A continuación les dejo un video donde un artista llamado Bob Copeland pintó un retrato de Ella
29.4.09
Happy Mother's Day
A continuación les dejo un video donde un artista llamado Bob Copeland pintó un retrato de Ella
19.4.09
These Foolish Things by Ella
15.3.09
De Ella Fitzgerald a James Brown
Es miércoles y el conocido barrio de Harlem se prepara para celebrar la tradicional noche de aficionados en el escenario de uno de los lugares más emblemáticos de Nueva York. Pero esta noche será especial. El teatro Apollo celebra su 75º aniversario.
Los pasos de Ella fueron seguidos por otras leyendas de la música como James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross y Michael Jackson junto a sus hermanos. Todos se consagraron en una noche de aficionados al superar la exigente crítica de la audiencia.
Embajador
Su popularidad rebasó los límites de Harlem y el concurso de aficionados se transformó en un programa de televisión, donde el "verdugo" salía al tablón con una escoba para barrer a los artistas rechazados por el público.
Su principal embajador ha sido sin duda James Brown, el padrino del soul, quien grabó en el Apollo uno de sus mejores discos en vivo. En agradecimiento, el teatro recibió a miles de personas que le rindieron un último tributo tras su muerte en 2006.
25.2.09
10 Years Without Ella
Top Five Ella Album Covers
2.2.09
Buddy Bregman Remembering Ella Fitzgerald
(...) Strangely enough I was never attracted to Billie or Ella as a kid. Even when I was A&R head and arranging for Verve. But now that I'm older, I can feel/hear Billie's pain and Ella's shyness, only coming out of her shell when she really 'felt' the music.
It's only recently I found out about Ella being orphaned and having to live on the street and I was with her in heavy daily bursts which would include rehearsals, recordings, and sometime social activity it never came up. Months would go by when she was on tour and then the Ella merry-go-round would start over once again. Over a 2-year period it happened 4 times: Cole Porter Song Book, Rodgers & Hart SongBook, singles sessions, and Las Vegas Act for the New Frontier (co-starring along with Mario Lanza; my future sister-in-law and I hanging around the same hotel obviously not knowing each other at the time).
When Ella and I checked in, our rooms were not ready and we had to sit on a couch near the gaming tables. This was at a time when colored people cleaned the hotels, not starred at one. So she was conspicuous. Also, no one really recognized her, as a black jazz artist had never headlined a main room. I was very much at home, having arranged all the music for two giant dance numbers (6 weeks rehearsal + 2 in Vegas) with the crème de la crème of Broadway in the chorus, choreographed by the wonderful, insane, crazy Robert Alton of "Pal Joey" (new version) fame, which my Uncle Jule had recently produced.
So I asked Ella if she'd like to gamble. She said, "No, honey, here, you go [placed a hundred dollar bill in my palm] and put this on black!" So, being as full of myself as I was in those days, our conversations only consisted of (after a few "you, you, you") a lot of "I, I, I."
I talked a lot about social life not social issues. But Ella only talked about music, nothing very personal. She seemed shy and not at all like any of the young girl singers and actresses I hung around with. I always watched what I said, as if she were a matriarchal Bregman like my grandmother, so it usually was strained at best, until I hit the piano and she sat on a stool nearby, then we were both in our professional element and it was better. But I was always cognizant of who she was and was constantly in a very kind and deferential mode. Even if we were totally in a social arena and not working together it was an 'adult deferential respectful' mode.
I would always take over in a restaurant to make sure there were no problems. I always watched out for that. She was at her heaviest when we worked together. And I always had an arm out to help her.
Ella & Buddy, durante la grabación de "The Cole Porter Songbook"
Even I was shy around her, as I never wanted to say the wrong thing. Even after rehearsal and I took her back to The Watkins Hotel where she lived and we had a drink at the bar after 3-4 hours of rehearsal, I was cautious. I was also the only white person in the place. They all liked me there. I even sat in with the trio; Milt Buckner on organ, I'd play the piano and Ella would sing along or just enjoy the music. Not my piano playing, she had had enough of that!
Dinah Washington stuck her head out of the window when I picked Ella up one day and said, "Who's that cute young boy you got with you, Ella?" "You just leave Buddy alone, Dinah, he's my friend."
That's why we worked so well together - oil and water - a well-to-do kid from Chicago and an orphaned middle-aged black jazz singer from New York; Ella Fitzgerald and Buddy Bregman; Ella and Cole; Ella and Rodgers & Hart; a jazz singer singing show tunes.
