Miss Ella Fitzgerald. I miss her.

Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996), also known as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella", was an American jazz and song vocalist.

Goodbye Nancy

TRIBUTE 

This passing really got to me. In my era, Nancy Wilson set a high standard copied by millions of Black women. In those days, white men held death over Black lives that didn't matter to them. One of the distinctive elements impossible to touch, or harm women like Nancy Wilson was an intangible passed down grandmother to granddaughter...

She was a powerful influence on me as a man, and a musician. Since, my start in music Nancy Wilson was one of my favorite singers in the world and there were only five. But, I have side stepped my grief for a moment. I had a big gig maybe a decade or so ago where she was one of the major artists. My wife wanted to go see her sound check.

I didn't want to. I'd been in many sound checks. But, that wasn't the reason.

When we left the stage I'd been performing we walked to Nancy Wilson's stage. The cats playing with her I was very familiar with, and had admired a long time. After the trio's sound check Nancy Wilson came out for hers. I about passed out. I whispered into Jan's ear, and said, "Jan, that's your only competition. If she beckons consider me gone." ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of the Drum 12/17/18

Nancy Wilson, June 29, 2007, performs at her Swingin' 70th Birthday party 

at Carnegie Hall in New York city. photo by Rick Maiman. 

"This is around the time, the only time I shared a venue with Nancy Wilson." 

TO YOUNGER CATS: listen!

I studied and listened to her singing deeply. Learning from masters of any craft is very personal, and I took the task seriously growing up while masters like Ella Fitzgerald, were still gigging and being interviewed. It deepened my performances, and honed my craft the way iron sharpens a blade. When a master is alive their new, and their old work vibrates differently. It is because there is always the chance you might meet them, and in the music world you never know who will invite you on stage. - Gregory E. Woods (percussionist) 10/31/18 

A Look into their Lives...

Abbey Lincoln (1930-2010) jazz vocalist, composer, actress was influenced by Billie Holiday...She was fine, then elegant as she aged. The stage beyond elegance and old age she segued into with dignity, or so it appeared. Aging is work.

Billie Holiday's short life had brief moments this vulnerable and gentle.

Tammi Terrell, R&B singer who died early breaking Marvin Gaye's 

heart and his spirit for a long time. Her death was one of those dark moments that 

changed his already troubled soul into some of the best soul music of his time in the light of life! 

a Tremendous talent.

Lori Williams by Roy Cox at 51 years of age. January 22, 2018.

Lori Williams by Tommie Adams Jr. said, 'Words are powerful... speak wisely.'

Life Accomplishment: excellence.

Morning meditation: 

Pray in every situation. Know your worth. Don’t let the past harm your future. Stop comparing yourself to others. Trust your inner voice. Everything doesn’t need to be said. Love and forgive yourself first. Life is short. Strive to achieve your goals. Know your limits. Inspire. Believe. Words are powerful. Speak wisely. 

Lori Williams 11/5/17 

Lori Williams, jazz singer.

"The maturation of spirit, the development of mind and talent, and how beauty matures in playful ways has always been a source of wonder for those who appreciate how such things work in their own lives!

This is what I see looking at this photograph!" - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 12/1217

Letter about jazz singer, Lori Williams from President of City Sketches, Inc.

Lori Williams performing at Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club. Tony Lewis in the back.

Ella Fitzgerald: recollections during Jim Crow

Ella Fitzgerald recording in a studio.

When she began to put on weight her sensuality increased embodying something men wanted to hold, become a part of, as she got deep into the lyrics and swelled within the songs like a lady. Jazz and sensuality moved women and shaped them. It was very different the things ladies of the darker hue, from Ella Fitzgerald's era, conjured. Not wanting to say words that will separate and make younger singers defensive, suffice it to say, jazz pulls out what the times require. - Gregory E. Woods, percussionist 4/25/17

Ella Fitzgerald deep in song.

"There is a resemblance between Ella Fitzgerald and Mahalia Jackson in their spirit and deep approach from within towards deep translation, reflection and knowing about song in relation to condition of the soul!" - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 4.25.17

Ella Fitzgerald onstage during the 1960's, maybe.

"I can hear my father making a bit deal about the sound and size of her voice back then!! We had a lot of voices developed to high level back then, and enjoyed live television. It was a natural format for TV because the previous generation grew up on live entertainment. It means a lot being exposed to musicians and singers constantly developing before live audiences beyond expectations. The tempo of the bands fluctuated and not every note was perfect. It kept the sound fresh and organic free of the pretense of machines today's audiences are used to. Why this is an important footnote is obvious to one mindset, another? Well." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 4.25.17

Ella Fitzgerald adored by Dizzy Gillepsie (r.) and support by top ranked bassist, Ray Brown and other musicians I can't right remember right now.

That's Dizzy Gillespie and Ray Brown in the background! God, that must've been a helluva sound. This has to be in the 1940's. One had to be unbelievably sharp to be onstage with the likes of these musicians. I often ponder the internal strength it took to be a Colored artist in those day. I have wondered . . . "Could any of today's Colored musicians have developed the what for to survive and live through Jim Crow under those circumstances?" - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 4.25.17

Courage takes Truth to Self

Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe seated in a club.

During the ‘50s, one of the most popular venues was Mocambo in Hollywood. Frank Sinatra made his Los Angeles debut at Mocambo in 1943, and it was frequented by the likes of Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Lana Turner.


