Forgive me, but just a thought: How come they don't make singers like her anymore? It's pure, sheer joy to see her perform. If she were to stand in the line of fire, warring nations would immediately sign a truce for peace. With all due respect to all legendary vocalists - I believe Ella is beyond compare. Probably because she's beyond this plane. I've always thought she's an angel- Divine. I think they haven't a measure or category for her talent and gift. Just thinking aloud... =D
Have no fear, music in general may suck these days, but its always there in the hearts and minds of everyone... just a matter of time until the greats will live again... who knows if we will ever have another Ella, Half an Ella will bloody well do!
On August 15th, 1960 Ella Fitzgerald's "How High The Moon" entered Billboard's Hot Top 100; eventually it would peak at #76 and spent 5 weeks in the Top 100. The most successful version of this song was by Les Paul and Mary Ford; in 1951 it reached No.1 {for 9 weeks} on Billboard's Best Sellers chart and No. 1 {for 9 weeks} on Most Played by Jockeys chart, and finally No. 1 {for 9 weeks} on Most Played in Jukeboxes chart. Was ranked No. 3 on Billboard's Year-End Top 30 Singles of 1951 chart.
como es posible que 8 personas digan que no les ha gustado ella fitzgerald cantando how high the moon , desde luego hace falta ser poco sensible y tener una oreja , en vez un oido musical en fin que le vamos ha hacer a de haber gente para todo IMPRESIONANTE LA DAMA DEL JAZZ doña Ella FItzgerald
Even as Ella aged and could not hit the high notes with the vigor she used to in her youth and early versions of this song (Berlin), her timing remained impeccable. Equally important was the she scatting was as inventive as ever to compensate for her natural decline as aging settled in. Still she was a most awesome singer, hard to compare anyone against her!
Actually there are recordings of this very song with the same scatting (the Karen Carpenter special as an example) where Ella sang the high notes effortlessly in this same very era, early 80s. She was singing a long concert in a foreign country, after a long flight - her voice is tired here. Not to do with her regular ability during this time in her career - shame this video misleads people.
Paul Smith (piano), Keter Betts (bass) and Bobby Durham (drums). Paul was subbing for Ella's long-time arranger, conducter and accompanist, Tommy Flanagan.
oh Paul Smith, he's still going strong, scratch that last question lol....I've seen footage of Paul and he still looks the same, when I saw him in 86 , it was with Ella, Bobby, and Keter.
To answer “why they don’t make singer like that...” sadly it mostly has to do with money and distribution and the fact that the venues for live performance have all but dried up. This and when you have an entire genera of PoP music based on the percussive track and not melody (Rap) you can’t expect “melody” to sell. This may change again with the Internet. One can only hope!!!
