Best of 2017: Ella Fitzgerald and The Sound of Joy
This year is the centenary of Ella Fitzgerald’s birth—April 25, 1917 in Newport News, Virginia—and there are musical celebrations planned across the country and around the world. And with good reason. She is a singer’s singer, a voice like crystal with a purity of range and intonation and a peerless sense of pitch. She remains one of the best scat singers, ever. Using her voice like an instrument, she is simply a tremendous jazz improviser. She moved effortlessly from swing to bop, and no one could sing a ballad like Ella. In fact, she could sing anything and because of her enormous artistry she elevated everything she sang. To end Women’s History Month on a high note and kick off Jazz Appreciation Month, we celebrate the first vocalist named a NEA Jazz Master, Ella Fitzgerald with her friend and executive director of the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, Fran Morris Rosman.
