Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

RADIO May 16, 2020

Free Association - Vol. 3 with John Murph

Free Association is a series of collaborative mix-tapes curated by Mondo Jazz in association with musicians and selectors of various origins. Free Association mix-tapes develop as a conversation. The first selector sends a tune cherry-picked to suit, and ideally surprise, the second selector who then, in turn, returns the favor. An hour or so into this exchange, after unexpected turns and joyful revelations, the two look back at the results of this game of musical tennis-table and ...

RADIO August 13, 2019

The Songbooks (1950 - 1959)

By Russell Perry

Songs from what came to be known as the Great American Songbook, have been part of jazz perhaps since The Original Dixieland Jazz Band began recording Irving Berlin compositions. In the 1940s, singer Lee Wiley recorded several collections of 78s, known as “albums"--a name that stuck into the LP era, focused on the work of individual composers like George Gershwin or Cole Porter. With the advent of the Long Playing record, the idea of recording whole LPs dedicated to the ...

FILM REVIEW June 5, 2019

Ella Fitzgerald: Just One Of Those Things

By Ian Patterson

Just One Of Those Things Ella Fitzgerald Eagle Rock90 minutes 2019 In the public mind, Ella Fitzgerald was unarguably one of the great jazz figures of the twentieth century. She mightn't be fetishized the way Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, John Coltrane or Chet Baker have been--there wasn't quite enough tragedy in the singer's life for that kind of attention--yet perhaps more than any other jazz musician, Fitzgerald is globally synonymous with The ...

RADIO June 4, 2019

Salutes to Ma Rainey, Ella Fitzgerald and Blossom Dearie

By Mary Foster Conklin

Winding up Jazz Appreciation Month with special birthday shout outs to the Mother of the Blues Ma Rainey, pianist Dorothy Donegan, vocalists Ella Fitzgerald, Barbara Streisand and Blossom Dearie, among others, with new concept recordings from Nancy Kelly (a tribute to Mark Murphy) , Christina Morrison (duets with five other women vocalists) and Ellynne Rey (a study of birds). Playlist Toots Thielemans “Strutting With Some Barbecue" from Smooth and Easy (Smith & Co.) 00:00 Cat Conner “Waiting On ...

RADIO February 26, 2019

Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald (1936 - 1945)

By Russell Perry

Billie Holiday began recording at 18, in a 1933 session with Benny Goodman and was musically active until her death at 44 in 1959. Ella Fitzgerald also began recording at 18 (in 1935 as the singer with Chick Webb), but in her case, her career surged again in the mid-1950's with the songbook series on Verve. They are perhaps the two most important female singers to come out of the Swing Era. We are joined in this hour ...

HISTORY OF JAZZ November 15, 2018

Ella Plays Dice

By Eve Goldberg

Ella Fitzgerald was eating a piece of pie when the police burst into her dressing room, guns drawn. Nearby, Dizzy Gillespie and saxophonist Illinois Jacquet were playing a game of craps. The place was Houston, Texas. The date was October 7, 1955. The occasion was a sold-out concert at The Music Hall, one stop on tour for Jazz At The Philharmonic. Standing in the wings while Gene Krupa's band performed on stage, tour producer Norman Granz heard the ...

GETTING INTO JAZZ July 16, 2018

Ella Fitzgerald sings the Rodgers and Hart Song Book

By Mark Barnett

Getting StartedIf you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. Background The Great American Songbook--songs written from the 1920's to the 1950's by giants such as Cole Porter, Rogers & Hart, Duke Ellington and the Gershwin brothers--has inspired jazz musicians and singers for generations, supplying the raw material for endless improvisation. In listening to jazz, a good rule of thumb is “Know the song and you're halfway there." ...