Ella Fitzgerald

做為一位偉大的爵士女歌手，Ella Fitzgerald似乎永遠(yuǎn)不確知自己到底有多好，當(dāng)她步下舞臺，喝彩聲從四面八方傳來，全場觀眾起立給予她最高的敬意與歡呼時，她總會轉(zhuǎn)向她的朋友，好像在請求寬恕似的問道：“我表現(xiàn)的還可以嗎？”E lla Fitzgerald的音色充滿了女性的特質(zhì)與魅力，當(dāng)她用綿密，輕柔的聲音淺吟低唱時，沒有人能將目光移開，如果我們以憂郁來形容Billie Holiday，那么Ella代表的便是一抹陽光。
艾拉。菲茲杰拉德1918年出生于弗吉尼亞，在紐約成長。小時候她并未想過自己有一天會成為歌星，直至1934年在哈斯門歌劇院所舉辦的一場業(yè)余歌舞比賽中，E lla報考舞蹈一項(xiàng)，卻因太緊張，兩腿一直無法站穩(wěn)，只得轉(zhuǎn)報歌唱項(xiàng)目，唱的是Connee Boswill的歌“The Object Of My Affection”,并得到首獎。當(dāng)晚Chick Webb大樂團(tuán)的主要成員Bardu Ai也聽了她的歌聲，激動不已，一直在Webb面前推薦這位女孩，Webb終于同意讓她于次年的耶魯舞會中與樂團(tuán)同臺演出，并協(xié)議：如果學(xué)生喜歡她，她便可以留下來。毫無疑問她被留下來了。
往后十年，她以爵士女歌手的身份享譽(yù)樂壇，男歌手Mel Torme曾說：“我常想，如果有爵士靈藥這類東西的話，Ella Fitzgerald在一出生時便吞下了它�！彼秊镈ECCA唱片錄音，在爵士俱樂部演唱，并在著名的經(jīng)紀(jì)人與唱片制作人Norman Granz的安排下巡回演出。
1955年起，Granz以兼具音樂性與商業(yè)性的作法，有計劃的經(jīng)營Ella的歌唱事業(yè)，并讓她為他自己的Verve唱片公司錄音，塑造她成為國際樂壇的頭條人物。他深知E lla擁有不凡的爵士天份，但必須更進(jìn)一步拓展演唱的曲目，才能將這股天份發(fā)揮的更完美。于是他讓Ella從比較世俗的Tin Pan Alley曲調(diào)中走出來，開始演唱更具格調(diào)的音樂劇歌曲，第一部灌錄的便是Cole Porter的歌曲集，承包Ella說：“這是我演唱生命中的一個轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn)�！敝�后，她又陸續(xù)錄了格什溫，羅杰斯與哈特，艾林頓公爵等人的音樂劇作品。她后來吐露說：“演唱這些曲子，幫助我注入以前我所達(dá)不到的境界，而更好的是我能為那些從未聽過這些曲子的人演唱�！倍�她自己最喜歡的又是什么？她說：“我喜歡美麗的事物，喜歡演唱那種能讓人全然放松，像說故事一樣的歌曲，我喜歡聽別的歌手演唱，并去體會這些人唱歌時內(nèi)心的感受。”是啊，E lla演唱時最注重的是與聽眾之間的心靈交流。
"The First Lady of Song," Ella Fitzgerald was arguably the finest female jazz singer of all time (although some may vote for Sarah Vaughan or Billie Holiday). Blessed with a beautiful voice and a wide range, Fitzgerald could outswing anyone, was a brilliant scat singer, and had near-perfect elocution; one could always understand the words she sang. The one fault was that, since she always sounded so happy to be singing, Fitzgerald did not always dig below the surface of the lyrics she interpreted and she even made a downbeat song such as "Love for Sale" sound joyous. However, when one evaluates her career on a whole, there is simply no one else in her class.
One could never guess from her singing that Ella Fitzgerald's early days were as grim as Billie Holiday's. Growing up in poverty, Fitzgerald was literally homeless for the year before she got her big break. In 1934, she appeared at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, winning an amateur contest by singing "Judy" in the style of her idol, Connee Boswell. After a short stint with Tiny Bradshaw, Fitzgerald was brought to the attention of Chick Webb by Benny Carter (who was in the audience at the Apollo). Webb, who was not impressed by the 17-year-old's appearance, was reluctantly persuaded to let her sing with his orchestra on a one-nighter. She went over well and soon the drummer recognized her commercial potential. Starting in 1935, Fitzgerald began recording with Webb's Orchestra, and by 1937 over half of the band's selections featured her voice. "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" became a huge hit in 1938 and "Undecided" soon followed. During this era, Fitzgerald was essentially a pop/swing singer who was best on ballads while her medium-tempo performances were generally juvenile novelties. She already had a beautiful voice but did not improvise or scat much; that would develop later.
On June 16, 1939, Chick Webb died. It was decided that Fitzgerald would front the orchestra even though she had little to do with the repertoire or hiring or firing the musicians. She retained her popularity and when she broke up the band in 1941 and went solo; it was not long before her Decca recordings contained more than their share of hits. She was teamed with the Ink Spots, Louis Jordan, and the Delta Rhythm Boys for some best-sellers, and in 1946 began working regularly for Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic. Granz became her manager although it would be nearly a decade before he could get her on his label. A major change occurred in Fitzgerald's singing around this period. She toured with Dizzy Gillespie's big band, adopted bop as part of her style, and started including exciting scat-filled romps in her set. Her recordings of "Lady Be Good," "How High the Moon," and "Flying Home" during 1945-1947 became popular and her stature as a major jazz singer rose as a result. For a time (December 10, 1947-August 28, 1953) she was married to bassist Ray Brown and used his trio as a backup group. Fitzgerald's series of duets with pianist Ellis Larkins in 1950 (a 1954 encore with Larkins was a successful follow-up) found her interpreting George Gershwin songs, predating her upcoming Songbooks series.