Product Description

Jazz Icons: Ella Fitzgerald features Â"The First Lady Of SongÂ" in two distinct performances. The fi rst is the earliest known complete concert of Ella to be captured on fi lm. Shot in Belgium, this 1957 concert has her performing with jazz greats Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, Jo Jones and the legendary Oscar Peterson on classics such as Â"Lullaby Of Birdland,Â" and Â"It DonÂ’t Mean A Thing (If It AinÂ’t Got That Swing).Â" The second show is an intimate in-studio performance from 1963, taped in Sweden, featuring Ella backed by a quartet including pianist Tommy Flanagan. Highlights include stellar versions of Â"Mack The KnifeÂ" and Â"Just One Of Those Things.Â"

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19608 in DVD
• Brand: Jazz
• Released on: 2006-09-26
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Live, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 56 minutes

Amazon.com
The First Lady of Song is in top form throughout Ella Fitzgerald - Live in '57 and '63, an entry in the excellent Jazz Icons series. Will Friedwald's detailed liner notes describe the summer of 1957 as a "traumatic" time for the singer (including an onstage attack by a mental patient and a brief, unhappy marriage), but you'd never know it from the gig in Brussels, Belgium that leads off this collection. Filmed in black & white (both picture and audio are terrific, as is usually the case with this series), the set begins not with a bravura swinger but with a languid, deeply expressive "Angel Eyes." Fitzgerald's legendary chops are on display from jump; her control of pitch and vibrato and impeccable articulation are amazing, yet for all her scatting and acrobatic vocal abilities, her performance is never the least bit meretricious. And so it goes, through the finger-snapping "Lullaby of Birdland" and the effortlessly cool "Love for Sale" to the Basie-esque "April in Paris," the tres bluesy "Roll 'Em Pete" (Ella's only known performance of pianist Pete Johnson's 12-bar standard), the relaxed "I Can't Give You Anything but Love" (wherein she does affectionate, spot-on imitations of Louis Armstrong and obscure '40s singer Rose Murphy), and Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing," the rousing show closer (featuring trumpeter Roy Eldridge and the great pianist Oscar Peterson, who sit in with guitarist Herb Ellis, drummer Jo Jones, and bassist Ray Brown, Ella's regular accompanists). The second set, again in black & white but this time on videotape, finds Ella and an entirely different band (led by pianist Tommy Flanagan) in a Stockholm TV studio. This one is perhaps a little jazzier than the first; the tempos are faster and the singing a bit throatier, and along with familiar fare like "Mack the Knife," there are three tunes ("Runnin' Wild," "No Moon at All," and Ray Charles' "Hallelujah, I Love [Him] So") that were recorded live only on this one occasion. All in all, another winner from one of the best live jazz series ever produced. --Sam Graham

Jazz Times
"Jazz Icons is doing for jazz what the Criterion Collection has done for classic and important films".

From the Director
JAZZ ICONS(tm) is an ongoing DVD series featuring full-length concerts and in-studio performances by the greatest legends of jazz, filmed all over the world from the 1950s through the 1970s. Beautifully transferred from the riginal masters, none of these concerts has ever been officially released on home video, and in many cases, the material was never broadcast. Each DVD is produced with the full support and cooperation of the artists or their estates. JAZZ ICONS(tm) comes to you from Reelin' In The Years Productions, GRAMMY Nominated producers of the American Folk Blues Festival DVDs 1962 - 1966.

Customer Reviews

Classic footage of the queen of scat
This disc features concert footage of two of Ella Fitzgerald's European performances. The first, filmed in Belgium in 1957 crackles with cool, even though the somewhat prim and proper Belgian audience never really loosens up and gives Ella enough energy to work with. Thus, it's a fairly reserved set... but, man, is it classy! She good-naturedly zips through standards and longtime faves, accompanied by several top-flight sidemen, including Jo Jones on drums, a lanky, young Ray Brown on bass, and Herb Ellis on guitar. Their solos and improvisations are minimal -- this is a pretty formal performance -- but they all radiate competence and calm. Unannounced, Roy Eldridge and Oscar Petersen drop in to jam at the end of the set -- sadly, the film crew's static framing fails to catch Petersen's finger work, opting instead to linger on the set shots of the regular band. Still, you can't help but be wowed by Ella, and feel that you're being a glimpse of her utter greatness, seeing her work the room in this grand concert hall. The second set is more intimate, with Ella and a small combo led by pianist Tommy Flanagan playing on Swedish TV in 1963... Although the cheerful, informal vibe is great, this is also from a period where Ella's work was a bit rushed and perfunctory, with an emphasis on energy and speed, and acrobatic scatting. It's not my favorite Ella sound, but some folks love it, and this is a nice chance to see her up close and personal in her early '60s persona. All in all, this is a good glimpse at one of jazz music's all-time greats.

Priceless
Ella Fitzgerald was the great classical actress of the great jazz singers. The Belgium concert is just stunning, Ella at her absolute best in her prime. Polite, deeply grounded, she hardly moves, just that great voice coming out of that almost impassive face, a deep well with a placid surface. Very much like John Gielgud in one of his Shakespeare roles on stage (which I was lucky enough to see once).

The second concert is very good too, though her upper register was a little hoarse by then. She actually does the twist at one point, her thick body out of sync with her voice's rhythms. The "Mack the Knife" is stellar.

Her backup bands on both are wonderful to watch as well, great talents who aren't suffering as you often see lesser actors or musicians do on stage, enjoying the hell out making such wonderful sounds, happy to be behind a talent like hers. Even the audience shots on the Belgian film are fascinating, intense and rapt deadly serious devotees who burst into staccato applause at odd moments.

Let this series keep digging and hope there is more out there.

The Ella disc I've been waiting for!
I've purchased all of Ella's available concert DVD's and they're all worth having, but this one is from a period in her career when she was pretty much omnipotent. The '57 concert in Belgium, in particular, with Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, Jo Jones and an appearance by Oscar Peterson on "It Don't Mean a Thing...", shows her in flawless form. Not a lot of show business by today's standards, she just stands there and sings as beautifully as any human ever has...who could ask for anything more?