Have Yourself..

We're Having A Heat Wave

from the youtube description

You probably could not find two more disparate females than Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe, and yet they MET (see video), and in a small way, Marilyn even helped Ella get a gig she couldn't get before, at the famous Mocambo in Los Angeles (Marilyn was a huge fan of Ella's and promised The Mocambo she would sit in the front row every night if they booked Ella for a week...and they did just that in 1955). Ella became the first black performer at The Mocambo, and this incident even prompted Bonnie Geer, a London-based American playwright, to recently write a play about the two entitled "Marilyn and Ella". The song "Heat Wave" was composed by Irving Berlin in 1933 originally for the Broadway musical "As Thousands Cheer" starring Ethel Merman. In 1954, the song was reprised in the motion picture "There's No Business Like Show Business" also starring Ethel Merman along with Marilyn Monroe who famously sang this Berlin tune in the film. Ella subsequently recorded it for Verve, and I wonder if Marilyn was on her mind when she sang it.

We're having a heat wave,
A tropical heat wave,
The temperature's rising,
It isn't surprising,
She certainly can can-can.
She started a heat wave
By letting her seat wave
In such a way that
The customers say that
She certainly can can-can.
Gee, her anatomy
Makes the mercury
Jump to ninety-three.
We're having a heat wave,
A tropical heat wave,
The way that she moves
That thermometer proves
That she certainly can can-can

April In Paris: Ella

Yip Harburg wrote the lyrics to this song without ever being in Paris

I never knew the charm of spring
I never met it face to face
I never knew my heart could sing
I never missed a warm embrace
Till April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom
Holiday tables under the trees
April in Paris, this is a feeling 
That no one can ever reprise
I never knew the charm of spring
I never met it face to face
I never knew my heart could sing
I never missed a warm embrace 
Till April in Paris
Whom can I run to
What have you done to my heart

A Great Archaeological Find: Twelve Nights In Hollywood In 1961

Pardon me from one last nostalgic KV 1950-60 era musical break.
I like to search archives for interesting historical stuff related to KV and the LES but a great musical find was made recently. I listened to many of the tracks on Jonathan Scwartz's show yesterday. The above isn't one of them, but it's among Ella's best recordings and one of the best songs ever written. an excerpt from the nytimes of 11/29/09

