Born in Newport News, Virginia on April 25th, 1917, Ella Fitzgerald became one of the most iconic and influential jazz vocalists in history. A musician coming out of the streets of Harlem, Ella was influenced by the music of famous jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby and the Boswell Sisters.
Within a few years of her birth, Fitzgerald’s family moved to New York City, where she began dipping her toes into music. Throughout her career, she played with countless phenomenal and famous musicians including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Nat King Cole, among others.
Fitzgerald was a pioneer for women in jazz, and as a woman in jazz myself, she’s one of the most important role models I could have. Jazz has always been and continues to be a male-dominated genre, but Fitzgerald cared not. Today, she’s one of the most well-known and popular jazz musicians in history, and an icon and inspiration to countless musicians like myself.
A career Like no other
Fitzgerald got her start singing for the Chick Webb Orchestra during a time where the popularity of jazz orchestras, more modernly known as “bigbands,” was on the rise, and jazz was entering what became known as the “bigband” era. When her mentor Chick Webb died in June of 1939, Fitzgerald stepped up as the bandleader, renaming the group to Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra.
Fitzgerald was known for her ability to sound “horn-like” while she sang, not limiting herself to just melodies. With her well-improvised scat solos, she could easily trick someone into thinking she was an instrumentalist before they realized she was just a vocalist like no other.
Her career spanned nearly half a decade. In this time, she recorded or was featured on over 200 jazz records. From a gal just singing on the streets of Harlem to one of jazz’s most important musicians, Fitzgerald deserves all the praise she received and more.
Collaborating with jazz’s biggest artists
Though Fitzgerald was plenty famous herself, it didn’t hurt that she also performed with plenty other big names. One of the most notable ones was Louis Armstrong. Together, they recorded 3 records: Ella and Louis (1956), Ella and Louis Again (1957) and Porgy and Bess (1959).
Armstrong wasn’t the only one who was lucky enough to share the bandstand with Fitzgerald. Another notable collaboration (and one of my favorites) was Ella Sings The Duke Ellington Songbook (1957). Featuring, you guessed it — Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington. (And for those of you that are curious, yes, I do have the arrangement of this record’s “Take The A-Train” memorized.)
A Mentor To Many
Fitzgerald is not only an influence to me, but countless others. These countless others include many who have performed at UNCO, and who I’ve even gotten to work with.
I saw Carmen McRae live a few years ago, and in between songs she talked constantly about how much she looked up to Fitzgerald, and how important Fitzgerald was to her career. McRae is one of the many amazing women that UNCO has worked with, and she was influenced by Ella Fitzgerald herself.
It isn’t always easy being the only girl on the band stand, but I often find comfort knowing that at one point, Fitzgerald was too. She’s one of the first names that’ll be recommended to you when you’re starting out in a High School Jazz Band, and the best thing a girl can have is the knowledge that there’s a woman who made her mark on the jazz world. If Fitzgerald can become one of the “cats” of all time, maybe I can someday dream of getting to her level of musicianship.