why did she have a long career of over 50 years?

Answer 32

She had an accomplished technique - she maintained the quality of her voice for a long career

Question 33

Singing style: what sort of character did her voice have?

Answer 33

Presence, warmth and bright, youthful character

Question 34

Singing style: what is her range like?

Answer 34

Wide range, spanning over 3 octaves

Question 35

Singing style: how is her voice flexible?

Answer 35

Her voice is agile and flexible, she can move easily between registers and singing fast pieces without staining in tone and inotation

Question 36

Singing style: talk about rhythm

Answer 36

She has a sure sense of swing and lightness of rhythm. Syncopation and anticipation or delay of notes and phrases are neutral and precisely placed

Question 37

Singing style: what do composers like about her?

Answer 37

Her truthful approach to their music, she lets the melody speak for itself without adding exaggerated touches

Question 38

Singing style: talk about scat singing

Answer 38

An excellent scat singer, using her experience as a band singer and her knowledge of bebop to perform extended scat sections in her performances

Question 39

‘Lady be goodI’ what does this show in terms of vocal technique?

Answer 39

Shows her virtuoso technique and the influence of bebop on her singing in the 1940s. The long chorus in scat style sounds completely natural and holds the audience’s attention in a way that few other singers could manage

Question 40

What does she do in A Tisket A Tasket that shows true bebop style?

Answer 40

Musical quotation as part of the high paced delivery