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Ella Fitzgerald: 1917-1996
Ella Fitzgerald: 1917-1996
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The DECCA Years, Vol. One, 1935 - 1938
featuring CHICK WEBB AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Liner notes by Will Friedwald
PAGE 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Track Listing

Lady EllaStill there were other angles to the Webb-Fitzgerald collaboration: the more adult "When I Get Low I Get High" and "Wacky Dust," are not cheap thrills but legitimate celebrations of Harlem high life. The first of two ethnic excursions, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen," a song Jewish lyricist Sammy Cahn was moved to write an English lyric for after a black dance team introduced it to him at the Apollo Theatre; Fitzgerald's Savoy Eight version affects an inspiredly klezmorian lilt. "MacPherson is Rehearsin'," a wee bonnie bit of "truckin' in the heather," represents a similar trend of swinging Scotch and Irish material, going back to Armstrong's "Irish Black Bottom." Though not related to Geraldine Fitzgerald, our Fitzgerald is, like Maxine Sullivan (best known for "Loch Lomond") and her future pianist, Thomas Flanagan, even more adroit at the swinging o' the green. (On another cross-cultural conquest, Webb and Fitzgerald even succeeded in "Swinging on the Reservation," a 1936 disc not heard here.)
spaceWhile the success of "Tisket" solidified the reliance of Webb and Fitzgerald on topical novelty material, they did occasionally venture into the realm of present and future standard tunes. The 12-incher of "Hallelujah" and "I Want to Be Happy," as noted, signifies two rare examples of dance flagwavers that have vocal refrains which actually work. "Everybody Step" and "Pack Up Your Sins" may have been written by Irving Berlin for his Music Box Revue Of 1922, but both were also revived by Fitzgerald fave Ethel Merman in the major musical movie of 1938, Alexander's Ragtime Band, the latter by the zoftig La Merm in a fetching devil suit. Fitzgerald at once renders these tunes relevant to the Savoy's needs, and the first even goes into a dixieland passage without missing a solid four beat.
spaceOtis Ferguson once remarked that when one entered the Savoy Ballroom, you couldn't see or hear everything at once, but you could feel it all at once. The relationship of Chick Webb and Ella Fitzgerald must have been a lot like that. Webb served not only as her father musically and professionally, but legally, as he became her officially-appointed guardian. Fitzgerald repaid him by steadily refusing offers from other bands: Jimmie Lunceford offered her more money; Benny Goodman used her for one Victor recording session and would have doubtlessly taken her on permanently had she been available.
spaceWhen Webb died on tuberculosis of the spine in June, 1939, Ella Fitzgerald sang "My Buddy" at his memorial service. More importantly, she delayed her own solo career for two whole years in order to keep Webb's band together. Such an action, however, was hardly necessary to keep the diminutive giant's name alive, because Ella Fitzgerald and Chick Webb had long since made each other immortal.

-- Will Friedwald
Will Friedwald is the author of
Sinatra! The Song is You (1995, Scribner)
and Jazz Singing (1992, Collier Books).

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Special Thanks to Geoffrey Mark Fidelman, author of Ella: For the Record, the Fabulous Career of Ella Fitzgerald.

References: Leonard Feather, Stuart Nicolson, Herb Kurtin, Rich Conaty, John Chilton, Burt Korall (Drummin' Men, Schirmer Books, 1990), Stanley Dance (The World of Swing, Scribner's, 1974).

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