It was Ella Fitzgerald's anniversary on the 15th of June. She accomplished much of musical note (pun hugely intended) in her lifetime: as singer with Chick Webb, similarly, later with Dizzy Gillespie and throughout her rightly lauded solo career.
Her musicality showed itself at its most convivial and convincing best in the landmark Verve recordings of the 1950's. Marking a turning point in her own performing life, which she herself recognised, these 1956/7 Norman Granz produced recordings: 'Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Cole Porter Songbook,' and, '...the Duke Ellington Songbook,' were enormously successful both commercially and artistically.
Ella's astonishing legacy will remain because she was able to; more than any of her contemporaries, certainly far more than anyone performing today, create an otherworld where words and music seamlessly melded into an unimpeachable, and incomparably melodious whole.
As Bing Crosby so succinctly rejoindered, 'Man, woman or child, Ella is the greatest of them all.'
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