Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography Of The First Lady Of Jazz
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.46 (809 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0306806428 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 368 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-01-11 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
. As a club singer she had to contend with racism, sexism and advances from predatory men. But in the 1950s, just when Billie Holiday, from a similar background, was falling toward drug addiction and a sordid death, Fitzgerald escaped the seeming inevitability of that fate. This biography offers an assessment of the emotional strength apparent in both her life and music. Ella Fitzgerald, who died in 1996, came from a poverty-stricken background. Her songbook albums relaunched her career in a new direction, and she became a beloved figure in American jazz, known for her mus
She succeeded, and is now the definition of "jazz singer" to millions, one of the greatest of all jazz musicians. In this fullest account ever of her life, Nicholson draws on fresh research and interviews with Ella's friends and colleagues. The life of the very private and media-shy Ella Fitzgerald has long been shrouded in a mixture of half-truths and fiction. Supplemented by Phil Schaap's authoritative discography, Ella Fitzgerald is a rich and revealing portrait of one of the most popular American singers in history.. What emerges in Stuart Nicholson's groundbreaking biography is a remarkable story of a poor black girl's determination to realize the American Dream in the face of racial and sexual prejudice
Needs more Ella, less Stuart. I am interested in reading about Ella Fitzgerald's life. I am not interested in reading Mr. Nicholson's opinions on her swing era repertoire, where he takes a giant steaming dump on her music of that time frame and later periods where those songs resurface. His opinions are out of place contextually, are unnecessary to further our knowledge of the subject, and cast a shadow over the story of Ella's life, as though you were reading her story through the lens of a whiny, bitter critic who only cares about her contributions to bebop and doesn't appreciate her vast talents because they are not entirely suited to his. Where's Ella? I'll start off by saying that I'm a huge Ella fan. I bought this hoping to learn more about her real life and what made her who she was. I was really disappointed in that the author gives a rundown of all her gigs and connections and a history of how she got to be from place to place. The writing is almost void of Ellaher thoughts or personal experiences from her own perspective are missing. I gathered just as much information about her life from internet searching. I was really hoping for something along the lines of Art Pepper's "Straight Life" and this falls, sadly, very short. It's okay for the reader that w. Great Read! I loved this book. I learned so much. However, it took me awhile to get through it. Every time a recording was mentioned. I went to You Tube t listen to it. It was a excellent way to read this biography.