Com tanks. You do. It do they do. Did. They. Said it did a good job or a good day you would do. When i would hear her voice it was just something so happy thats the thing she made me feel happy she made me feel safe. To see 1938 Ella Fitzgerald collaborated to make a jazz piece out of a childrens rhyming game to skid a task it. Was her 1st hit with a chick when workers trim and marked the start of an unparalleled career spanning 5 decades. And. No other voice was more influential in 20th century jazz then Ella Fitzgerald the queen of jazz and the 1st lady of janice the 1st lady of song was you see she had a very long career its really 3 generations that are now the 3rd generation is now speaking so they grew up with their grandparents listening and the records were in the house they grew up with their parents listening and. What your mother and your father play around you or sing around you is so deeply rooted in me. Leaving and. Yet. You. Cant hear bob. Its clarity comes from her internation she hits the pitch right in the bulls eye and thats why we can understand the word so clearly we dont hear all these overtones mulet muddying up the pitch so we hear this clarity and that clarity of pitch is experienced as a kind of purity of tone which reminds us of an essential aspect of the human voice and see a lot of times the Rhythm Sections make the singers sound better the singers can float on top of whatevers happening musically. And sometimes its the interpretation of vocalists has that just you know obviously souls the song but as far as this time feel we always really look real i own the Rhythm Section so that but i was one of the few singers who. Contributed to the time feel into the overall groove of music. Initially ella dreamed of becoming a dancer instead because of a last minute decision she became a singer. At your Humble Beginnings in yonkers new york ella just 15 when her mother died fled her abusive stepfather dropped out of school and lived on the streets of harlem. And managing 34 at the age of 17 ellen got her big break at the legendary apollo amateurs night talent show. Rather than dance she decided to sing big band leader and drummer chick webb became a protective figure as he fostered her Exceptional Talent was little but. When she started out with chick webb the chick singer up front with the band was supposed to be a beautiful dress and the guy sit in the chair sing her a little chorus in the middle of the song get up and sit down well from the very beginning she didnt sit down she. Got up and waved her arms and interacted with the musicians as if she were the conductor and told chick that she wanted to learn how to jam with the boys in the band. And shes the landing in to speak and like one of the you know instruments in the band she might jump and sing with the trombones or play in a with the saxons are playing with the trumpets you know she just had this ability everything by ear. She thought he brought me in he brought me out he brought me to my audiences and without him what would have happened to me. When our mentor died in 1939 young ella took over his band and continued to lead it successfully for several more years. An astonishing accomplishment for a young woman called them at a time when jens was still generally considered disreputable. Basic in the 30s you would never take your mother to a jazz concert you would never take your wife you might take your mistress you know is that kind of thing but you would never risk but when respectable people went to see jazz at the prince of wales like jazz but he thought he was slumming and that was sort of the attitude people enjoyed it but it was very much underground and even in the black community it was looked down upon in the beginning the black middle class and the black religious class looked down on jazz that had to do with gambling it had to do with. Low class low sexual morals and things like that but but you know people like ellington and really gave it a kind of respectability i mean after al i really you could take your mother to here to a jazz concert. Meet. Me here and it. 7 was. 7 in the mid 1940 s. He met and married bassist ray brown and was forging a new style of Music Together with Charlie Parker arent tatum roiled ridge and Dizzy Gillespie a style called bebop. Shared a deep musical bond with dizzy who would become an important teacher. 2 6 c me she stood next to Dizzy Gillespie in all of these create great bebop players the people that invented vivaah and she could hold her own you know so the people that end up scattering. Good next to her would be people like Dizzy Gillespie and eldridge and people that actually play horns if you learn bebop heads all the Charlie Parker tillmans and all those lex you know never theres never room for a shivery job nice you know. I tell them like elle is a great one because she used to great syllables it was just very natural for her when she and provide s. G. M. L. And i think she is the greatest scat singer even today to me shes the greatest gets a. Chance to do really really. She just. Needed to. Really think it. Was because she didnt need to become the number in. The number so she invented a language you know that is actually taught you know oh no you go blot out bebop or do you do do you know and you know maybe that might work not work for you you know but people do it anyway but she did it because that worked for her that was how she could get to where she needed to get to. Know my thats when you get a handle on but do people do because. I know that she can sketch she could do chorus after chorus after chorus after chorus with. Complete ease i know when i was doing her the