Intimate Ella Fitzgerald, Rediscovered, By FRED KAPLAN
WITH all the multi-disc jazz boxes that have come out in recent years — the complete Miles Davis on Columbia, the complete Charlie Parker on Savoy, the complete Duke Ellington on RCA and so on — it’s hard to believe that any significant tapes by any major musician might still be languishing undiscovered in a record company’s archives.
Yet Verve has just released “Twelve Nights in Hollywood,” a four-CD boxed set of Ella Fitzgerald singing 76 songs at the Crescendo, a small jazz club in Los Angeles, in 1961 and ’62 — and none of it has ever been released until now.
These aren’t bootlegs; the CDs were mastered from the original tapes, which were produced by Norman Granz, Verve’s founder and Fitzgerald’s longtime manager.
They capture the singer in her peak years, and at top form: more relaxed, swinging and adventurous, across a wider span of rhythms and moods, than on the dozens of other albums that hit the bins in her lifetime.
Richard Seidel, the producer of the boxed set, first heard the tapes early this year. He was driving to Massachusetts from his home in New Jersey and brought along some rough CD transfers to play in the car.
“I was feeling kind of down that day,” he recalled, “and the more I listened, I could not help but start to smile. I’ve worked on dozens of Ella projects over the years, but there was something different about this one — the sheer rhythmic joy she projects, the endlessly inventive improvising.”
There’s nothing rare about a joyous Ella Fitzgerald recording; the woman exuded joy in nearly every note she sang. Yet the level on these sessions soared higher and plumbed deeper.
Gary Giddins, the veteran critic and author of “Jazz,” agrees. “This ranks on the top shelf of her live recordings,” he said. “It’s about as good as it gets.”
Why these tapes stayed locked in the vault for nearly half a century — and what it took to set them free — is a tale of a producer’s neglect, a jazz sleuth’s obsession and a string of happy coincidences.
The 1961 Crescendo gig, which took place from May 11 to 21 (with one night off), was booked as an afterthought to begin with, a time filler between a European tour that Fitzgerald and her quartet had begun in February and a monthlong stay at the Basin Street East in New York that June.
Granz took the unusual step of taping every set. But in the next year alone he and Fitzgerald recorded six studio albums, most of them with large orchestras, including two of her eight heavily promoted songbook albums, each devoted to standards by a prominent American composer.
In this context it’s not so surprising that the Crescendo tapes received short shrift. “My guess,” Mr. Seidel said in a phone interview, “would be that Norman Granz was just recording Ella so much at the time, and was probably focused much more on her big studio projects.”
Granz did pull 12 tracks from the roughly 14 hours of material recorded at the Crescendo and released them that year as an LP called “Ella in Hollywood.” But the album didn’t do well, perhaps because it sounded so strange. In between the songs, for reasons now unknown, someone spliced in loud applause that had been recorded in a large concert hall, making the whole album seem artificial. (The Crescendo was a nightclub of 200 seats.)
Whatever the reasons for the flat reviews and scant sales, the executives of Verve — which Granz had sold to MGM in 1960 — put the Crescendo tapes in the vault, where they were forgotten for the next 27 years.
Then, in 1988, Phil Schaap, a dogged jazz scholar well known for excavating long-lost treasures from studio archives, was contracted by PolyGram (which had recently bought Verve) to compile a discography of all the recordings — issued and unissued — that Fitzgerald ever made for the label.
Early on in the task, riffling through PolyGram’s vast tape facility, then in Edison, N.J., Mr. Schaap unearthed the never-released tapes of a 40th-birthday concert that Fitzgerald recorded at the Teatro Sistina in Rome on April 25, 1958. He urged PolyGram’s executives to release them. When they did, as an album called “Ella in Rome,” on the concert’s 30th anniversary, it soared to No. 1 on Billboard’s jazz chart. Stephen Holden, in The New York Times, hailed it as “a treasure for the ages.”
It was soon after this triumph that Mr. Schaap came across the tapes from the Crescendo Club — not just the tracks that Granz had picked for “Ella in Hollywood,” which was long out of print, but the other reels, which nobody had unspooled for nearly three decades.
Mr. Schaap listened to all of them and thought that here was another trove of hidden jewels.

the 4 cd set is available here

Happy Halloween: Yip And Ella, Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead

Yip Harburg wrote the lyrics, but Ella changed some and had her own unique interpretation

Once there was a wicked witch
In the lovely land of Oz
And a wickeder, wickeder
Wickeder witch that never,never was
She filled the folks in munchkin land
With terror and with dread
Till one fine day from kansas way
A cyclone caught a house
That brought the wickeder, wickeder witcher dome
At she was flying on her broom
For the house fell on her head
And the coroner pronounced her: dead
And through the town the joyous news was spread
Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.
Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead.
She's gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho
Let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know
The Wicked Witch is dead!
[instrumental]
She's gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho
Let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know
That Wicked Witch...
That Wicked Witch is dead!