I had that idea for a long time. I always (and still do) loved show tunes. They said so much. Although I didn't always like the interpretations. I thought there was a better way to 'get down' with them. Although, I must say, no one has ever sung Porter better than Merman and Bobby Short and no one has ever sung Rodgers & Hart better than Mabel Mercer and Bobby Short. And I guess I found that middle ground.
Ella and Buddy found a way to do both. Had I been a young guy who had been with a band or had experience arranging for bands before I got with Verve (even though I had recorded with the likes of Bobby Short just before Ella and done the charts for lots of the line numbers at various Las Vegas Hotels: The Sahara, New Frontier, The Sands, Flamingo and The Tropicana) it would have been easier for all concerned and the results even better. But I was right out of college with no real big band experience. So, where I was personally concerned, Ella didn't have a place to share similar experiences.
But we did it, and I had had the idea of doing the monster Broadway songs with one singer since I was 11. I think there were times when my musical charts restricted Ella. Anyone's big band charts would have. She was obviously better off with the trio that, of course, took no talent on my part as an arranger.
But on the "TOO DARN HOT" track in the Cole Porter SongBook, I think that really was a great blending of Ella's and my talent!
I got to know Ella Fitzgerald quite well personally, while I was recording with her over a couple of years which included many singles as well as the Cole Porter Songbook and the Rodgers & Hart Songbook.
(Fuente: http://www.buddybregman.com/ella.html)
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook
Catalog # 731453725720
Album release date 6/24/1997
Verve Records - Verve Master Edition
Verve Review and Demos HERE
El álbum fue lanzado en 1956, donde es Ella quien interpreta las canciones acompañada por una orquesta de estudio conducida y con los arreglos de Buddy Bregman, que se enfoca en las canciones de Cole Porter.
Este fue el primer álbum de Ella en la recientemente creada Verve Records. El tiempo que pasó Fitzgerald en el sello Verve es cuando se pueden ver sus más aclamadas grabaciones y el más alto pico en su poder vocal. Este cancionero inagura la serie de Songbooks de Ella Fitzgerald, cada uno de los ocho álbumes de la serie se enfoca en diferentes compositores del catálogo conocido como el Gran Cancionero Americano. El manager de Fitzgerald (y productor de la mayoría de sus discos) Norman Granz, visitó a Cole Porter en el imponente hotel Waldolf-Astoria (New York) y reprodujeron en álbum completo. Luego, Porter simplemente remarcó, "Qué maravillosa dicción tiene esa chica"
El álbum fue incluído en el Salón de la Fama del Grammy en el 2000, con un Grammy especial establecido en 1973 que se otorga para honrar a las grabaciones que tienen por los menos veinticinco años, y que poseen "cualitativa o histórica relevancia". En el 2003, fue uno de las 50 grabaciones escogidas por la Librería del Congreso de los Estados Unidos para ser agregadas al "Registro de Grabaciones Nacionales" (Traducción: Aeroerick)
English Version (Wikipedia):
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook is a 1956 (see 1956 in music) album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by a studio orchestra conducted and arranged by Buddy Bregman, focusing on the songs of Cole Porter.
This was Fitzgerald's first album for the newly created Verve Records. Fitzgerald's time on the Verve label would see her produce her most highly acclaimed recordings, at the peak of her vocal powers. This album inaugurated Fitzgerald's Songbook series, each of the eight albums in the series focusing on a different composer of the canon known as the Great American Songbook. Fitzgerald's manager, (and the producer of many of her albums), Norman Granz, visited Cole Porter at the Waldolf-Astoria, and played him this entire album. Afterwards, Porter merely remarked, "My, what marvellous diction that girl has".
This album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance." In 2003, it was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.
