The Role of the Performer - Ella Fitzgerald, The First Lady of Song

Featured Performances:

"Someone to Watch Over Me" (Composed by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, 1926, United States)

Listen to Ella's recording here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olC33bjtnhw&list=RDolC33bjtnhw&start_radio=1



"How High the Moon" (Live in Berlin, 1960) (Composed by Morgan Lewis, lyrics by Nancy Hamilton, 1940, United States)

Watch the legendary performance here:

https://youtu.be/Zf_yECTnuko?si=ciZ7sxgn64h-I9tm


A Voice Forged in Song

Through her musical journey, Ella Fitzgerald demonstrates the power of interpretation. Despite having a challenging upbringing (she was born in 1917), she began her professional singing career in 1934 after winning a competition at the Apollo Theater. She was quickly promoted to lead vocalist in bandleader Chick Webb's group after he found her. After Webb's death, she became the band's new leader and went on to have a successful solo career. 

Throughout her life, Ella aimed to become the leading vocal instrumentalist rather than a composer. The Great American Songbook, which includes classic songs by Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and others, served as the foundation for her career. She spent her life perfecting and reworking old songs rather than creating original music. She would use her voice to explore every possible emotional and technical element of a melody.

Music, Music! Selections Showcasing Talent

   1. The yearning tenderness is encapsulated in the 1926 ballad "Someone to Watch Over Me" by George and Ira Gershwin. Ella's rendition is an exquisite demonstration of nuance. Like a warm embrace, her voice is soothing and soft. She doesn't steal the show, but her pure, unfaltering tone and delicate dynamics bring out the song's vulnerability and yearning. She breathes new life and relevance into this timeless classic.

   2. The 1940 composition "How High the Moon" by Morgan Lewis became something of a bebop movement hymn, but Ella was the rightful owner of the song. The performance took place in Berlin. Not only does she sing the melody in this well-known live recording, but she also breaks it down and puts it back together again as she goes along. In this spectacular scat singing performance, her voice becomes a virtuoso horn, and she improvises lines of astonishing melodic and rhythmic complexity in place of the original melody. This proves that she is unparalleled when it comes to improvising musical compositions, which she does with boundless enthusiasm and impeccable technique.


What Role Does This Performer Serve?

As a sympathetic interpreter and liberator of creativity, Ella Fitzgerald played a crucial role. Just because a composer has written a song doesn't mean it needs a singer to perform it. Since the music notation is only a guide. Fitzgerald brought vitality, hue, and spirit to the piece. 

According to Bahl, her specialty was making even the most technically complex Broadway and Tin Pan Alley songs accessible to the masses. She was an expert storyteller when it came to ballads. Her virtuosic improvisations in faster songs proved that performers can also be collaborators in the creative process. She was more than a singer; she was a completer of songs.


My Personal Opinion

Listening to Ella perform never fails to amaze me because of her extraordinary mastery of musical elements and her ability to convey profound closeness and exuberant happiness. 

If you're looking for "Someone to Watch Over Me," her input is crucial. The rubato tempo allows her to dwell on words that stir up powerful emotions. Through her extraordinary purity of voice, she conveys an air of authentic, unadorned yearning. Her moving story is brought to life by the sparse arrangement, which lets her voice soar above a simple piano accompaniment. This bolsters her narrative skills and transports listeners to the sunny, carefree mood of the song.

Throughout "How High the Moon," the musical elements emphasize her role as an independent creative. The pace is rapid and complex, and her scatting brings in new, impromptu melodies that are both expected and surprising. The dynamics shift from quiet whispers to a raised voice shout as the intensity increases. You really must see this performance because it is a thrilling reminder that a performer's role is to do more than merely recreate; rather, it is to find exciting new ways to perform old songs.


References

    National Endowment for the Arts. "Ella Fitzgerald Biography." NEA.gov, 2010, www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/ella-fitzgerald.

    Bahl, Mathew. "Ella Fitzgerald: A Century Of Song." All About Jazz, 25 Apr. 2017, www.allaboutjazz.com/ella-fitzgerald-ella-fitzgerald-by-mathew-bahl.

Massarik, Jack. "Ella Fitzgerald: Seven Essential Albums." Jazzwise, 7 June 2023, www.jazzwise.com/features/article/ella-fitzgerald-seven-essential-albums.

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