The Songbirds Archives

Ella Fitzgerald in Budapest
Pablo Records (5308-2), U.S., 1999

In a career that spanned over sixty years, Ella Fitzgerald never lost her love for singing, nor the need to keep introducing new material in her concerts. From the beginning in 1935 with bandleader Chick Webb, singing mostly swing-era novelties; to when she became the toast of the Jazz at the Philharmonic concert series in the late 1940s and early 1950s; to her stellar and influential series of composer songbooks done for Norman Granz's Verve label; and on to associations with Capitol, Reprise, and Pablo, Fitzgerald continually kept her infectious enthusiasm and girlish glee in singing "pretty for the people."

This album consists of a previously unissued concert done in Budapest, Hungary, on May 20, 1970. It’s surprising that a concert of such high quality sat in the vaults all these years; yet, when perusing a discography that is already flooded with concert recordings, and which holds hundreds of unreleased hours, perhaps it is best that this release did not appear when it was current to prevent its slipping through the cracks of a recording career that easily could have seen albums such as this appearing several times per
year.

Running an hour and eighteen minutes, the concert features a dizzying array of interpolations linking the old school of American Popular Song which Fitzgerald had sung for a generation at this point with "Now Sounds" as she herself deems them, featuring quality choices from contemporary tunesmiths like Burt Bacharach, Harry Nilsson and D. C. Thomas. Throughout the program, she sneaks in as many familiar favorites as possible, to great effect; not only does her doing this allow her to replant her feet firmly on the ground so she can stay at her best, but mixing it in with the newer material keeps her enthusiasm at an incredibly high level.

At this point in her career, she had been singing professionally approximately 300 nights per year for over 35 years. Thus, her voice by 1970 was slightly strained, but never enough to tarnish the goings-on. She was in a period of rough physical health at this time, but amazingly she gives a hundred percent in every note she sings and never lets on to her audience that there are any complications. The joy she finds in performing radiates in every selection, and her skills as an improviser boggle the mind time and time again.

Through her infinitely clever use of interpolations, humming, and scatting, she not only riffs the changes in the new material but also pulls in previous generations’ expression of the same sentiments. Often, she appears tentative with the newer material, like an athlete who has just mastered a routine and cannot stray from it yet. Erring on the side of precision, she uses the standards she interpolates for surer pitch, less precision, with transitions that are overall smooth, never clumsy, and intellectually stimulating as she gathers it all to be of a piece.

Often here, she chooses notes from within the chord changes of the song at hand instead of singing the melody as written, and just as often instead of holding a note, she'll scat up, down, and around it, akin to a cat landing on its feet as it jumps from tree to fence and all around. Lyrics tend to be secondary to the instrumental fun she's having, as she interjects blues phrases without words, sings the introductions of her trio members, and, while still singing, gently scolds a noisy audience member! Her quick wit and genius sense of time even allows her to cough without disrupting the phrase she is singing.

The joy of singing just moves through her like a force of nature, as she works around the effects of age on her vocal range, holding the high notes that are pure for an almost operatic effect and all the while working in as many low notes from the bottom of her range – physically easier for most singers – whenever the need for improv simply cannot be resisted. When she scats on Girl From Ipanema, she imitates percussion, does bird calls, clicks and pops, getting the lyrics out of the way almost immediately so she can get to the interpolations – primarily instrumental here – for a measure or two never leaving chord parameters of the song, with lyrics made up to suit the improvisations she is creating as she goes along. An incredible imagination at work, and an incredible love of music that proves irresistible to the listener. Her quick mind and unsurpassable level of skill should be played as instruction for anyone who thinks they are a singer.

Fitzgerald also showcases her delightful gift for mimicry by imitating Louis Armstrong during Cabaret, in homage to his version of the song, and also working in a few bars of his other 1960s signature tune, Hello, Dolly. When she comes to her signature songs, the "usual" treatments appear but they remain as fresh as ever to her, with dizzying interpolations which are very brief and stealth, never clumsy or out of place – could this be the origin of sampling? – always spontaneous and caught up in the music of that moment. Whether introducing new songs and "Now Sounds" or continuing to perfect her familiar repertoire, nothing fazes her. No matter what the song calls for, she brings that quality to it, whether its a gentle lullaby such as Summertime or People, or a wailing up-tempo number such as Crazy Rhythm or You’d Better Love Me, she is in her Ella-ment here. When the trio is working to keep up with her and providing the sparest chords, she turns it into improv nirvana. Her instincts are dead on as she changes shapes of phrases to suit her physical abilities and her imagination.

Ella Fitzgerald never lost her love of singing, always staying up to date, finding clever links between old and new generations of American Popular Song.

Pablo Records (Fantasy Jazz)

First Lady of Song