Tracklist:
Disc one
01- "All Through the Night" – 3:15 02- "Anything Goes" – 3:21
03- "Miss Otis Regrets" – 3:00
04- "Too Darn Hot" – 3:47
05- "In the Still of the Night" – 2:38
06- "I Get a Kick Out of You" – 4:00
07- "Do I Love You?" – 3:50
08- "Always True to You in My Fashion" – 2:48
09- "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" – 3:32
10- "Just One of Those Things" – 3:30
11- "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" – 3:32
12- "All of You" – 1:43
13- "Begin the Beguine" – 3:37
14- "Get Out of Town" – 3:22
15- "I Am in Love" – 4:06
16- "From This Moment On" – 3:17
Disc two
01- "I Love Paris" – 4:57 02- "You Do Something To Me" – 2:21
03- "Ridin' High" – 3:20
04- "You'd Be So Easy to Love" – 3:24
05- "It's All Right With Me" – 3:07
06- "Why Can't You Behave?" – 5:04
07- "What Is This Thing Called Love?" – 2:02
08- "You're the Top" – 3:33
09- "Love for Sale" – 5:52
10- "It's De-Lovely" – 2:42
11- "Night and Day" – 3:04
12- "Ace in the Hole" – 1:58
13- "So in Love" – 3:50
14- "I've Got You Under My Skin" – 2:42
15- "I Concentrate on You" – 3:11
16- "Don't Fence Me In" – 3:19 (lyrics by Robert Fletcher)
17- "You're the Top" – 2:08
18- "I Concentrate on You" – 3:00 (bonus track)
19- "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" – 5:25 (bonus track)
All songs written entirely by Cole Porter / Todas las canciones fueron escritas por Cole Porter
Personnel / Personal
Recorded February 7 – March 27, 1956, Hollywood, Los Angeles:
Pete Candoli – Trumpet
Harry "Sweets" Edison
Maynard Ferguson
Conrad Gozzo
Milt Bernhart – Trombone
Joe Howard
Lloyd Ulyate
George Roberts – Trombone (Bass), Trombone (Baritone)
Bob Cooper – Clarinet, Oboe, Saxophone (Tenor)
Herb Geller – Clarinet, Saxophone (Alto)
Chuck Gentry – Clarinet (Bass), Saxophone (Baritone)
Ted Nash – Clarinet, Flute, Saxophone (Tenor)
Bud Shank – Clarinet, Flute, Saxophone (Alto)
Robert LaMarchina – Cello
Edgar Lustgarten
Corky Hale – Harp
Barney Kessel – Guitar
Joe Mondragon – Double Bass
Paul Smith – Piano, Celeste
Alvin Stoller – Percussion, drums
Buddy Bregman – Arranger, Conductor
The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books
Los cancioneros son una vasta producción que realizó Ella Fitzgerald a lo largo de su carrera en Verve Music Group, donde tuvo como productor a Norman Granz (1918 - 2001) quien como productor supo desarrollar el potencial de la dama del Jazz en cuanto a ritmo y claridad vocal.
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers & Hart Songbook (1956) (Bregman)
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook (1957) (Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn)
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook (1958) (Paul Weston)
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (1959) (Nelson Riddle)
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook (1961) (Billy May)
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook (1963) (Riddle)
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook (1964) (Riddle)
Review From Wikipedia:
The Ella Fitzgerald Songbooks were a series of eight studio albums released in irregular intervals between 1956 and 1964, recorded by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, supported by a variety of orchestras, big bands, and jazz quartets.
They are considered a cornerstone of 20th century recorded popular music, and as a whole, represent some of the finest interpretations of the greater part of the musical canon known as the Great American Songbook.
The New York Times columnist Frank Rich was moved to write a few days after Ella's death that in the songbook series, Ella "performed a cultural transaction as extraordinary as Elvis's contemporaneous integration of white and African-American soul. Here was a black woman popularizing urban songs often written by immigrant Jews to a national audience of predominantly white Christians." Frank Sinatra was moved out of respect for Ella to block Capitol from re-releasing his own albums in a similar, single composer vein.
Verve reissued the eight albums in 1994 in this expansive boxset, which won the 1995 Grammy for Best Historical Recording.
10.1.09
Cheek To Cheek
Merry Christmas
Animación: www.claytonjunior.com
7.1.09
Ella Fitzgerald, Live in London (1965)
From the TV concert Ella Fitzgerald sings: 'Them There Eyes' and 'The Lady Is A Tramp'. This is part of a 50 minute TV concert by Ella Fitzgerald, one of the world's greatest jazz singers, from TV Centre in London on 8 May 1965. She sings holding a chiffon scarf, and is accompanied by The Johnnie Spence Orchestra, with Tubby Hayes on sax, and The Tommy Flanagan Trio.
From the TV concert Ella Fitzgerald Sings: 'Don't Rain On My Parade' and 'Body And Soul'. This is part of a 50 minute TV concert by Ella Fitzgerald, one of the world's greatest jazz singers, from TV Centre in London on 8 May 1965. She sings holding a chiffon scarf, and is accompanied by The Johnnie Spence Orchestra, with Tubby Hayes on sax, and The Tommy Flanagan Trio.
From the TV concert Ella Fitzgerald sings: 'Misty', and 'Mack The Knife'. This is part of a 50 minute TV concert by Ella Fitzgerald, one of the world's greatest jazz singers, from TV Centre in London on 8 May 1965. She sings holding a chiffon scarf and is accompanied by The Johnnie Spence Orchestra, with Tubby Hayes on sax, and The Tommy Flanagan Trio.
