Popular song - Jazz: Ella Fitzgerald (OCR) p122-125 Flashcards
What was her first recording?
1935, “I’ll chase the blues away” with Chick Webb and his orchestra
Where was she brought up?
In Yonkers, New York (15 when her mother died)
Where did she learn to sing?
From performing gospel music in church and from popular artists of the day
What was regularly heard on the radio?
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
What contest did she enter?
She modelled her singing in Connee Boswell, won a talent contest at Apollo Theatre in Harlem at 17
What followed when winning the contest?
Work with the Chick Webb orchestra
Why was she so important to the band?
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
Recordings with vocals sold… than instrumental recordings
More
At a young age she became….
A leading figure in popular music
How long did she stay with the band for?
6 years and became leader when Webb died
What was her stand-out hit with Chick Webb?
A Tisket, A Tasket (1938), a hard swinging arrangement of a nursery rhyme from her childhood
Why was A Tisket A Tasket so popular to the public?
It sold successfully to both black and white audiences, who responded to its combination of child-like simplicity and emotional depth
Why was A Tisket A Tasket so popular to vocalists?
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
What if she often referred to as?
The First Lady of Song
After a Tisket A Tasket did she top the charts?
Not often make the Top Ten singles charts, but her recordings always sold reliably
In 1954, Decca claimed that their recordings of her had sold…
22 million copies
What magazine did she regularly top for Best Female Vocalist until 1971?
Down Beat magazine readers’ poll
Sing early in her career who was her manager, what did this show?
Moe Gale, the industry was dominated by white business men and opportunities for black singers were limited
What could white singers have that black singers couldn’t?
Radio shows, blacks relied on guest appearances
How did Gale increase her public profile?
Strong connections with the broadcasting company NBC
What was the controversy that happened with Gale?
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
Who took over her management?
Gales contact as manager expires the year of controversy, Granz took over management and payed the tax bill out of his own pocket
What was Granz’s plan?
Get her to be the vocal star of his new record label, Verve, determined to prise her away from long-standing contract with Decca
LP became established, the album format was developing, Sinatra has achieved success with…
albums which grouped songs under themes
What did Granz promote in relation to Cole Porter?
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
Why did the album format suit her?
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
Where did the recording sessions for Ella’s Cole Porter LP take place?
Capitol Melrose Studios in LA
Who were the arrangements for Ella’s Cole Porter album by?
Buddy Bregman, Granz appointed Verve’s Head of Artists and Repertoire (A&R)
Why was the format of the Cole Porter Songbook influential?
Record companies that had struggled to find new material for a 50-60 minute LP, filled up their albums with recordings of the standard
How would singers record an album full of standards?
Teaming up with an arranger to create new versions of well-known songs
What are her albums like?
She followed up with a series of albums devoted to particular songwriters, eg Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, and George and Ira Gershwin
Singing style: why did she have a long career of over 50 years?
She had an accomplished technique - she maintained the quality of her voice for a long career
Singing style: what sort of character did her voice have?
Presence, warmth and bright, youthful character
Singing style: what is her range like?
Wide range, spanning over 3 octaves
Singing style: how is her voice flexible?
Her voice is agile and flexible, she can move easily between registers and singing fast pieces without staining in tone and inotation
Singing style: talk about rhythm
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
Singing style: what do composers like about her?
Her truthful approach to their music, she lets the melody speak for itself without adding exaggerated touches
Singing style: talk about scat singing
An excellent scat singer, using her experience as a band singer and her knowledge of bebop to perform extended scat sections in her performances
‘Lady be goodI’ what does this show in terms of vocal technique?
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
What does she do in A Tisket A Tasket that shows true bebop style?
Musical quotation as part of the high paced delivery
