ELLA FITZEGERALD - AZURE

AZURE

ELLA FITZEGERALD

SONGWRITERS: IRVING MILLS & DUKE ELLINGTON

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: THE COMPLETE ELLA FITZGERALD SONG BOOKS

LABEL: VERVE RECORDS

GENRE: JAZZ

YEAR: 1957

 

           Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the First Lady of Song, Queen of Jazz, and Lady Ella. She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.

        After a tumultuous adolescence, Fitzgerald found stability in musical success with the Chick Webb Orchestra, performing across the country but most often associated with the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Her rendition of the nursery rhyme "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" helped boost both her and Webb to national fame. After taking over the band when Webb died, Fitzgerald left it behind in 1942 to start her solo career.

         Her manager was Moe Gale, co-founder of the Savoy, until she turned the rest of her career over to Norman Granz, who founded Verve Records to produce new records by Fitzgerald. With Verve she recorded some of her more widely noted works, particularly her interpretations of the Great American Songbook.

         While Fitzgerald appeared in movies and as a guest on popular television shows in the second half of the twentieth century, her musical collaborations with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and The Ink Spots were some of her most notable acts outside of her solo career. These partnerships produced some of her best-known songs such as "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Cheek to Cheek", "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall", and "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)".

          In 1993, after a career of nearly 60 years, she gave her last public performance. Three years later, she died at the age of 79 after years of declining health. Her accolades included fourteen Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

         Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book is a 1957 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by Duke Ellington and his orchestra, focusing on Ellington's songs.

            Part of Fitzgerald's "Song Book" series, it is the only one where the composer is also featured as a performer and the first occasion Fitzgerald recorded with Ellington. It is also the entry in the Song Book series that provided her with the most opportunities to exhibit her skill at scat singing.

          The greater part of disc three is devoted to two original compositions by Billy Strayhorn, inspired by Fitzgerald's life, character, and artistry. Fitzgerald's performance on this album won her the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance, Individual, at the 1st Annual Grammy Awards.

        The album was released in two volumes: The first volume comprised Fitzgerald with the Ellington orchestra, the second of Fitzgerald with a small group setting.

     This album marked the start of a fruitful artistic relationship for Fitzgerald and Ellington. The 1960s would see them perform on the Côte d'Azur for the album Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur(1966), and in Sweden for The Stockholm Concert, 1966. Their only other studio album is Ella at Duke's Place (1965).

         "Azure" is a 1937 song composed by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Irving Mills. The composition is an example of Ellington's early use of bi- and polytonality, and some parts of it are almost atonal in nature.

Drifting, dreaming

In an azure mood

Stardust gleaming

Through my solitude

 

Here in my seclusion

You're a blue illusion

While I'm in this azure interlude

I'm not wanted

I'm so all alone

 

Always haunted

By the dreams I own

But though I'm tormented

I must be contented

 

Drifting, dreaming

In an azure mood

 

Drifting, dreaming

In an azure mood

 

Drifting, dreaming

In an azure mood.