Ella Fitzgerald. When I was a foolish young person, I didn’t understand what all the hype was about. To me, Chaka Khan and Aretha were everything. Who was Ella? But, alas, the young fool learns – perhaps slowly, but she learned.
From Wikipedia:
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996), also known as “Lady Ella“, and the “First Lady of Song”, was an American jazz vocalist.[1]
With a vocal range spanning three octaves, she was noted for her purity of tone, phrasing and intonation, and a “horn-like” improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. She is widely considered one of the supreme interpreters of the Great American Songbook. [2]
Over a recording career that lasted 59 years, she was the winner of 13 Grammy Awards, and was awarded the National Medal of Art by Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H. W. Bush.
A career that spanned 59 years. I haven’t even been breathing for 59 years.
They refer to her as a “supreme interpreter.” She played no instruments, but didn’t need to. Her voice said it all and could do it all. She, like a few others, was a living, breathing, walking, talking instrument.
The music below is some of her later work. Reach out and listen to her earlier work also.
Enjoy.
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