tribute album to her my dear ella. I decided one day. That i was going to do air mail special but it really didnt it let it be a little a little italy so i wanted to do her scat. But didnt really need anything you need eliminating the need and i have. Only julie i spent a day trying to get her revved up. To really be able to pull this off and i couldnt do it because it was just not natural for me so i delayed that wind a bit i was like well thats a good idea. Im going to be really really ready to go and i had the good that that that that that the facts. Oh vote. In the 2nd round for the 1940 s. She started working with norman grants already you know Legendary Music manager and the founder of the Concert Series called john is it to feel harmonic. Well i would just say i need someone to speak for me and ill do the sang and norm on the. Management contract and 54. Recording contract at the end of 55. 00 and started for records on my part of it is a had a. Terms of her tolerance work ethic the integrity of her work the genius of her. Entire approach to signing jav. To do it. Was. Only. The. Killer became a fixture of jazz at the philharmonic. Back with the touring band that brought together the biggest names in the genre in the mid 1950 s. She accompanied the show around the world including to the Southern United States where the performers faced intense discrimination her manager norman grants forcefully opposed racial segregation. Last night he said well being on the road he certainly and countered segregation was said no he didnt and counter and he purposely. To confront and every year i come here with jazz of the film i like it every year i favor thame this is the greatest thing in jazz masella. I remember hearing a woman grounds constantly introducing his one and only as mrs gerald the great Ella Fitzgerald rarely does he ever just use her 1st name because he was so clued in to the racist climate in the united states. And 1st lady in a period when you werent supposed to call a black woman mrs is a very important racialized statement as well its a statement of stature of prestige. Of entitlement to dignity. Ready but the 1st lady of jazz faced the same discrimination that all black jazz musicians suffered at the time in 1955 she and other band members were arrested on a trumped up charge after a concert and gives to texas. But a year earlier on a stopover in honolulu on route to Sydney Australia she was forced off the plane to allow white passengers on board. Fitzgerald had to wait 3 days for another connecting flight norman grants subsequently sued pan am which lost and was forced to pay damages. The case made headlines just like another incident in 1985. Marilyn monroe stepped in when her favorite nightclub the most combo in los angeles refused to let fitzgerald play due to the color back. When rowe contacted the manager and promised shed sit in the front row for a week if he let fitzgerald perform. Later Ella Fitzgerald said of monroe she was an unusual woman and ahead of her time she just did not. Tell if its gerald and there was armstrong only collaborator done to albums today those own booms are world famous. It said the pair cracked so many jokes during the recording session that they often had to stop working because they were laughing so hard. To run this time norman grants persuaded ella to begin a series of recordings exploring the Great American songbook she was skeptical afraid of losing her loyal jazz audience my sense is that it was a surprise in some level because he had tried the idea of a song work out earlier with Oscar Peterson for example and it didnt really work he just had the experience of watching Ella Fitzgerald with the jazz at the philharmonic his touring group that she could sing standards and reach an audience and he banked on that. As a premise to do this experiment she tried the spec to reel in front of an audience she told them she needed to try it out before she would agree to do this and after she did a concert primarily with standards i think primarily with cole porter said we can go ahead i saw their faces itll be fine. With. Me. There were a lot of the most classic songs that these riders row but also playings. And norman grabs sifted through and just thought which of these do you want to set for example that great balance every time we say goodbye thats an example for songs became important because she sang and that they were almost. The cool porter songbook recorded in 1956 was the 1st of her famous song book series. The Duke Ellington songbook from the following year was most important to her personally. Ringback i want to also want to thank. Ready ringback you. Everyone. There are millions are great examples of al as a ballad singer and to me this is one of them she really really put you know her heart and soul into Something Like this you can tell that shes really feeling it do not. Ready know what. Ready was. There the. Only it was. No. And especially in the song or should i say sometimes its done people to swing it or they you know do it its as if her reverie you know they just do it flip and do nothing to you hear from me and but our mind says that its really a love song. And the message is. No matter what you hear or who you hear it from i will always love you. And she brings that out but i think that almost almost any other singer its a very unique and special performance and that was and was. Relieved. Was. And thats an area of her tannen as it were that really doesnt get enough attention people always talk about what a great scat singer she was what a great swinger she was what a great band singer she was what a great jazz singer she was and all that is entirely