The previous adage that opposites entice couldn’t be extra apt within the case of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, whose album collaborations for Verve Information, within the late 50s, resulted in a few of jazz’s best and most memorable duets. Texturally, their voices had been like satin and sackcloth – Ella’s was refined and caressed the ear with its super-smooth contours; Louis’ was a tough, gravelly, bark-cum-rasp that was nearly rustic by comparability. In sonic phrases, then, Ella and Louis juxtaposed in a approach that might safely be described as magnificence assembly the beast, and but the distinction of their vocal timbres resulted in a musical chemistry that made their recordings compelling and unforgettable.
A musical marriage: Ella meets Louis
Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald first recorded collectively in 1946, for Decca. At the moment, Ella – then 29 – was a rising star of the modern jazz scene, having damaged out with drummer Chick Webb’s group six years earlier. Louis, however, was 45 and, regardless of the decline in reputation of each New Orleans jazz and huge band swing, had not misplaced his star standing. The pairing of the 2 singers was, maybe, a musical marriage of comfort: the younger aspirant looking for credibility and validation within the jazz group by forging a union with a bona fide legend (the person who had virtually invented scat singing) and somebody who was thought to be jazz’s most august elder statesman. Teaming up with Bob Haggart’s orchestra, Ella and Louis duetted on the one “You Won’t Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart),” a smoochy ballad, backed with the livelier and extra playful “The Frim Fram Sauce.” Regardless of the recognition of the report, the duo didn’t report within the studio once more (largely due to Armstrong’s busy itinerary) till 4 years later, after they minimize “Can Any One Explain (No No No!)” and “Dream A Little Dream Of Me” for his or her subsequent single, accompanied by Sy Oliver’s orchestra.
Three extra Ella and Louis singles got here out at sporadic intervals over the subsequent 4 years, nevertheless it wasn’t till 1956, when producer and jazz impresario Norman Granz put the pair within the studio for an album mission, that their potential as collaborators was totally realized.
Granz was the mastermind behind the profitable Jazz At The Philharmonic collection of live shows, which he first started in 1944, after which later advanced into star-studded bundle excursions that ultimately ventured so far as Europe and even Japan. In 1956, he arrange a brand new report label referred to as Verve, particularly to showcase the expertise of Ella Fitzgerald, whom he had managed for the reason that 40s. Simply after Verve got here into being, Louis Armstrong’s contract with Columbia had expired, and his supervisor, a troublesome, uncompromising hustler referred to as Joe Glazer, brokered a short-term cope with Granz’s new label for the New Orleans trumpeter/singer.
Recording as equals: a high-profile summit
However Pops’ first album for Verve wasn’t, as some had anticipated, an album recorded in tandem along with his common live performance band, the All-Stars. As a substitute, Granz, who was intent on conquering mainstream America, wished to reunite Armstrong with the sweet-voiced woman that he’d first duetted with in 1946. However now she was a lady of 39 whereas Armstrong was 55. Ten years on, Ella and Louis had been now recording nearly as equals. It was a high-profile summit the place The First Woman Of Track – who had offered 100,000 copies of her debut Verve album, Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Cole Porter Track Ebook, within the first month of its launch earlier within the yr – was assembly jazz’s very personal venerable ambassador.
Their inaugural album recording session collectively was captured for Verve on August 16, 1956, the day after Ella and Louis had carried out at one among Granz’s most memorable JATP live shows, on the Hollywood Bowl. Evidently, Ella Fitzgerald had a gentle spot for Louis Armstrong. She was a fan from approach again and wished to make it possible for the jazz veteran felt at dwelling and wasn’t taken out of his consolation zone. Based on Norman Granz, she deferred to Armstrong on all points of the report and was simply happy to be within the studio along with her idol: “When she made the album with Louis, she insisted that he select the tunes, and she sang them all in his keys, even if they were the wrong keys for her.”
The one downside that arose was, due to the trumpeter’s intense and seemingly perpetual touring schedule, the periods had been organized on the final minute, so there have been no alternatives for rehearsal. Even so, Ella and Louis – backed by the super-slick Oscar Peterson trio – excelled, with Fitzgerald seemingly unaffected by singing in Armstrong’s keys and Satchmo acquitting himself fantastically on materials that he wasn’t aware of.
The best duetting in jazz: Ella And Louis to Porgy And Bess
The primary album got here out as Ella And Louis, in November 1956, and with its impeccably delivered mix of present tunes and requirements, it shortly received acclaim and have become a bestseller. Given its success, it was no shock that Granz introduced the pair collectively for a follow-up – this time an expansive double-album recorded throughout 4 days in the summertime of 1957 – referred to as Ella And Louis Once more, which once more featured the Oscar Peterson Trio. Stylistically, … Once more continued the place their first album left off, drawing on materials from The Nice American Songbook. What was totally different, although, was that seven of the set’s 19 tracks had been solo performances (4 by Armstrong, three by Fitzgerald).
Later the identical yr, the couple reconvened for an LP model of orchestrated materials taken from George and Ira Gershwin’s opera Porgy & Bess, launched in 1958 by Verve. It will be the final time that Fitzgerald and Armstrong would report collectively, however, over time, they might carry out collectively on stage many instances. Armstrong, evidently, was keen on the music the duo had recorded, and in 1968, throughout a tour of England, he appeared on the long-running BBC radio present Desert Island Discs, on which every visitor is requested to choose eight treasured recordings that might give them solace in the event that they had been to develop into castaways. Amongst his picks, Armstrong chosen “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” his 1957 duet with Ella from their Porgy & Bess album.
What makes the couple’s duets so pleasing to the ear is the conversational informality of their vocal exchanges. Regardless that there was an age distinction of 19 years between them, their affinity is such that any generational limitations appeared to immediately dissolve. Certainly, the entrance cowl {photograph} of their first album – a casual shot of Ella and Louis sitting within the studio subsequent to one another of their summer time apparel – exhibits how snug they had been with one another.
However Ella Fitzgerald wasn’t above doing a parody of her hero and had bought Louis Armstrong’s husky croak all the way down to a tee, as anybody who’s heard her magnificent 1960 stay album, Ella In Berlin, on which she summons his spirit on an impromptu model of the Satchmo favourite “Mack The Knife.”
Louis Armstrong died in 1971, aged 69, and Ella Fitzgerald was current at his funeral within the capability of an honorary pallbearer, alongside the likes of Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington and Bing Crosby. Later, within the twilight of her profession, in the course of the 80s, she revisited among the songs that she had recorded with Armstrong within the 50s – together with “Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off,” “A Foggy Day,” “Moonlight In Vermont” and “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.”
Ella and Louis’ was a musical marriage made in heaven, and at the moment, over 60 years later, their recordings have misplaced none of their attract, appeal, and luster. Only one take heed to Cheek To Cheek: The Full Duet Recordings immediately confirms this. In addition to the three Verve albums the pair recorded collectively, it incorporates all of their Decca singles, plus stay materials recorded at The Hollywood Bowl and a set of uncommon alternate takes and false begins. Nothing lower than a cornucopia of riches, it represents the best duetting in jazz.
Store Ella and Louis’ music on vinyl now.
