SwingDJs

I have come to the conclusion there will never be another Ella. She is simpy the best. No one has ever had the respect across all musical styles that she does. No one in the past 70 years comes close, no one alive today is anywhere near her range.

Do you agree? disagree?

I'm not sure about "Never", as I'd like to think the possibility exists. However...

Ella certainly was able to cross all sorts of borders both musically and in terms of her appeal. It's a different time now, so I'm not sure you could ever really compare. Popular music didn't have as many styles back then, so someone trying to bridge those styles today would have a hard time. Mixing Jazz, R&B (in the original sense), and pop music back then was a whole lot easier than trying to mix say Jazz, Metal, Rap and whatever else is popular. Get what I mean?

I'm not sure that really means Ella was the best there ever was, though I really love a lot of what she's done. It means she had a certain something that appealed to more people than anyone else has, so only in that respect will I say for certain she was the best.

I don't think so, just given the way music is packaged and marketed today.

Kalman

I saw her on the Johnny Carson Show once when I was a kid, and Johnny summed it up. He said "Whenever anyone asks me- who's the best female jazz singer? I answer: You mean besides Ella?"

No, there will never be another Ella. There are some people who you just think "They're a mutant". Ella was one of those. Or, perhaps she was a superior species from another planet sent here to help us improve earth's music scene.

yeah I agree - I play female vocalists a lot and I get asked plenty of times who vocalists are, except for when I'm playing Ella - everybody knows who it is.

I heard those nutty Yehoodi scientists were working on cross breeding a clone of Ella with the Duke ... *shudder*

In all seriousness, though, I would say that the chances are stacked against an Ella-type person from coming out again ... after all, with so much being done in post production, how are those abilities going to be stretched?

they said on NPR that even opera singers are pitch-corrected these days. BLAGH

Not really an answer to your question, but vaguely related.

"It was quite clear, in Sarah Vaughan's heyday, who were the greatest women singers. Ella, Billie and Sarah towered above the pack. There could be no equivocation. Interestingly, it would be hard to find three singers whoese methods were so dissimilar. Ella, with her dazzling technique, range and mobility had been a star since her years with the Chick Webb band in the '30s. Billie, possessed of a limited range and a flawed intonation, was regarded by many musicians as the best of all because of her subtle approach, brilliant interpretation and instinctive timing. Sarah had everything that the other two had, and more. And yet, less, as well."

Steve Voce, liner notes to _Sarah Sings Soulfully_

Vaughan never sang a song like she lived the lyrics. That's my judgment of the records that I own by her (which aren't many).

Fitzgerald, Holiday, you can close your eyes and imagine that they wrote the songs and are singing them spontaneously for you at that very moment.

julius wrote:Vaughan never sang a song like she lived the lyrics. That's my judgment of the records that I own by her (which aren't many).

The same has been said of Ella. They each had their strength, and very few can make you feel a song like Billie.

julius wrote:Vaughan never sang a song like she lived the lyrics. That's my judgment of the records that I own by her (which aren't many).

Fitzgerald, Holiday, you can close your eyes and imagine that they wrote the songs and are singing them spontaneously for you at that very moment.

Holy shit! That's perfect! Billy Holiday especially so. She haunts me. She is the perfect proof that soul can kick technique's ass.

julius wrote:Vaughan never sang a song like she lived the lyrics. That's my judgment of the records that I own by her (which aren't many).

Fitzgerald, Holiday, you can close your eyes and imagine that they wrote the songs and are singing them spontaneously for you at that very moment.

On that note, did you know Ella is the one who actually wrote the lyrics to Shiny Stockings? She literally did it in about 10-15 minutes in a back room before she was recording with Basie's big band. And as "fun" or "happy" a song you may think Shiny Stockings to be (at least I always do), when you think about the lyrics, and relate it to Ella's personal life and all the heartbreaks she was known to have had, it makes perfect sense that she wrote it and lived it...

Yeah, but Ella was no Satch!

And well, I'd include Carmen McRae in that batch of elite jazz singers who make a song their own.