[Dixielandjazz] Ella Fitzgerald; Stormy Weather with Joe Pass--You Tube

[Norman Vickers]

From: Norman Vickers [mailto:nvickers1 at cox.net] 
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2011 8:13 AM
To: nvickers1 at cox.net
Subject: Ella Fitzgerald; Stormy Weather with Joe Pass--You Tube

 

To:  DJML & Musicians & Jazzfans lists

From: Norman Vickers,  Jazz Society of Pensacola

 

Here's link to a You Tube video of Ella Fitzgerald singing Stormy Weather,
accompanied by Joe Pass.  1975, courtesy of "Jazz on the Tube."

 

http://www.jazzonthetube.com/page/446.html

 

Permit me this brief anecdote.  Only time I got to see Ella was in 1985 when
she came to Pensacola and sang at our Saenger Theatre- a full house, with
seating capacity 1700.  She had  previously been treated for some heart
trouble but gave an outstanding performance.  She was accompanied by bassist
Keeter Betts, pianist Paul Smith, guitarist Joe Pass and  drummer Joey
Barron.

 

There was once sequence when she sang accompanied only by Joe Pass.  They
were both standing-Joe was playing acoustically, with guitar suspended with
neck-strap.  Microphones were suspended above.  There was one spot on the
stage which was "acoustically dead."  Pass had recognized this but
apparently Ms. Fitzgerald did not.  Both were moving around the stage while
she sang.  Whenever Ms. Fitzgerald got near the "dead spot," Pass would
block her progress to keep her out of the "dead area."

 

Paul Smith, very able, talented pianist, was the impeccable accompanist.  He
just played the right notes for Ms. Fitzgerald and didn't call attention to
himself at all.

Ms. Fitzgerald didn't introduce her band members, so the audience didn't
have opportunity to appreciate that all were stars in their own right.  She
let Joe Pass do some solo guitar-on stage all by himself just after
intermission.  It was marvelous stuff, but again, the relatively
unsophisticated audience didn't appreciate his wonderful music.

 

In all, it was a wonderful concert.  Would have been better appreciated if
she'd introduced her band-members and told a bit of their backgrounds, so
the audience could have appreciated their talents even more.,

 

 
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