'S wonderful - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook

Part One

Swing era bandleader Artie Shaw once rhetorically asked, “How do we know Mozart was any good?” The great clarinetist was being ironic but he raises an intriguing question.

What makes a piece of music iconic? Is it the genius of the artist who created it? Is it the structure and form of the piece? Is it the performance of the interpretative artist who illuminates it? Or is it the continuing value it has for audiences who know and love it?

We know Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Johann Strauss’ Blue Danube, Verdi’s La Traviata and Mahler’s 5th Symphony all represent something of profound value. Their aesthetic qualities make them distinct and iconic.

Jazz too is renowned for producing a stream of virtuoso musicians. I am not alone in voicing the view that the1959 album “Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook” checks all the boxes. It is by any measure an iconic piece of music and one of the greatest albums of popular music ever recorded.

Enriched by definitive Gershwin interpretations, this majestic 5-disc collection featuring Ella’s performance of fifty-nine Gershwin songs plus Nelson Riddle’s orchestral rendering of George Gershwin’s Ambulatory Suite is a tour de force assemblage of musical brilliance.

The inspiration for this masterpiece recording came from Ella Fitzgerald’s manager Norman Granz. A visionary record producer and a singular figure in 20th Century jazz and popular song, Granz had an affinity for the songs of the Great American Songbook. He regarded the canon of popular songs and jazz standards from the early 20th Century as modern high art. He championed the idea that these compositions should have the respect and prestige of classical music and set about having his star vocalist record the songs of all the great composers. The high point of this undertaking is the Gershwin Songbook.

To appreciate Granz’s genius – and his gutsy fortitude – you have to see things as they were in 1959. The late 1950’s were a revolutionary time in music. The rise of Rock and Roll foreshadowed a shift from traditional popular music and jazz to modern pop. From Elvis to Chuck Berry, Rock and Roll was becoming the dominant influence in popular music and guitar the dominant instrument.

Balanced on the cusp of this enormous change, Norman Ganz marshalled Ella Fitzgerald’s peerless talent, matched her with the celebrated vocal arranger Nelson Riddle, and embarked on a yearlong project to record all of George and Ira Gershwin's songs.

Talk about ambitious.

The result of Granz’s singular determination is one of the most memorable music achievements of the 20th Century.

Any nuanced examination of this album’s iconic stature and its musical and cultural significance must begin with George and Ira Gershwin and their songs. The artistic touch that animates the songs of George and Ira Gershwin – composed nearly a century ago in the 1920’s and 30’s – remains timeless and enduring.

George Gershwin is America’s most celebrated 20th Century composer. His legacy is unrivaled. His music has been part of our world for almost a century. He gave America its first authentic voice in the concert hall. He elevated jazz’s stature as a musical medium and he composed the first truly American opera. The classic songs he crafted with his brother Ira fill the Great American Songbook.

The structure and form of Gershwin’s musical ideas were informed by Tin Pan Alley, typically featuring an introductory “verse” followed by a “chorus” in AABA form. Even his lengthy symphonic pieces were composed in the spirit of a popular Tin Pan Alley song. Think Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris.

He retained the structure of the typical Tin Pan Alley song but gave it wondrous twists – an unexpected chord or a surprise counter melody. His rhythmic inventions are legendary and he had a remarkable ear for harmonic contrasts – the breathtaking back and forth between major and minor chords in The Man I Love being just one example.

The melodies of George Gershwin fit seamlessly alongside the wit, charm and lyrical elasticity of his older brother Ira’s words. Functioning to enhance the song’s principal subject – almost always some attribute of love – Ira employed a literate rhyme scheme that often held a wonderful goofiness. Take for instance,

They all laughed at Christopher Columbus When he said, the world was round
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother When they said that man could fly
They told Marconi Wireless was a phony It's the same old cry

Such originality and inventiveness. Sophisticated, yes, but Ira’s imagery is also easy for the listener to relate to. He sometimes delighted with an inverted word order like, “Let's at the past laugh" from They All Laughed or “And so all else above” from The Man I Love. And to accentuate George’s syncopated melody Ira controlled lyrical movement with rhyme and repetition. He wrote, “I got” rhythm not “I’ve got” rhythm. Quintessential Ira Gershwin touches.

Enduring popularity is one reliable measure of iconic status. If a popular song lingers past its in-fashion moment then it most likely possesses some aesthetic virtue. The popularity of Gershwin songs stands the test of criticism and time continuing to resonate with audiences nearly a century after their conception.

The stars were aligned when, in 1959, all the pieces of Norman Granz’s inspirational idea fell into place. The timeless songs of George and Ira Gershwin, interpreted by the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald, and accompanied by Nelson Riddle, arguably the greatest vocal arranger in the history of popular music.

The value of a piece of music depends greatly on the quality of the interpretation. Both Ella Fitzgerald and Nelson Riddle are interpretive artists. Interpretive artists translate and illuminate the work of the originating artists.

The centerpiece of this shining display of musical interpretation is Ella Fitzgerald. Her gift is simply remarkable. Possessing a wide-ranging lyric soprano voice with great range and depth, the pure beauty of Ella’s voice sends shivers down your spine. She can deliver genuine emotional content in a ballad and she can scat like no one else. All of these elements she integrated into a markedly personal sound. A signature Ella Fitzgerald sound.

Her imagination and phrasing, her subtle rhythmic control, the way she varies the accent on a key phrase are all on display in one of the album’s highlights – Ella’s poignant reading of But Not for Me, which won her a 1960 Grammy Award for Best Female Vocal Performance.

But Not for Me has a storyline that resonates with anyone who has ever experienced the pangs of one-sided affection.

Ella’s vocal glides seamlessly from one note to the next, breathing memory and regret into Gershwin’s haunting melody. Her expression of vulnerability allows her to bring out the emotional potential of the song as if she’s telling you a personal story of one-way love and longing.

Riddle attached sentiment and gravity to strings in a minor key and the recording’s introduction – a dramatic descending minor key chord – acts as a prelude for Ella’s wistful, “They’re writing songs of love but not for me” opening.

Taken at an adagio dance tempo, Ella delivers a quietly broken hearted chorus, perfectly framed by Riddle’s artful arrangement with swirling strings and understated counter melody fills while Joe Comfort’s bass sets the tempo.

Phrasing not just the lyric but also the melody, Ella recites a lament of longing and loss with smoothly flowing ease. At the bridge the forlorn acceptance of her fate is delivered with such intimate and introspective feeling. And oh Ella’s plaintive bending and drawing out the song’s closing phrase, “Although I can't dismiss the memory of his kiss, I guess he's not for me” conveys the deep melancholy of Ira’s lyric.

This is Ella Fitzgerald at the pinnacle of her artistic powers. Her rendition of But Not for Me is a perfect balance between George Gershwin’s captivating melody so full of beautiful unexpected moments and Ira Gershwin’s
pensive lyric. Just wonderful stuff,