Ella & Louis, the magic, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, two angels who, apart from Porgy and Bess (Gershwin's opera), only recorded two more albums. The sweetest music ever recorded, it is not possible to listen to Ella & Louis without smiling. It's like an unavoidable partnership that makes you wonder what titanic forces of nature kept Ella and Satchmo apart until they made this record together in 1957, backed by the trio of Oscar Peterson and Buddy Rich on drums.
She and Louis have been the most amazing jazz couple ever. Each one in their plot gave lectures and defined styles, becoming absolute references. Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra, for example, refined their styles from Ella and Louis.
Ella Fitzgerald, a New Yorker who disappeared in 1996, is considered among the most important jazz singers in history. In addition, she shone in all the styles that she had to interpret (be-bop, blues, soul, swing...). And her résumé includes performances with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Pass, and (of course) Louis Armstrong.
For her part, Louis Armstrong, from New Orleans, who died in 1971, "Satchmo", was the most popular jazz musician, trumpeter and singer in US history. Protagonist of an incredible personal story, in his childhood he was abandoned, he grew up in a reform school, he played a “cornet” for pennies… And he demonstrated his political and civil rights commitment with actions, financially supporting Martin Luther King, confronting Eisenhower, and fighting for the rights of African American citizenship in the South. Louis Armstrong is one of the most charismatic and innovative figures in the history of jazz. Thanks to his musical skills and his brilliant personality, he transformed jazz from its initial status as dance music with folk roots into a popular art form. Although at the beginning of his career he cemented his fame above all as a trumpeter, later on it would be his condition as a vocalist that would consecrate him as an internationally recognized figure with enormous influence on jazz singing.
So Ella and Louis getting together is magical. One of the best with one of the best. The songs they perform together are standards, extraordinary standards, of course, like "Moonlight in Vermont," "A Foggy Day," and "Stars Fell on Alabama." But nirvana is "Cheek to Cheek", "The nearness of you" and "April in Paris". You touch the sky with your fingers.
Tracks list:
01. Can´t we be friends
02. Isn´t this a lovely day
03. Moonlight In Vermont
04. They can´t take that away from me
05. Under a blanket of blue
06. Tenderly
07. A foggy day
08. Stars fell on Alabama
09. Cheek to Cheek
10. The nearness of you
11. April in Paris
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario