RIP, Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)

Ella Fitzgerald, arguably the greatest female jazz singer ever, died on June 15, 1966, in Beverly Hills, California. She had been ill for a number of years, due to complications from diabetes and heart surgery. On her last day, she was wheeled into the backyard of her Beverly Hills home, where she sat for about an hour. When she was being brought back in, Fitzgerald looked up with a soft smile and said, "I’m ready to go now." She is buried in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.

Bing Crosby summed up her talents best when he said, "Man, woman, or child, Ella is the greatest." Jazz critic Scott Janow says that Fitzgerald was "blessed with a beautiful voice and a wide range, … could outswing anyone, was a brilliant scat singer, and had near-perfect elocution." Len Lyons speaks of her "full-blown dynamic style," "rhythmic punch," "verve and imagination," and "energy and consistency."

In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Lyons recommends Ella's album, Mack the Knife (Verve), which is available on vinyl only. Jim Determan, who updated the Lyons book for CDs, recommends as an alternative Mack the Knife — The Complete Ella in Berlin (Verve), noting that "Some additional cuts, mostly standards of Ella's concert repertoire (not all actually from the Berlin concert), round out this set to make it an even better collection than it was." The CD is available from Amazon.com.

Fitzgerald's marvelous scat singing is featured here in her imaginative version of "Blue Skies":

Robert
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