Ella Fitzgerald | Body and soul (Frank Sinatra A Man and His Music + Ella + Jobim, 1967 )

SUBSCRIBE for More! * Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the First Lady of Song, Queen of Jazz & Lady Ella. She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation & a horn-like improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. After a tumultuous adolescence, Ella found stability in musical success with the Chick Webb Orchestra, performing across the country but most often associated with the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Her rendition of the nursery rhyme A-Tisket, A-Tasket helped boost both her & Webb to national fame. After taking over the band when Webb died, Ella left it behind in 1942 to start her solo career. Her manager was Moe Gale, co-founder of the Savoy, until she turned the rest of her career over to Norman Granz, who founded Verve Records to produce new records by Ella. With Verve she recorded some of her more widely noted works, particularly her interpretations of the Great American Songbook. While she appeared in movies & as a guest on popular television shows in the second half of the 20th century, her musical collaborations with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington & The Ink Spots were some of her most notable acts outside of her solo career. These partnerships produced some of her best-known songs such as Dream a Little Dream of Me, Cheek to Cheek, Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall & It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing). In 1993, after a career of nearly 60 years, she gave her last public performance. 3 years later, she died at the age of 79 after years of declining health. Her accolades included 14 Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts & the Presidential Medal of Freedom. * “Body and Soul“ is a popular song & jazz standard written in 1930 with music by Johnny Green & lyrics by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour & Frank Eyton. It was also used as the musical theme & underscoring in the American film noir boxing drama Body and Soul. It was written in New York City for the British actress & singer Gertrude Lawrence. Published in England, it was 1st performed in the US by Libby Holman in the 1930 Broadway revue Three’s a Crowd. In Britain the orchestras of Jack Hylton & Ambrose recorded the ballad first in the same week in Feb 1930. In the US, the tune grew quickly in popularity & by the end of 1930 at least 11 American bands had recorded it. Louis Armstrong was the first jazz musician to record it, but it was Paul Whiteman & Jack Fulton who popularized it in US. One of the most famous & influential takes was recorded by Coleman Hawkins & His Orchestra in 1939. In 2004, the Library of Congress entered it into the National Recording Registry. It was recorded as a duet by Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse in 2011. It was the final recording made by Winehouse before her death on July 23, 2011, at the age of 27. The single was released worldwide on Sept 14, 2011, what would have been her 28th birthday. The song received a Grammy Award in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category in 2012. * A Man and His Music Ella Jobim was a 1967 television special starring Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald & Antonio Carlos Jobim, accompanied by Nelson Riddle & his orchestra. The medley that Jobim & Sinatra sing together was arranged by Claus Ogerman. The title is a reference to Sinatra’s previous 2 television specials by this name, 1965’s A Man & His Music, the following years A Man & His Music - Part II & his 1965 album, A Man & His Music, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year, 1967. Sinatra had featured Fitzgerald on his Timex television shows in the late 1950s & this show marked their first television appearance together since then. They performed a swinging duet of The Lady is a Tramp. Fitzgerald’s pianist, Paul Smith said, “Ella loved working with [Frank]. Sinatra gave her his dressing room on A Man & His Music & couldn’t do enough for her.“ Fitzgerald & Sinatra came close to recording together around this period, but the plans were eventually scuppered. Tracks: - Day In, Day Out - Get Me to the Church on Time - What Now My Love - Ol’ Man River - Ella Fitzgerald: Body and Soul - Ella Fitzgerald: It’s All Right with Me - Duet Medley with Ella: How High the Moon / Up, Up and Away / Don’t Cry, Joe (Let Her Go, Let Her Go, Let Her Go) / Ode to Billie Joe / Goin’ Out of My Head - Duet Medley with Jobim: Change Partners / I Concentrate on You / The Girl from Ipanema - Duet Medley with Ella: The Song Is You / They Can’t Take That Away from Me / Stompin’ at the Savoy - At Long Last Love - Ella Fitzgerald: Don’t Be That Way - Duet with Ella: The Lady Is a Tramp - Put Your Dreams Away (For Another Day)