Jazz
Ella Fitzgerald Vocal
Harry "Sweets" Edison Trumpet
Joe Newman Trumpet
Sam "The Man" Taylor Tenor Saxophone
Ben Webster Tenor Saxophone, Saxophone
Bill Doggett Organ
Count Basie Piano
Hank Jones
Ella Fitzgerald was too frightened to dance at her first public audition. She managed to sing to the crowd instead, and that was the start of a career that eventually made her the most popular vocalist jazz has ever known. She went from being the "girl singer" in the Chick Webb's great orchestra in the Thirties to fronting that band, and then to adapting to the changes in jazz in the Forties.
But when she was signed by Norman Granz in 1956, her career as artist began. Her limitless flexibility of timbre and surely of timing were brought to the fore - abetted by her great gift for vocal improvisation.
For decades she sang before small groups and great orchestras, always putting at the forefront America's greatest export: the songs of Arlen, Eillington, Gershwin, Kern, Porter, et al. |
