Her Voice as an Instrument…The Story of Jazz for Beginners Like Me: Chapter 8…A Tisket, A Tasket by Ella Fitzgerald and Chick Webb and His Orchestra

Ella.

Simply Ella. 

Her full name was Ella Jane Fitzgerald. She has been called the First Lady of Jazz, as well as the First Lady of Song. She has fronted bands led by the likes of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Chick Webb among others and even led Chick Webb’s orchestra after he passed away. Her discography serves as a thorough and complete timeline of the history of Jazz, going as it does from the era of Big Band and Swing, all the way through Bebop, Gospel, Soul and Rhythm and Blues. She has had a myriad of national honours bestowed upon her, hugging and shaking the hands of several presidents along the way. She is known for her ability to use her voice as a musical instrument via the technique known as scat singing which she did not originate but certainly perfected and pioneered. She gained renown on the stages of the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem and on the stage of the Apollo Theatre, where she was one of the very first Amateur Night winners. Shy and demure by nature but fiercely strong and proud in spirit, Ella Fitzgerald lived a life without equal in the world of music. It is the mark of a life well lived when the mere mention of her name brings a smile to everyone’s lips. But that is the case with the subject of today’s post. She was all things to many people but in the end, all she needed to be was herself. This is the story of Ella Fitzgerald…an absolute legend, a dynamic performer, a wonderful woman simply known as Ella. Enjoy.

Ella Fitzgerald is someone who I always viewed in a grandmotherly way when I was growing up. Ella was already entering her fifties when I entered the world. Thus, when I was old enough to understand the world around me and appreciate the people who were the leading personalities of my time, Ella Fitzgerald was already in her senior years. As a result, my initial impressions were always of this smiling, polite and friendly woman who made guest appearances on all of the TV variety shows of my youth. She seemed to me like someone’s grandmother who, when your own parents weren’t looking, would slip you some money, give you a warm hug and tell you to keep that secret exchange to yourself. The other impression that she left upon this young man’s mind was that she rarely sang normal song lyrics. Watching her on TV in the 1970s was my introduction to scat singing. I had no idea that she was using her voice in time with the horn section of the orchestras with which she appeared. It all seemed quaint and it brought a smile to my face and that was enough for me. It wasn’t until I was much older and had more life experiences that I was able to look back upon those times that I watched Ella Fitzgerald and begin to appreciate what it had taken for her to stand there, smiling so freely and singing so effortlessly. Or so it appeared. As it turned out, I was watching a woman for whom grace emanated freely but for whom life had never been as easy as she made it seem. The true legends like Ella Fitzgerald always make the impossible seem possible and, if she was anything at all, Ella Fitzgerald was definitely a legend. Here is her story.

Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born in 1917. Her parents were never married and, as such, Ella grew up with a family structure that can best be described as fluid. Ella Fitzgerald was always a good student in school and soon developed a love of music. Unfortunately, because her family life was unstable, she moved frequently and rarely stayed at one school long enough to be noticed. In situations such as hers, it is possible to develop survival instincts while, at the same time, feel the weight of self-esteem issues bearing down on you at all times. The dichotomy of personal developmental issues was something that came to mark Ella Fitzgerald’s personality for the rest of her life. Shy on the outside but strong and determined on the inside was how she came to be perceived by those who did take the time to get to know her. But finding those people took Ella a while. Unfortunately for her, Ella’s mother was killed in a car accident when she was still just a teenager. For a few years, she was raised by a man who was her stepfather. There were rumours that this man did not do right by young Ella. During her time in his care, she lost interest in school and began hanging out with unsavory characters on the street. The end result of this was that she was arrested and sent to a form of juvenile detention for orphans. When she emerged from that stint, she moved in with her aunt in Harlem. That move would set the stage for what was to become a much better life.