true but she was a wonderful ballad singer as well. And she was a gifted improviser. I love that but i do think that was the the lion because when you see that you know all she everybody is like sweet n low and that it is but not not at those times you know she was ready to take you there and. I mean she was monstrous like it is. The. Thing. That. And musicians were afraid of for. Instrumentalists i was they sees a musician instrumentalists yeah because shes going to come up there and she. Going to go back and forth with you shes always got something to say you better have something to say or shell run you off the stage. And jazz was a means of reaching people and it was still among the best musicians today it can be that as well but its sort of you know got the stigma attached to it that compared to say rock and roll music jazz is much more nishi and intellectual whereas thats not what its supposed to be at all jazz is a means of communication jazz is primarily a means of making people dance and primarily means making people smile its not supposed to be this and similar thing and ella was the greatest of that that. 6 they could tune in there and straight mozzarella do and i but even more importantly they were spotted her musicianship when a lot of times musicians cama whole singers as as as bryant or of it you know the the extra mount a lesser still predominate with with with. She was as good or better than the run of the mill and. Always on the road most of the. Singing was all she wanted to do. Research on life. Stages of the world and an audience were all she needed. To climb or do you. Her voice and she never disappointed. On her travels or look its journaled commanded tremendous respect as a black singer. The greatest among. The real the. Home in the u. S. The struggle against racial segregation and oppression in the 1960 s. Was marked by escalating violence. Is the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum under the leadership of Martin Luther king jr the queen of jazz to seem more confident. And resolute before. The. Gospel creatures just let the spirit flowing to them then thats a scene here. And of the spirit takes over it. Really. Is going to put a sea close in some american pop. House fence will sing. And there was silence. Oh no. I dont think they saw a black woman standing there on stage. I think the music her music you just were in the presence of something very special you were in the presence you were you were in this other space i cant. I can stand up i can stand up but its not because its tough because i never was yes i was. Was. Was. Was. Was. She didnt really understand the. The affection that people had towards her she didnt she didnt i mean she would come out after a concert and say that was a that was a good audience you know nothing about her singing but before hand should be a rock. Very nervous she didnt want to talk to or one time we had a concert that was about 60 miles away when i was road managing her and not one word was spoken in the limo on the way up on the way back you could show her up. In the final years of Ella Fitzgerald in life jim blackman was one of the few people allowed into her inner circle. I always said that its a good thing ella was as universally acclaimed as she was because i dont think she could have taken any criticism because it would hurt her feelings. What is. It with you i did. She she had this ability to make people want to protect her there was something about her that you didnt want any harm to come to or you didnt want her to have any bad situations in life because she. She felt deeply about things and extremely private you know. Extremely private so you know thats why i have with think you know see let you see what it was that she needed to have and needed to be the sinus becomes. A defense for how little she wishes to share her what she thinks of it in days answering questions that are invasions of privacy. And war or someone might go to hell and so i hope could you do this or do that she says yesterday or as she said there are a lot because she cannot remember many peoples and i am just there. So than i would be like i asked Norman Potter to call and speak to norman. Norman grounds for presented Ella Fitzgerald for more than 40 years their professional and personal relationship was the most stable bond in fitzgeralds life. In the course of her long career she was showered with accolades like in paris in 1990. 8 bridgewater met her there after an awards ceremony. When i went to the u. S. Embassy i mean there were less than about 200. 00 people there were at the embassy in there was a big spread and of course champagne and all kinds of drinks and all of these people were talking in this room and there was no Ella Fitzgerald really that made it worse. I went over and i said down with her and i said this fitzgerald and shes didi helen. Why why are you here you know this reception is for you and she said to me something that i have never forgotten she said a few things on that occasion. And she said you know d. D. I hate these kinds of affairs i hate receptions i hate those meeting in crete and she said because people just come to those things so they can get together interested in me you see no one has missed me youre the 1st person to come and look for me. The other thing that ella told me was she said i hope you will take the time to be a mother to your children she said that that was her biggest regret is that she did not spend more time with ray jr and she said that was the thing that she wished she could have turned back to. Ella adopted ray brown jr while she was married to bassist ray brown. When the marriage ended in 1053 