[Dixielandjazz] Ella Fitzgerald in Wolfgang's Vault

[Robert Ringwald]

The Wolfgang's Vault website has a 1978 Carnegie Hall concert by Ella available for
listening. here is their summary:
"At age 61, Fitzgerald sounds in fine voice here (revealing a tad more vibrato than
in her earlier days) as she stretches her glorious instrument, effortlessly swinging
her way through such classics from the Great American Songbook as "Too Close for
Comfort," Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll," Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin'" (which
segues neatly to Fats' "Keepin' Out Of Mischief Now") and "I Cried for You" (a Tin
Pan Alley tune popularized in the jazz world by Billie Holiday). Along the way she
takes great liberties on these familiar songs with her elastic phrasing and rhythmic
ingenuity while scatting freely whenever the feeling hits. She also demonstrates
her inimitable way with ballads on a compelling reading of the haunting "Angel Eyes,"
a romantic rendition of Cole Porter's "Dream Dancing" (title track of her Pablo album
at the time) and her mellow interpretation of "That's My Desire." Ella and her fellas
also turn in an alluring interpretation of Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better,"
(theme from the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me) and a frisky, scat-fueled
interpretation of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "One Note Samba." A show-stopping slow blues
rendition of W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues" has Fitzgerald testifying in sanctified
fashion. She follows with two well-known anthems: "Stompin' at the Savoy" (a staple
of the '30s Swing era) and "How High the Moon" (a staple of the '40s bebop era).
Ella imbues both tunes with generous doses of her fabulous scatting technique. And
she encores with an effervescent reading of the Kurt Weill-Bertolt Brecht tune "Mack
the Knife," to the delight of this Carnegie Hall audience. Her freewheeling scatting
on this closer is joyous and natural and full of off-the-cuff musical quotes (everything
from snippets of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" to Benny Goodman's "Seven Come Eleven"
to Sammy Davis Jr.'s "Here Comes the Judge" from Laugh-In). And she ends with a raspy-voiced
imitation of Louis Armstrong saying, "Ohhhh, yeah! Thank ya, folks. Thank you, god
bless." Truly, there is only one Ella."
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/ella-fitzgerald/concerts/carnegie-hall-june-24-1978.html


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
530/ 642-9551 Office
916/ 806-9551 Cell
Amateur (Ham) Radio K6YBV

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