After leaving the detention centre, Ella Fitzgerald returned to the streets but this time it was the streets of Harlem. And instead of engaging in illegal activities, Ella tried to earn money for herself by busking on street corners. Soon enough, word of her strong and powerful singing voice began to circulate. At some point, the people who were putting coins in her jar began mentioning an amateur talent show at the Apollo Theatre that was offering cash prize money to the weekly winner. Eventually, Ella Fitzgerald worked up the courage to go down to the Apollo Theatre and sign up for that week’s competition. Initially, Ella had decided to go on stage and dance. But prior to her turn coming up, she watched a set of sisters dance up a storm and thought to herself that she could never do as well as that. So, when her name was called, she felt as though she had no other choice but to sing. So she did. When she first walked on stage, she was rumpled and disheveled from having come straight from busking. The crowd booed her at first sight. But when she began to sing, she instantly won them over. She was even asked for an encore. Ella Fitzgerald was declared to be the weekly winner of Amateur Night at The Apollo. However, because of the state of her appearance, she was only given the cash award and was denied the second half of the prize which was a week’s contract to perform at the theatre. With $25.00 in her pocket, Ella Fitzgerald left the Apollo Theatre and returned to the streets.

Unbeknownst to young Ella, the fortunes in her life had already begun to change. Only a few blocks away from the Apollo Theatre sat a building that had become recognized as “the heartbeat of Harlem”. That building was The Savoy Ballroom. *(you can read all about the Savoy Ballroom in a previous post here). The house band at the Savoy Ballroom was led by a bandleader known as Chick Webb. Webb was known for recognizing talent and helping those musicians in his orchestra to shine, provided that they gave him their best effort every time that they all played. As the 1930 rolled along, Swing and Big band music were all the rage. The genre known as Jazz was finding its feet. Orchestras such as Chick Webb’s were leading the way forward and had become popular on a national scale. This popularity was an important reason that Jazz grew into the mighty genre of music that it did, rather than remaining centralizing in Harlem and area. Many big bands of that era employed female singers to help add a little sex appeal to their shows, as well as providing lyrical accompaniment for the musicians in the orchestra as they played. As such, Chick Webb was always on the lookout for new talent. So it was that one day he was asked if he knew about a young ragamuffin singer who had just won the Amateur Night talent show at the Apollo Theatre. Webb did not know Ella Fitzgerald at that time. A meeting was soon arranged. Initially, Chick Webb was not impressed by Ella based upon her appearance. Those who performed at the Savoy Ballroom were the epitome of style and fashion. Ella Fitzgerald, at that time, looked dirty and unkempt. But then she sang for Chick Webb and he melted. He told her that his orchestra was playing at a university dance and that if she could clean herself up and make herself look presentable then, she could come along. He promised her that if she could wow the kids at this show that he would consider having her sing at the Savoy Ballroom. Needless to say, Ella Fitzgerald cleaned up well, sang even better and, true to his word, was offered a contract to sing in the Savoy Ballroom by Chick Webb. Not only was that initial contract offered but, not long afterward, that probationary contract turned into a permanent contract and Ella Fitzgerald became the official lead singer for Chick Webb and his Orchestra. Furthermore, they got along so famously that she and Webb began writing and recording songs together. One of those songs was a reworked nursery rhyme known as “A Tisket, A Tasket” that became Fitzgerald’s first national radio hit. Not long after the release of that song, Chick Webb passed away. The Chick Webb Orchestra members met with Ella Fitzgerald to decide what their next steps should be. From that meeting, it was decided that Ella Fitzgerald herself would assume leadership of the orchestra. Having a woman in such a position of leadership was unprecedented at the time but everyone agreed to follow her lead. She remained as bandleader right up until WWII when the orchestra ceased operations due to the enlistment of many of its members.

