Like Charlie Parker on the saxophone or Jimi Hendrix on the guitar, Ella Fitzgerald redefined what could be done with her instrument — which, in her case, was her singular voice — with a mix of ...

But let’s be fair: Fitzgerald didn’t write “Mack the Knife,” making her mistake more understandable. Bobby Darrin and Louis Armstrong first sang the song, according to The Kids Should See This. Still, ...

The title of "Becoming Ella Fitzgerald," Judith Tick's incisive, doggedly researched new biography of the 20th century's preeminent songstress, suggests action and movement. This is no accident. As ...

On this album, Fitzgerald's “acting" approach to song storytelling is shelved and replaced by all-in belting, a band of studio killers, and arrangements that all but lift off the ground. The band?

In his 859-page monograph The Swing Era (1989), composer and historian Gunther Schuller skipped past Ella Fitzgerald. In 2011, when Judith Tick asked him about the omission, he responded that "there ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Hugh McIntyre covers music, with a focus on the global charts. Ella Fitzgerald’s latest posthumous album, The Moment of Truth: ...

The majesty and magic of Ella Fitzgerald performing live is brought to vivid life in the new animated video for the incredible, one-of-a-kind performance of her beloved tune, "Cheek To Cheek," ...

In early 1933, a 15-year-old Ella Fitzgerald spent many a day dancing for dimes and nickels on the sidewalks of Yonkers, N.Y. At least she did until a truant officer caught her and hauled her to ...

Where would we be without Ella? Without that voice, that propulsive sense of swing, that fleet technique and that seemingly inexhaustible well of improvisational creativity? Ella Fitzgerald, who died ...

Having an appreciation for jazz music is all about respecting intuitive instrumentation as an art form that can catapult audiences to unimaginable heights. For the “First Lady of Song” with undeniable ...

On March 25, 1962, jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald performed in front of a packed audience at the cavernous Berlin Sportpalast arena. She was returning to the city as a hero: Two years earlier, she’d ...

The Ella Fitzgerald Papers reveal a surprising connection between Fitzgerald and the Kennedy Inauguration Corey Schmidt Frank Sinatra had been planning the gala since Kennedy’s victory in November ...