Ella's Body And Soul

by Johnny Green and Edward Heyman

My heart is sad and lonely
For you I cry
For you, dear, only
I tell you I mean it
I'm all for you
Body and soul
I spend my days in longing
And wondering its me you're wronging
Why haven't you seen it
Im all for you
Body and soul
I cant believe it
It hard to conceive it
That you'd turn away romance
Are you pretending
Don't say its the ending
I wish I could have one more change to prove, dear
My life a hell you're making
You know I'm yours for just the taking
Id gladly surrender
Myself to you
Body and soul
Life's dreary for me
Days seem to be long as years
Ive looked for the sun
But can see none
Through my tears
Your heart must be like a stone
To leave me like this alone
When you could make my life worth living
By taking what I'm set on giving, sweet heart
My heart is sad and lonely
For you I cry
For you, dear, only
I tell you I mean it
Im all for you
Body and soul My heart is sad and lonely
For you I cry
For you, dear, only
I tell you I mean it
I'm all for you
Body and soul
I spend my days in longing
And wondering its me you're wronging
Why havent you seen it
Im all for you
Body and soul
I cant believe it
It hard to conceive it
That you'd turn away romance
Are you pretending
Don't say its the ending
I wish I could have one more change to prove, dear
My life a hell you're making
You know I'm yours for just the taking
Id gladly surrender
Myself to you
Body and soul
Life's dreary for me
Days seem to be long as years
Ive looked for the sun
But can see none
Through my tears
Your heart must be like a stone
To leave me like this alone
When you could make my life worth living
By taking what I'm set on giving, sweet heart
My heart is sad and lonely
For you I cry
For you, dear, only
I tell you I mean it
I'm all for you
Body and soul

Blue Moon: Ella Fitzgerald

in my opinion, far better than Elvis

Blue Moon
You saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own
Blue Moon
You know just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for
Someone I really could care for
And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will hold
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked to the Moon it turned to gold
Blue Moon
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own
And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will ever hold
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked the Moon had turned to gold
Blue moon
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own
Blue moon
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

Bewitched Bothered And Bewildered: Ella 1957

Ella sang this on the Nat King Cole show on 9/10/1957
from classic-tv

The show featured some of the era's biggest stars sharing the stage with Cole, who was himself one of the top talents of his day. But television executives, wary of a backlash from an America still deeply divided along racial lines, took pains to put distance between Cole and his white female guests.
While NBC was willing to keep the show going, Cole decided to call it quits after fourteen months on the air. Two factors influenced his decision. First, the network wanted to move the show from Tuesdays at 7:30 to Saturdays at 7:00. Nat felt the move wouldn't help his ratings, since in some areas, the program would air at 6:00 or even 5:00. The other reason was that he didn't feel comfortable asking his guest stars to work for practically nothing. "You can wear out your welcome," he commented. "People get tired if you never stop begging."
When the show folded, Cole and NBC expressed some optimism about reviving it if a national sponsor could be found, but that never happened. The next African American to try hosting a program was Sammy Davis Jr. in 1966, but low ratings forced him off the air after less than four months. It wasn't until The Flip Wilson Show came along in 1970 that a variety show hosted by a black entertainer became an unqualified success.
But Nat King Cole was the trail blazer. "I was the pioneer, the test case, the Negro first," he wrote. "I didn't plan it that way, but it was obvious to anyone with eyes to see that I was the only Negro on network television with his own show. On my show rode the hopes and fears and dreams of millions of people." It was a dream deferred, but one that eventually came true.

I'll Take Manhattan: And Tell Me What Street Compares To Mott Street

From a 1965 London TV concert with Ella Fitzgerald singing 'Manhattan',
Rodgers and Hart, 1925

Summer journeys to niag'ra
And to other places aggra-
Vate all our cares.
We'll save our fares!
I've a cozy little flat in
What is known as old manhattan
We'll settle down
Right here in town!
We'll have manhattan
The bronx and staten
Island too.
It's lovely going through
The zoo!
It's very fancy
On old delancy
Street you know.
The subway charms us so
When balmy breezes blow
To and fro.
And tell me what street
Compares with mott street
In july?
Sweet pushcarts gently gli-ding by.
The great big city's a wonderous toy
Just made for a girl and boy.
We'll turn manhattan
Into an isle of joy!
We'll go to yonkers
Where true love conquers
In the whiles
And starve together dear, in chiles
We'll go to coney
And eat baloney on a roll
In central park we'll stroll
Where our first kiss we stole
Soul to soul
And "my fair lady" is a terrific show they say
We both may see it close, some day
The city's glamour can never spoil
The dreams of a boy and goil
We'll turn manhattan
Into an isle of joy!

