Dianne Reeves Steps Into Ella Fitzgerald's Shoes
WHEN ALTITUDE SICKNESS SIDELINED ELLA FITZGERALD, DIANNE REEVES STEPPED INTO HER SHOES, LITERALLY, TO PERFORM AT THE WAREHOUSE CLUB IN DENVER, COLORADO. REEVES WAS STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL.
Dianne Reeves: So they tell me you have to go on because Ms. Fitzgerald is not going to be here, and we need you to come upstairs and sing a couple of songs. We have a band and, you know, we’ll work it out.Reeves continues How High the Moon
Dianne Reeves: Her wardrobe was still unpacked and still in her dressing room, where I had met her the night before. Well, the next night, she wasn’t there, and I’m sitting in her dressing room, looking at all of these gowns, and there were a pair of periwinkle blue, patent leather pumps sitting off to the side. And, I just put my feet in them and I went on stage, and I sang the three songs in her stead, and the whole time, I was looking down at my feet, you know, thinking I have on Ella Fitzgerald’s shoes.
THIS JAZZ MOMENT WITH NEA JAZZ MASTER DIANNE REEVES WAS PRODUCED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.
“How High the Moon” written by Morgan Lewis and Nancy Hamilton and performed by Dianne Reeves from the album, Goodnight and Good Luck, used courtesy of Concord Records and by permission of Chappell Co Inc / Warner Chappell, ASCAP.
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