Ella tackles a bop classic and smooths it out into liquid silk. This sexy take on Dizzy Gillespie's standard, recorded the first weeks of 1961, has Herb Ellis on guitar, Joe Mondragon on bass, Gus Johnson on drums, and Lou Levy doing some very tasty piano work.
This is an early-ish example of vocalese, jazz lyrics written to fit a pre-existing instrumental melody. Ella enjoyed tackling these whenever possible; she said many times that her vocal style came from mimicking horn player techniques, so approaching tunes originally written for horns was a natural fit. Note her very unique, Eastern-flavored scatting at the end.
I've mentioned in previous posts that discovering Ella's recordings at age 12 introduced me to the entire jazz universe. This track was the first time I heard "Night in Tunisia."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abHkDjYRY4w
Ella 101 is a daily look at 101 essential recordings by Ella Fitzgerald, who was born 101 years ago this month. Tune in to Equinox, Monday nights from 8 - 11 p.m. on WYSO, to hear Ella and more great jazz with host Duante Beddingfield.
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