It is important to take a moment and discuss the hit song “A Tisket, A Tasket”. As mentioned, this song is based upon a children’s nursery rhyme. As such, the lyrics of the song are relatively short. If one were to simply adhere to the tune of the song and sing the words as they are written, “A Tisket, A Tasket” would take less than two minutes to sing. However, if you were to go online in search of recordings of this song, you will find many cases where the song’s length approaches even the ten minute mark! That such length is possible highlights the nature of what Jazz music, as an art form, was becoming. People who write about the subject of Jazz frequently point to improvisation as one of its hallmarks. Well, the way you get a ninety second nursery rhyme to last eight to ten minutes is because of improvisation. Not only that, it is improvisation that makes musical sense. That is where the genius of Ella Fitzgerald comes into play. In a moment I am going to provide you with a link to a performance of “A Tisket, A Tasket” by Ella Fitzgerald, this time from 1979 at the Montreaux Jazz festival, playing with Count Basie and His Orchestra. In this performance, I want you to watch how Ella employs scat singing to augment the instruments being employed behind her. As she scat sings, she is not actually singing the song, she is using her voice in an orchestral manner as another instrument in a room filled with players. As the performance evolves, you will get to watch as various orchestra members get their individual moments to improvise. As the final minutes approach, she launches into the actual song lyrics, all of the soloists play as an ensemble, the whole orchestra begins to cook and the result is something simply phenomenal!  This is the essence of Jazz. You can watch this performance of “A TIsket, A Tasket” by clicking here.

An event such as WWII changed the lives of many and derailed the careers of some of the most talented artists the world has ever seen. But that was not the case with Ella Fitzgerald. In a way, the dissolution of the Chick Webb Orchestra in the early 1940s freed Ella Fitgerald to explore new avenues of artistic expression. By the end of the 1930s, Big Band and Swing music was on the decline. After WWII, Bebop became the cool new kid in class. Not surprisingly, Ella Fitzgerald recorded several new hit songs in the Bebop style, helping to popularize a new subgenre of Jazz. One such song was called “Flying Home”. This was the song that really introduced the world to Ella’s personal style of scat singing. While she had been dabbling with it in an attempt to emulate legends such as Louis Armstrong, it was on “Flying Home” that she really turned scat singing into the art form that it became. It was on this song that she began confidently using her voice as an orchestral instrument through which she soloed just as well and for as long as any musician. It is that style of scat singing which shows up in the 1979 “A Tisket, A Tasket” video above. “Flying Home” helped Ella Fitzgerald to carve out a very unique place for herself in the musical universe. But while she was perfecting her performance style in real time in front of a growing national audience, what Ella Fitzgerald needed most was help managing her career. She found that in the form of a white man named Norman Granz.  

Norman Granz was born in Moldova and moved to America as a young man. He eventually ended up in the US army during WWII. While there, he served in a department called the Morale Branch. This unit was tasked with arranging entertainment for the fighting men on the front lines. It was during this time that Granz came to see the value of character over the superficial things such as race or religion. Thus, when Granz returned to the civilian world after the end of the war, he did so as a lover of Jazz and as a believer in racial equality. Granz’s first foray into the world of music promotion came when he helped to organize a Jazz concert that became known as Jazz at the Philharmonic. This concert, which ended up becoming an entire series of traveling Jazz-oriented concerts, was one of the first attempts to organize the various Jazz orchestras and performers in such a way as to allow for easier promotion on a larger scale. In taking on such a challenge, Norman Granz took on the task of promoting a genre of music that was still in its infancy. He also took on the enormous challenge inherent in promoting Jazz performers which was racism. One of the first things he did on both fronts was to create his own record label which became known as Verve Records. This allowed Granz to assume control over the music being recorded. It also gave Jazz musicians a safe place to enter into contracts and to promote their own music to the world. It was not long after this that Granz became Ella Fitzgerald’s manager. He remained so until the end of her career. It was through Verve Records that Granz and his roster of Jazz legends (Ella, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Stan Getz…..everybody!) sought to formally catalogue and categorize the history of Jazz recordings, as well as branch out into the greater world of standards known as The Great American Songbook. While all of Granz’s artists had their day via Verve Records, Ella Fitzgerald was arguably one of the most successful and notable. In partnership with Granz, Ella Fitzgerald released a series of recordings simply called The Songbook Collection. This was a series of albums in which Ella Fitzgerald would cover the best and most important songs of composers such as Cole Porter and George and Ira Gerswhin, for example. Fitzgerald then released  a series of albums in which she paired off with other Jazz legends such as Oscar Petersen, Count Basie and Duke Ellington. In every case, the world of Jazz was brought into the nation’s living rooms in such a way that it elevated the genre to a level comparable with beloved classics by white composers. Norman Granz and Verve Records made Jazz seem safe and accessible and classy. It was a case of a rising tide lifting all boats. All Verve artists gained prestige and access to platforms which would have seemed unimaginable mere decades earlier.

