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A couple of years ago, we were in Washington, D.C. for Jazz Appreciation Month and we met Dick Golden of George Washington University. Dick is a real jazz maven, a broadcaster and member of GW’s Global Media Institute. He was kind enough to share this memory with us:
I remember a beautiful June morning on Cape Cod (it was a Saturday) in 1996. I was listening to Ella’s wonderful recording of Irving Berlin’s “You Keep Coming Back Like A Song” (first sung by Bing Crosby in Blue Skies in 1946) and that’s when I heard the news that Ella had passed the day before in L.A. By 1996, I had lost my mother, father, a nephew and friends….and I reacted to Ella’s passing as I did to theirs. And it didn’t surprise me because I, like so many millions all around the world for over 60 years, had allowed Ella into my heart…how could we resist after hearing that purity of soul each time we had the great pleasure to hear her sing…what joy she still brings to life for all of us who know her artistry.
PS: If you Google Dick Golden, you can find some of his podcasts, I recommend the one with Ella’s dear friend, Tony Bennett.
And if you want to grab yourself a copy of Ella’s Irving Berlin Songbook, just Click Here >>
This story comes from Bea Wain, a big band singer who was a dear friend of Ella’s. Bea is (and Ella was) a staunch supporter of “The Society of Singers”, a non-profit organization that helps vocalists in need. Anyway, this little tidbit comes from Bea’s reminiscing in the Society of Singers newsletter. Special thanks to our wonderful friend, Joyce Garro, who was Ella’s Beverly Hills neighbor.
(To learn more about Bea Wain, try Wikipedia; they’ve got a great article. Joyce Garro is a very special friend to us here at the Foundation – she is one terrific singer, an ardent Cubs fan and a former Dean Martin “Golddigger”…now doesn’t that bring back fun memories?)
From Bea-
It was April 25, 1996 – Ella’s 79th birthday. Joyce Garro and I were at her home (on Whittier Drive in Beverly Hills), celebrating her special day. We were laughing, singing and eating birthday cake. Ella and I were reminiscing about how far back we have gone together. It all started in the latter part of 1937, when I was singing with the Larry Clinton Band and Ella was the vocalist with the Chick Webb Orchestra. In those days, the Big Bands played the college proms and the events were called “The Battle of the Bands”.
We recalled the night we played for the prom at the University of Pennsylvania. Each band was on an opposite side of the enormous gym and we alternated playing. Boy! When Larry and I finished our set, we raced across the floor to listen to the great Chick Webb and Ella.
We received this earlier this year from Loren of The Jazz Museum of Harlem, he wrote:
Like everyone else, I fell in love with Ella from afar; her voice on hundreds of recordings made me feel like I knew her. In a sense, we all did, for she put her heart and soul out there every time she opened her mouth to sing. Has there ever been a more down-to-earth singer than Ella Fitzgerald? No pretense, no posing, no “attitude”.
Well, anyway, it was in the early 90’s when Benny Carter asked me to assemble a big band to back Ella at Radio City Music Hall. You should have heard the musicians’ voices when they heard who the concert was with! Not only Benny but ELLA! That’s when I discovered the tremendous respect she was afforded by jazz musicians, not only for her musicianship but for her personality. She was truly “one of the guys”. James Moody (the incredible saxophone player) spoke about this at the Ella Fitzgerald Postage Stamp event held at Jazz At Lincoln Center in January, 2007 and again at “Ella’s Birthday Concert” at USC in April, 2007.
We assembled on the stage at Radio City and all of a sudden, there she was! No big deal, no huge entourage (though she did have a devoted staff), no ego; just Ella sitting on a stool, waiting for Benny to stomp the band off. I wish I could tell you that something amazing happened, but it didn’t. She sang along with the band, checked the tempos with Benny and then she was gone. But it was what she DIDN’T do that amazed us. So many singers turn their rehearsals into mini-dramas, suffused with overweening egos, tantrums, tension and condescension to the musicians. Ella made us feel that she was just one of us; needless to say that when the performance came, she turned on the juice and the entire Radio City Music Hall was transformed into a receptacle for her particular brand of music.
As hard as it is to believe that at that time late in her career, there were those who said she should have retired, since her voice wasn’t what it used to be. How odd – in most societies we revere our elders, here she was held to task for aging. Ella at ANY time in her career was singing better than 99% of other singers and to see her confront her age and mortality so bravely was something that I will never forget.
We received this early in January from Kitty in Denver, she wrote to us just as the new Ella Fitzgerald Postage stamp was released:
I wanted to tell you a story about how I met Ella Fitzgerald. She was staying at the Denver Marriott around 1974 while I was employed there as a housekeeper. When I knocked on her door to clean her room, she invited me in, but wouldn't let me clean. Instead, she invited me to sit down and watch General Hospital with her, and she offered me Coke and chips, although she said she wasn't supposed to be having any. The phone rang and before she answered it, she asked me to turn on my vacuum cleaner, which I did. It was very loud. Then she answered the phone and said loudly into the receiver: "I can't hear you, the maid is here cleaning!" When she hung up the phone, I laughed so hard 'cause she told me it was her manager on the phone!
I was just fresh out of high school at the time and had just quit college after my first year, and I was depressed because I didn't know where I was going in life, plus I was living one thousand miles away from my mother. Ella assured me that everything would be okay, and she asked me to stay until the end of the TV program. I did get in trouble at the end of my shift for not having finished cleaning the rest of the rooms on my list, but I had a new sense of hope. I didn't know much about Ella Fitzgerald, only that my mother loved her music and listened to it often. Since then, my life has been blessed with two beautiful daughters with whom I shared this story after Ella's death in 1996. I'm excited about the new Ella Fitzgerald stamp and I will always remember her smile and hospitality.
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