Ella Fitzgerald, the First Lady of Song, was born 101 years ago today. Beloved around the world as not just America's foremost jazz vocalist, but perhaps the premier interpreter of The Great American Songbook, Ella won 13 Grammy Awards and has sold over 40 million albums.
Every day for the next 101 days, I'll be sharing a recording from her six-decade career and discussing its context among her catalogue and, occasionally, among music history.
First up, this beautiful rendition of an old jazz standard from 1963's Jerome Kern Songbook. Nelson Riddle's cushiony cloud of an arrangement is stellar; there's nothing flashy about Ella's vocal, but that's because she had the good taste to let the arrangement do its work. She simply serves the material with satiny grace. What a knockout.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97p6gQnlO5Y
Ella 101 is a daily look at 101 essential recordings by Ella Fitzgerald, who was born 101 years ago this month. Tune in to Equinox, Monday nights from 8 - 11 p.m. on WYSO, to hear Ella and more great jazz with host Duante Beddingfield.