From the TV concert Ella Fitzgerald sings: 'Manhattan', and 'Every Time We Say Goodbye'. This is part of a 50 minute TV concert by Ella Fitzgerald, one of the world's greatest jazz singers, from TV Centre in London on 8 May 1965. She sings holding a chiffon scarf, and is accompanied by The Johnnie Spence Orchestra, with Tubby Hayes on sax, and The Tommy Flanagan Trio.
From the TV concert Ella Fitzgerald Sings: 'That Old Black Magic'. This is the final part of a 50 minute TV concert by Ella Fitzgerald, one of the world's greatest jazz singers, from TV Centre in London on 8 May 1965. She sings holding a chiffon scarf, and is accompanied by The Johnnie Spence Orchestra, with Tubby Hayes on sax, and The Tommy Flanagan Trio. This is from a re-broadcast of the concert on UK TV in 1996 following her death.
Ella Singing Sunny
From her album: Ella/Things Ain't What They Used To Be (And You Better Believe It) - 1969
Fuente: http://www.youtube.com/user/Aeroerick88
Ella Fitzgerald - Bio Completa
Nacida en Newport News, Virginia, EE. UU., creció en Yonkers, Nueva York, en una situación de pobreza permanente. Su padre, William Fitzgerald, conductor de tren, abandonó a su madre Temperance (Tempie) Fitzgerald, lavandera, cuando Ella era aún muy pequeña. Las dos se trasladaron a Yonkers (Nueva York), junto con el novio de Tempie, Joseph Da Silva, con el que tendría una hija en 1923, Frances Fitzgerald.
En 1932, la madre de Ella murió tras un grave accidente de tráfico. Tras estar con Da Silva durante un breve período de tiempo, su tía Virginia se hizo cargo de ella. Poco tiempo después, Da Silva fallecería de un ataque cardíaco, por lo que Frances tuvo que irse también a vivir con Ella y su tía.
Este ambiente dramático condicionó el comportamiento de Ella, que tuvo frecuentes problemas con el absentismo escolar e incluso con la policía, lo que la llevó a ser internada en un reformatorio. A pesar de ello, sus huidas de este y de casa eran frecuentes.
Ya de pequeña gustaba de bailar y cantar en un club escolar y en el coro de la Bethany African Methodist Episcopal Church. Aprendió a tocar el piano, escuchó atentamente la radio y estudió todas la grabaciones que salían de Louis Armstrong y las Boswell Sisters.
En 1932 se trasladó a Nueva York para vivir con un tío y encontró un lugar en la State Training School For Girls de Nueva York, una especie de hospicio. Hacia 1934 lo abandonó.
Inicio como cantante
Debutó como cantante a los 16 años, en 1934, en el Harlem Apollo Theater de Nueva York, ganando el concurso Amateur Night Shows con la canción Judy, interpretada al estilo de su ídolo Connee Boswell. Tras una breve colaboración con la banda de Tiny Bradshaw, Ella consiguió entrar en la orquesta de Chick Web, convencida por uno de los asistentes a las noches del Apollo: el reputado arreglista y saxofonista alto Benny Carter.
Comenzó a cantar con la banda de Chick Webb en 1935, en el Savoy Ballroom de Harlem. El crítico George T. Simon escribió en la revista Metronome en enero de 1936: «Aquí tenemos a la número uno de 1936... Ella Fitzgerald... la joya de 17 años que canta en el Harlem' Savoy Ballroom con la estupenda orquesta de Chick Webb con su gran aptitud natural para el canto... una de la mejores... no hay razón para pensar que no llegue a ser la mejor dentro de un tiempo». En 1937, la mitad de los temas de la banda contaban ya con la voz de Ella. Grabó una serie de éxitos con ellos, incluyendo If You Can't Sing It, You'll Have to Swing It, pero no fue hasta la grabación de su versión de la nana A Tisket A Tasket en 1938 cuando alcanzó directamente el estrellato. Durante esta etapa, Fitzgerald era esencialmente una cantante de pop y swing que daba lo mejor de sí en las baladas. Tenía ya una hermosa voz, pero ni improvisaba ni practicaba todavía el scat.
Cuando Chick Webb falleció en 1939, la banda continuó su gira bajo el nuevo nombre de, "Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra". Unos años más tarde, agotada del esfuerzo que suponía dirigir la orquesta y cantar a diario, disolvió la formación.
