Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996) was the defining jazz vocalist of the 20th century, from her start with Chick Webb's orchestra to the Verve Songbook series that set the standard for the Great American Songbook. The Cole Porter Songbook (1956) or Ella and Louis (1956) are perfect first steps. Browse Ella Fitzgerald vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born in Newport News, Virginia on April 25, 1917, and raised primarily in Yonkers, New York. She launched her career in 1934 when she won an amateur talent contest at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Her early career was with Chick Webb's orchestra (1935-1939), where her 1938 vocal hit A-Tisket, A-Tasket became a national success. After Webb's death in 1939, she briefly led his orchestra before launching her career as a solo artist. Her catalog on Decca (through 1955) and her transformative work with Norman Granz at Verve from 1956 (including the eight-volume Songbook series - Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, and George and Ira Gershwin) is widely regarded as one of the most important catalogs in 20th century American music. She won 14 Grammy Awards and was the first Black woman to win a Grammy. She died at age 79 on June 15, 1996, in Beverly Hills.
Ella Fitzgerald's sound is the central document of jazz vocal performance and the Great American Songbook tradition. Her vocal style - pitch-perfect, technically dazzling, capable of both intimate balladry and virtuosic scat improvisation - is widely cited as a defining template for jazz singing.
Original Verve pressings of the Songbook series are foundational items in jazz collecting. Multiple anniversary editions, audiophile reissues (Acoustic Sounds, Verve By Request), and box sets including the comprehensive The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books have been released.
Listeners new to Ella Fitzgerald typically start with The Cole Porter Songbook (1956) or Ella and Louis (1956).