Ella Fitzgerald was not allowed to play at Mocambo because of her race. Then, one of her biggest fans made a telephone call that quite possibly changed the path of her career for good.... Here, she tells the story of how Marilyn Monroe changed her life: “I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt … she personally called the owner of the Mocambo, and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. She told him – and it was true, due to Marilyn’s superstar status – that the press would go wild.

“The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night. The press went overboard. After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again. She was an unusual woman – a little ahead of her times. And she didn’t know it."

 

The Twinkle, the Pull & the Dare . . .

She could have teased me out of the shadows with a wink, made me give up religion and reinvent sound just to get to the heaven she created if she'd but looked at me with a twinkle of an eye! I'd a been no mo' gud I tell ya'!! - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories  


Jazz singer, Joyce Bryant, popular in the 1950's was dubbed The Bronze Bombshell.

Known for tinting her hair with radiator paint, jazz singer Joyce Bryant was dubbed "the bronze bombshell" in the 1950s. The silver/grey hair fad of today is nothing new. Today she is 87 years old and still living. She heavily inspired Etta James. ~ anon

 

The Divine Sarah

Sarah Vaughn as a young singer

Keeping The Idiom Alive

The Great African-American Classical Art-Form
"Sassy"

https://youtu.be/q71a25C0yCM…
https://open.spotify.com/album/5BkcGXQqO5jVazGGwed1C0


During the mid-'50s, Sarah Vaughan spent most of her time recording songbook standards backed by a large orchestra in florid arrangements, with only the occasional breath of fresh air like her masterpiece, 1954's Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown. Four years after that milestone, another landed with the live album At Mister Kelly's. Recorded quite early in the days of the live LP, the album captured Vaughan at her best and most relaxed, stretching out on a set of late-night torch songs and ballads. With a trio including Jimmy Jones on piano, Roy Haynes on drums, and Richard Davis on bass, Vaughan is simply captivating, easily disproving the notion that, to be entertaining, singers needed inventive arrangements and multiple voices (instrumental or otherwise) behind them. Her unerring sense of rhythm carries her through every song on this set, whether the occasion calls for playfulness and wit ("Thou Swell," "Honeysuckle Rose") or a world-wise melancholia ("Willow Weep for Me"). Her accompanists are a valuable anchor, with Haynes' drumming just as precise as Sassy's vocals and Jones' piano solos adding additional vitality.


Release Date August 6, 1957
Duration 35:32
Vocal
Styles
Standards
‪#‎HighArt



Sarah Vaughn, top jazz singer

 

Beauty of Mystery 2

Cassandra Wilson, jazz singer & composer !!!

 

TRIBUTE to Excellence

Lena Horne in the 1950's

"She evolved into a Lady. A helluva a story it must be."

~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

1.12.16

Lauryn Hill at the piano !!!!
video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3_dOWYHS7I 

 

Standards They Set For Themselves Settled US.

Abbey Lincoln's second recording, her first for Riverside, with trumpeter Kenny Dorham, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chamber, drummer Max Roach.

I've always bowed to her presence, her beauty, her songs, and the why of her existence as Life.

 

- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

1.12.16



Diana Ross poolside in the late 1960's or early 1970's !!!!
video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa6B94sP07Y 

 

See Sarah



drawing of Sarah Vaughn

An infant speaks,

a young girl sighs,

an old man laughs

to hide his cries.

When Sarah sang

her sultry song,

clear blue skies

from now on.

How gentle is the rain

that falls softly on the meadow.

Birds high up in the trees

serenade the flowers with their melodies.

See there beyond the hills

the bright colors of the rainbow,

some magic from above

made this day for us just to fall in love.

©Charles Ghigna

Sarah Vaughn, top jazz singer for many decades

 

Span of 40 years

Lena Horne (1941) was 24 years old.

 June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010

Lena Horne (1981) was 64 years old. Her sultry voice aroused me at that age. Of all the things to remember about a woman her voice ranks high on the list because her intonation speaks to places within a man that may or may not be alert. A man's awareness can awaken by sound. There is the sound of a woman's presence, the sound of her look, the tone of her presence, the menace of her anger, the clinch of her convictions, and the stamina of her vigor, and the feel of her eyes. These speak to the subtle bodies of a man's nature. How we listen determines how we receive the gifts and the lessons of our lives upon the Earth, our Mother from the women in our lives and the women surrounding us with their daily lives!

If the sound of a woman's voice does not awaken the need for connection something is amiss within the man, and shortens the sense of wonder a woman can evoke within a man, or it is simply that her voice does not speak to his soul and resonate for other reasons. The ardor of the fires within a man's loins, the smell of a woman's allure, the pretense of machismo, and the fear of not being enough will make some men behave poorly, and motivate others to be better; not good enough, but the best of themselves.

Women are the center of Life because divinity rests at their center place in ways that made Creation possible, and the Creator accessible. A woman is the nature of a poem if she knows herself, and is better than the societal role given her gender. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 11.4.13

symbol of Tranquility

For decades Lena Horne represented the contradictions of race, and talked about it publicly. She was a study, and for Colored folks a model of excellence for which she was forgiven for being light skinned. 

I didn't grow up in a house bound by judgements of shades of Black or Brown skin tones. 'Color-struck' was something I read about as a teenager, but for millions it was a big deal. I understand it now, but as I remember Lena Horne's observations she deplored the system and used it to her advantage to become an activist, and a professional singer. This is a strategy and it worked for her. She wished the nation would ascend beyond the legacy of European conquest, and the survival mechanisms people of color employ worldwide to survive, live and prosper in the system of thought, belief and practice imposed upon them by the European's spirit and will! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 11.4.13