she raised their son alone though she. Remained a lifelong friend. Was. Her singing was in a scape from anything that was not good in her life you know and you can tell that her escape was and her desire obviously was to find pure joy because thats what you hear in in her sound that was her that was her heir that was her water that was she loved she lived and loved to sing. 19 sixtys and early seventys fitzgerald increasingly performed a contemporary soul or pop songs including ones with a political message. Ali. Offstage she took a political stance in her own way singing at president john f. Kennedys inauguration and supporting Robert Kennedys campaign in 1968. Following the assassination of dr Martin Luther king jr in april 1968 Ella Fitzgerald composed the song its up to me and do you. Like. It. If. You. Know my kids would like to do a know number. And its one of my favorites. But. Im going to sort of sneak over here was a while see if i can remember the lyrics. And then. And we hope you remember it all so very fortunate. And we help you back it. Now. You credit. Where you can. Review. By law which most of us with hello always get the feeling that shes pointing to the music not her own suffering or difficulties or her own personality or personal story she doesnt and as for her the focus is on the music. As if she takes the focus off for self and puts a spotlight on the content of the music by thats really a very modern approach it was easy to say i didnt see him down the dang fison you meet new need to of me yet. When you there is. In the final years of her life Ella Fitzgerald was beset by Health Problems and increasingly spent more time at her estate in Beverly Hills than on the road. She suffered from diabetes which led to numerous complications and left her legally blind she could barely walk and underwent heart surgery but none of that stopped her from performing. She lived in seclusion with contact of only a few close friends. Jim blackman was one of them and he voted fan who had travelled to her concerts for decades she one day acknowledged his loyalty by inviting him over to her house. What does fan come from fanatic probably but that by that point you know i was friends with her and so i wasnt you know i was accompanying her so. You know and i was there a lot you know people called me a groupie but you know i always tried to stay away from her and it was she who came up to me it was she who started this relationship not me. That condi was over in finding the whole of my school to that. He said my dear friends i have given. It. More than that. From the. Way. Theyre certainly can eat. Oh are full. Agony. These. Graphs. And if you get in there you wold choose. You cant. You simply have to. Do didnt it didnt approve did. You do. This in the egg. Dripless leo way. You all messed up full bed. On a really good. If you get. Good use simply you. Didnt get into the back of the beast made my wrap so deep and if you can update it loves you still give. It to mother to plop it. Down a bit. Better than that or did a good bit we are going to be your way back to that girl and mom very. Loved it did stop it little bit of a book. In there due to a power show. I dont cause we begin to believe we need to make her out of love but they know me. Well. Or. When youre driven and youre here you get filled you. Theres a spiritual fullness that you get can get from that. And. And performing and getting that love back from the audience as well i think that that was her family shops in no incident when i had the chance to see or at Carnegie Hall 1991 she was terribly thin and could hardly see the scene when she came onto the stage and people were just screaming i love you ella it was unbelievable the atmosphere the love pouring from the audience towards this person for who see it all and and then she sat on her chair and said i love you too honey to. An american treasure. Which. I. I. Knew she had to have coming out onto the stage and she was had a few words to say she just said really i dont know what to say you know thank you but but i can saying you know and i feel like thats where she was most her most comfortable really was performing and shes saying you are the sunshine of my. Thats was. And there were these young people in the audience in the front and she was singing to them and you could tell that it was she was singing to them and it. Was. Very. I felt like she was singing to me and that she loved she. Felt like she loved me and she loved them and i cry and watch it over and over and over again and each time i cry when i. See that audience for a system. Theyre going. To. Listen. To. Thanks so much thank you. I have a theory just. A dream that changed the world were made so since. A dream thats no rousing the crowds on stage crept up by the Creative Church turn foundation. Martin luther king the choir music thanks. To. We buy cheap clothes and discard them soon after. Us fashion is everywhere now days. In germany almost a 1000000 tons of text from notes every year. Most of her quality and currency recycled. So what happens after closing this job Global Trade Center was a. Few minutes on d w. Shes a sex phone operator who works her masters thesis on the potato. To free. Not to turn on well it gets more ridiculous from their. Literature list traditionally strained. As is the w. News line from thailand greece is conservative opposition sweeps to victory in the countrys election on the promise of no attacks as moved jobs but could be a consummate tuchis really bring back the danes to his country and take it on to us also on the program before the break for the murder of civilians and forced child soldiers to kill him