Carrera en solitario
Comenzó su carrera en solitario en 1941. Cantó con the Ink Spots, Louis Jordan y The Delta Rhythm, y en 1946 empezó a cantar con regularidad en los conciertos de Norman Granz Jazz at the Philharmonic (JAP), convirtiéndose Granz en su manager. Un gran cambio se produjo en el estilo de Ella durante este período. Estuvo de gira con la banda de Dizzy Gillespie y adoptó el bebop como parte de su estilo, y comenzó a incluir fragmentos de scat en sus interpretaciones. Sus grabaciones de "Lady Be Good", "How High the Moon" y "Flying Home" durante 1945-1947 se hicieron muy populares y su estatura como una de las primeras voces del jazz se asentó. Durante un tiempo (10 de diciembre de 1947 - 28 de agosto de 1953), estuvo casada con el bajista Ray Brown, con qui adoptó un niño, y usaba su trío como acompañante. Las series de duetos con el pianista Ellis Larkins en 1950 y 1954 la hicieron interpretar composiciones de George Gershwin, como haría en uno de sus songbooks.
Tras aparecer en la película de 1955 Pete Kelly's Blues, Ella firmó por fin con el sello Verve de Norman Granz y durante varios años grabaría los famosos Song Books de los grandes compositores estadounidenses de música popular: Cole Porter, los Gershwins, Rodgers & Hart, Duke Ellington, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern y Johnny Mercer. Aunque (con la excepción de los discos sobre Ellington) no fueron sus interpretaciones más jazzísticas (pues Ella se apegaba a la melodía e iba acompañada de una gran orquesta de cuerda), el resultado fue memorable. En 1960 graba su concierto en Berlín, que se convierte en su disco más importante para Verve.
Fitzgerald grabó para Capitol y Reprise entre 1967 y 1970. En sus últimos años, Fitzgerald volvió con Granz para formar parte de su nueva compañía, Pablo. Su colaboración comenzó con un gran concierto en 1972, el Santa Monica Civic concert, y siguió a lo largo de toda la década con discos orientados plenamente al jazz, cantando con Count Basie, Federico Parra, Oscar Peterson y Joe Pass, entre otros.
Ya ciega a consecuencia de la diabetes que padecía, en 1993 perdía sus piernas, y un tiempo después fallecía en Beverly Hills, California. De ella, su compañero y amigo Duke Ellington dijo "Ella Fitzgerald está más allá de cualquier categoría". Sus restos se encuentran en el Cementerio Inglewood Park de Los Angeles, California.
Ella Fitzgerald - Bio Wikipedia
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (Newport News, 25 de abril de 1917Beverly Hills, 15 de junio de 1996), conocida como Ella Fitzgerald y apodada Lady Ella y The First Lady of Song (La primera dama de la canción), fue una cantante estadounidense de jazz. No obstante esta condición básica de jazzista, el repertorio musical de Ella Fitzgerald es amplísimo e incluye swing, blues, bossa nova, samba, gospel, calypso, canciones navideñas, pop, etc.
Junto con Billie Holiday y Sarah Vaughan, está considerada como la cantante más importante e influyente de la historia del jazz (y, en general, de la canción melódica popular). Estaba dotada de una voz con un rango vocal de tres octavas, destacando su clara y precisa vocalización y su capacidad de improvisación, sobre todo en el scat, técnica que desarrolló en los años cuarenta y que anunció el surgimiento del bop. En los años cincuenta sentó cátedra con su concepción de la canción melódica, en paralelo a la obra de Frank Sinatra, con sus versiones de los temas de los grandes compositores de la canción popular estadounidense (los songbooks de Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, etc.). Ganó 13 Premios Grammy, y fue galardonada con la Medalla Nacional de las Artes y la Medalla Presidencial de la Libertad de Estados Unidos.
Sunny - Ella Fitzgerald & Tom Jones 1970
Fuente: http://www.youtube.com/aeroerick
Sunny...
Yesterday my life was filled with rain
Sunny...
You smiled at me and really eased the pain
Now the dark days are gone, and the bright days are here,
My sunny one shines so sincere,
Sunny one so true, I love you
Sunny...
Thank you for the sunshine that you gave
Sunny...
Thank you for the love you've brought my way.
You gave to me your all and all,
Now I feel ten feet tall,
Sunny one, Sunny one so true, I love you
Sunny...
Thank you for the truth you let me see.
Oh Sunny...
Thank you thank you for the facts from a to z
Oh, my life was torn like a wind blown sand,
And a rock was formed when we held hands
Sunny one, Sunny one, Sunny one so true, I love you...
Yeah, oh Sunny I love you