Jazz Icons: Ella Fitzgerald Live in '57 and '63

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Actor(s):

Ella Fitzgerald

Label: Tdk DVD Video
Publisher(s):

Tdk DVD Video

Studio: Tdk DVD Video
Manufacturer: Tdk DVD Video
Binding: DVD
MPN: DVWWJIEFD
Format(s): Color, DVD-Video, Live, NTSC
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
List Price: $19.99
Our Price: $17.99

Editorial Reviews

Description

Jazz Icons: Ella Fitzgerald features Â"The First Lady Of SongÂ" in two distinct performances. The fi rst is the earliest known complete concert of Ella to be captured on fi lm. Shot in Belgium, this 1957 concert has her performing with jazz greats Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, Jo Jones and the legendary Oscar Peterson on classics such as Â"Lullaby Of Birdland,Â" and Â"It DonÂ?t Mean A Thing (If It AinÂ?t Got That Swing).Â" The second show is an intimate in-studio performance from 1963, taped in Sweden, featuring Ella backed by a quartet including pianist Tommy Flanagan. Highlights include stellar versions of Â"Mack The KnifeÂ" and Â"Just One Of Those Things.Â"

Amazon.com

The First Lady of Song is in top form throughout Ella Fitzgerald - Live in '57 and '63, an entry in the excellent Jazz Icons series. Will Friedwald's detailed liner notes describe the summer of 1957 as a "traumatic" time for the singer (including an onstage attack by a mental patient and a brief, unhappy marriage), but you'd never know it from the gig in Brussels, Belgium that leads off this collection. Filmed in black & white (both picture and audio are terrific, as is usually the case with this series), the set begins not with a bravura swinger but with a languid, deeply expressive "Angel Eyes." Fitzgerald's legendary chops are on display from jump; her control of pitch and vibrato and impeccable articulation are amazing, yet for all her scatting and acrobatic vocal abilities, her performance is never the least bit meretricious. And so it goes, through the finger-snapping "Lullaby of Birdland" and the effortlessly cool "Love for Sale" to the Basie-esque "April in Paris," the tres bluesy "Roll 'Em Pete" (Ella's only known performance of pianist Pete Johnson's 12-bar standard), the relaxed "I Can't Give You Anything but Love" (wherein she does affectionate, spot-on imitations of Louis Armstrong and obscure '40s singer Rose Murphy), and Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing," the rousing show closer (featuring trumpeter Roy Eldridge and the great pianist Oscar Peterson, who sit in with guitarist Herb Ellis, drummer Jo Jones, and bassist Ray Brown, Ella's regular accompanists). The second set, again in black & white but this time on videotape, finds Ella and an entirely different band (led by pianist Tommy Flanagan) in a Stockholm TV studio. This one is perhaps a little jazzier than the first; the tempos are faster and the singing a bit throatier, and along with familiar fare like "Mack the Knife," there are three tunes ("Runnin' Wild," "No Moon at All," and Ray Charles' "Hallelujah, I Love [Him] So") that were recorded live only on this one occasion. All in all, another winner from one of the best live jazz series ever produced. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

Ella Fitzgerald

This is an excellent DVD. I particularly enjoyed the first section with Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, and Jo Jones. Oscar Peterson joins in on "Lullaby Of Birdland" and "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)"

rare vintage video of Ella

From what I've seen and heard thus far of the Jazz Icons series, the DVD's of Ella and Sarah are superb, and are wonderful additions to the music libraries of all who are interested in the artistry and musicianship of these great singers. Not only were they loved in their own country, as witnessed by this footage, they were undoubtedly among the very best good will ambassadors America has produced.

Ella in performance

This penultimate artist had passed away before I "discovered" her limitless, awe-inspiring vocal talent. I was delighted to have a chance to see the owner of this awesome voice in two live performances.
It was great to see the woman behind the voice. None of the songs performed are in my favorites category, and the sound is only what you can expect from something recorded ~50 years ago.

PURE ELLA!!!

I have decided to buy all her DVD's after seeing this one. She is just the ultimate singer. She has class, style, personality, humility, an obvious joy in performing, I could go on and on.
She made me LOVE the song "Mack the knife" where it used to be one of my least favorites.

Louis for ever

We are very fortunate to be able to see the first complete Jazz soloist at work in a good qulity DVD. It's like somebody found film on Paganini playing the violin 200-years ago but he only played the violin. Only difrenece here is that Louis was the starting point for the whole modern music era. For all instruments for all vocalists for all and for all...I'd say biginig of the American culture and art form for any style...jazz, pop,soul, rock, R&B even RAP...yes RAP..listen to some of his early vocals where he is talking the whole song...Louis did it all...!!nothing has happened since that time that did not come from him.Regardless of the time age or quality of his horn playing , this is history caprured live which will survive another 500-years if not longer.
We MUST show this DVD or play his music to every American, young or old.
America has contributed two things to the world that can not be copied.

Loius Armstrong and western movies....!!

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