Ella Fitzgerald set the gold standard for jazz singing and changed American music forever. Above all, she was an improviser of the first order, whose brilliant scat technique took melodic invention to new heights.
To celebrate Ella's legacy, Stanford Jazz presents two singers who have absorbed her influence and filtered it through their own unique sensibilities. Mary Stallings, whom the New York Times calls “perhaps the best jazz singer singing today,” spent time, like Ella, as a featured singer with Count Basie. Vocalist Kenny Washington is “an oversize talent who can scat with the harmonic daring and rhythmic command of a bebop saxophonist” (East Bay Express). The ensemble will include Musical Director Larry Dunlap and tenor man Noel Jewkes.
Inside Jazz: Ella: Simply the Best
Speaker: Alisa Clancy | 1:30 PM | Free with evening ticket purchase