The second phase of Norman Granz’s mandate was to deal with the odious aspect of racism. Needless to say, the majority of musicians and performers on the Verve Records roster were people of colour. The 1950s and 60s was still a time of legalized segregation in many parts of the United States. It was for that reason that things like the Chitlin’ Circuit existed. You may recall that many concert halls and nightclubs refused to allow black performers to grace their stages, use their dressing rooms or allow black audiences to mix with whites. This forced many performers of colour to have to find safe venues to play. These venues were often smaller and less profitable places but, at least they were places to play. These venues where black performers could play became known as the Chitlin’ Circuit. Well to Norman Granz, the Chitlin’ Circuit symbolized everything he wanted to see changed. In order to do so, he adopted a two-pronged strategy. First of all, his approach to producing, packaging and promoting Jazz music on national radio helped to popularize the artists involved. This, in turn, created a demand for performances by folks such as Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie and Oscar Petersen. With this public thirst for Jazz established via the radio and Verve’s record album compilations, Granz felt he was in a position to demand some conditions be met before agreeing to showcase his stars. Some of those conditions shook the music world and caused a great deal of backlash against Granz, personally, as well as those on his roster. For example, he demanded equal pay for black musicians and for white. He demanded an end to dressing room and audience segregation. Finally, he demanded that black artists be housed in the same hotels as white artists. For a shy person such as Ella Fitzgerald, being in the middle of such acrimony and violence was certainly uncomfortable but her inner strength and steely resolve served her well.

A famous example of this is the story of how Marilyn Monroe helped Ella Fitzgerald when it came to desegregating a Hollywood nightclub called The Mocambo. The story goes that Fitzgerald wanted to perform there because it was a bigger, more famous venue that had a history of being frequented by A-list celebrities. Even Frank Sinatra had sang there. Well, because Ella was black, her request to perform was turned down by the owner of The Mocambo. Enter Marilyn Monroe. At the time, Monroe was at the height of her fame. She was also a fan of Ella Fitzgerald and as it turned out she was a good person, too. She heard that Fitzgerald was denied the opportunity to sing at The Mocambo and immediately contacted the owner with an offer he couldn’t refuse. Monroe agreed to sit at a front row table in return for him allowing Ella to perform on his stage for as many nights as was possible. Thus, for eight nights in a row, Ella Fitzgerald sang at The Mocambo nightclub in Hollywood. For every one of those eight nights, Marilyn Monroe occupied a front row table. The Mocambo’s owner got plenty of free publicity. Fitzgerald and Monroe helped to desegregate another nightclub in the process. It was at times such as that, when racial tensions in America were at their highest, when Dr, Martin Luther King was marching in Birmingham, that the quiet dignity and resolve of someone like Ella Fitzgerald really bore fruit. The desegregation of performance venues was something that happened alongside the desegregation of public schools. While the history of the civil rights battles of the 1960s tends to focus on Dr. King and the Freedom Marches, there was a lot else going on with regard to establishing a basis for racial equality in America. Ella Fitzgerald, her peers at Verve Records and her friends within the industry (such as Marilyn Monroe) played a largely unheralded but deeply important role in helping to make things better.

And so it was that I would sit in my living room with my parents while we watched TV. Every now and again Ella Fitzgerald would make a guest appearance on a variety show or a talk show. I would watch her smile and sing and think to myself that she was some nice lady and would probably have made a good grandmother. I had no idea who she really was and what it took to bring her to such a place and time as to be singing in my living room. But there she would be, smiling and singing as if she didn’t have a care in the world. The great ones always make tremendous effort seem effortless and the impossible possible. That was what Ella did. Forever and for always. What a legend!

The link to the official website for Ella Fitzgerald can be found here.

The link to the official website for Verve Records can be found here.

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