![[The last jazz giant]](ella961216.gif)
+ e l l a f i t z g e r a l d , 1 9 1 7 - 1 9 9 6 +
+ e l l a f i t z g e r a l d , 1 9 1 7 - 1 9 9 6 +
MUSIC Beck: Artist of the Year Classical Music's
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By Milo Miles vocalist Ella Fitzgerald was the last master jazz performer (with the possible exception of Benny Carter) to be influenced by all phases of the music firsthand. It's no accident that her most relaxed, compatible duets were with Louis Armstrong, who also lived on the ground floor of swing and considered any and all music he came across (until bebop, which was Fitzgerald's greatest inspiration) as perfect material for jazz treatment. Whether in her big-band phase of the late '30s and early '40s, her bebop scat explorations that dominated the '40s and early '50s, or in her long, universalist reign that began with her landmark "Songbook" recordings of pop standards, Fitzgerald's voice flowed around rhythms with uncanny precision and subtlety. Because she enunciated every syllable and always modulated her tone, detractors griped that her technique was "too white" and that she was too sunny, treating her lyrics as pure notes rather than sometimes tragic and angry tales. The more one lives with her music, however, the more it becomes clear that she simply proved that clarity was no barrier to soul. The wrenching undercurrents of her reading of Cole Porter's sordid "Love for Sale," though they run quiet, are undeniable. Fitzgerald soared beyond the jazz audience in 1956 with that tune and others on "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook" (Verve), which took mainstream pop away from Broadway and Vegas for all time. Verve's recently issued "Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books" runs to 16 CDs and scoops up Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, Duke Ellington, Harold Arlen, and much more. It wasn't just that Fitzgerald showed how jazz technique could unite Ellington and Berlin; it was that she showed how they belonged together as musical equals. This was quite a revelation, on first exposure, to the huge audiences that filled her concerts until she retired with eye and heart trouble in the mid-'80s. Although her backup on the "Songbooks" varied in class and sass (Ellington creams everyone else), all of Fitzgerald's readings fit one good definition of classic: They can be appreciated from any viewpoint, punk to pop purist. Finally, coming from an era supposedly hooked on showbiz hooey, Fitzgerald was an international star who was always her art, not her personality. She rose from homeless poverty by winning a 1934 amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, and from then on there were no tabloid scandals, screaming fits, or poisonous divorces that stuck to Ella Fitzgerald — the worst anyone could say about her was that, offstage, she brushed by fans and others outside her intimate circle. And yet, her records offer such reliable pleasure, she seems more like a friend than many chummier performers. For those seeking to make her acquaintance, the CD "Pure Ella" (Decca)
is one of the most exquisite collections in jazz. This selection of
standards (mostly Gershwin), duets with the sublime pianist Ellis Larkins,
is an early-'50s prelude to the "Songbook" series. Likewise, "Ella & Louis"
(Verve), her first full-length collaboration with Armstrong, delivers flat
out fun and wry wit of unmatched consistency (her imitations of Louis'
gravel voice are the most loving tweaks imaginable). And for Fitzgerald
unbuttoned with more lithe scat, either "The Complete Ella in Berlin" or
"Ella in Rome: The Birthday Concert" (both Verve) are shows that will never
stop delighting. After that, I'd pick some of those composers you need to
know more about and explore them with her. Finally, if the budget can get
around it, that "Complete Song Book" box should claim a place of honor
— Ella Fitzgerald deserves no less a monumental keepsake. Milo Miles' Top 10
1. Amy Rigby, "Diary of a Mod Housewife" (Koch)
Milo Miles is a regular contributor to Salon. |