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Ella 101: All The Things You Are (Day 1 of 101)

Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, Milt (Milton) Jackson, and Timmie Rosenkrantz, Downbeat, New York, N.Y., ca. Sept. 1947
William P. Gottlieb/Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Fund Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress.
Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, Milt (Milton) Jackson, and Timmie Rosenkrantz, Downbeat, New York, N.Y., ca. Sept. 1947

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.

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Duante Beddingfield, a Dayton native, has hosted Equinox since 2018; he now records the show from his home in Michigan, where he works as arts and culture reporter for the Detroit Free Press. Previously, he served as jazz writer for both the Dayton Daily News and Dayton City Paper, booked jazz acts for area venues such as Pacchia and Wholly Grounds, and performed regularly around the region as a jazz vocalist; Beddingfield was the final jazz headliner to play Dayton's legendary Gilly's nightclub.