Ella Fitzgerald: Desafinado, 1963 In Sweden

by Antonio Carlos Jobim

Love is like a never-ending melody
Always have compared it to a symphony
A symphony conducted by the lighting of the moon
But our song of love is slightly out of tune
Once your kisses raised me to a fever pitch
Now the orchestration doesn't seem so rich
Seems to me you've changed the tune we used to sing
Like the bossa nova, love should swing
We used to harmonize, two souls in perfect time
Now the song is different and the words don't even rhyme
Cause you forgot the melody our hearts would always croon
So what's good's a heart that's slightly out of tune
Tune your heart to mine the way it used to be
Join with me in harmony and sing a song of loving
We've got to get in tune again before too long
There'll be no desafinado
When your heart belongs to me completely
Then you won't be slightly out of tune
You'll sing along with me

That Old Black Magic On Halloween

from the youtube description

From the TV concert Ella Fitzgerald Sings: 'That Old Black Magic'. This is the final part of a 50 minute TV concert by Ella Fitzgerald, one of the world's greatest jazz singers, from TV Centre in London on 8 May 1965. She sings holding a chiffon scarf, and is accompanied by The Johnnie Spence Orchestra, with Tubby Hayes on sax, and The Tommy Flanagan Trio.

That old black magic has me in its spell, that old black magic that you weave so well.
Those icy fingers up and down my spine
That same old witchcraft when your eyes meet mine.
The same old tingle that I feel inside, and then that elevator starts its ride
And down and down I go, round and round I go, like a leaf that's caught in the tide.
I should stay away, but what can I do?
I hear your name and I'm aflame
Aflame with such a burning desire that only your kiss can put out the fire.
For you're the lover I have waited for, the mate that fate had me created for.
And every time your lips meet mine, darling, down and down I go, round and round I go
In a spin, loving the spin I'm in, under that old black magic called love.

Autumn In New York: Ella And Louis

from youtube user 240252
by Vernon Duke

[ella]
Autumn in new york
Why does it seem so inviting
Autumn in new york
It spells the thrill of first-nighting
Glittering crowds and shimmering clouds
In canyons of steel
They're making me feel - I'm home
It's autumn in new york
That brings the promise of new love
Autumn in new york
Is often mingled with pain
Dreamers with empty hands
They sigh for exotic lands
It's autumn in new york
Its good to live it again
[louis]
Autumn in new york
The gleaming rooftops at sundown
Oh, autumn in new york
It lifts you up when you run down
Yes, jaded rou‚s and gay divorc‚es
Who lunch at the ritz
Will tell you that its divine
This autumn in new york
Transforms the slums into mayfair
Oh, autumn in new york
You'll need no castles in spain
Yes, lovers that bless the dark
On the benches in central park
Greet autumn in new york
Its good to live it again
[trumpet solo]
[ella]
Autumn in new york
That brings the promise of new love
Autumn in new york
Is often mingled with pain
Dreamers with empty hands
They sigh for exotic lands
It's autumn in new york
It's good to live it again

Ella: What Is This Thing Called Love, 1961

The queen to Sinatra's king. The year of my bar mitzvah. Too bad she couldn't perform instead of Leo Fuld of the Cafe Sahbra.

I was a humdrum person
leading a life apart
when love flew in through my window wide
and quickened my humdrum heart
love flew in through my window
I was so happy then
but after love had stayed a little while
love flew out again
what is this thing called love
this funny thing
called love
just who can solve its mystery
why should it make
a fool of me?
I saw you there
one wonderful day
you took my heart
and threw it away
thats why I ask the lord
in heaven above
what is this thing
called love?
what is this thing called love
this funny thing
called love
just who can solve its mystery
why should it make
a fool of me?
I saw you there
one wonderful day
you took my heart
and threw it away
thats why I ask the lord
in heaven above
what is this thing
called love?