![]() ![]() I picked today’s song, “Airmail Special,” because it really shows her at the height of scat singing. Her catalog is so strong that you can almost close your eyes and pick any track with her name on it and you’ll find a winner. It’s ironic that most horn players spend their whole lives trying to mimic singers, and Ella turned that around! This led her to perfect her scat singing. While most singers looked to other singers for inspiration, Ella was listening to Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Young and Ben Webster for influence. But what really set her apart was that she approached singing like the horn players she admired. ![]() She’s a true American treasure and the history of jazz just wouldn’t be the same without her.Įarly on, it was clear that she was a remarkable singer, with perfect pitch and rhythm. She brought scat singing, which we talked about when we featured Louis Armstrong, to new heights, as you’ll hear with today’s featured song.Įlla had a career that spanned almost 60 years and in that time she sold 40 million records, won 13 Grammy’s and was lauded by presidents, heads of state and dignitaries from around the world. In the history of American music no one has been able to match the purity of her tone, the precision of her intonation or the hipness of her phrasing and ideas. Yesterday I mentioned that we’d talk about Thelonious Monk today, but I realized that it’s Ella Fitzgerald’s birthday, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t feature her.Įlla Fitzgerald was called “The First Lady Of Song” and “Queen of Jazz” - high praise, indeed, but well deserved. ![]()
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