Dee Dee Bridgewater - Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald.

Format:

Video

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Contemporary Jazz.

Vocal Jazz.

Smooth Jazz.

United States and Canada.

African Americans.

Local Subjects:

Contemporary Jazz.

Vocal Jazz.

Smooth Jazz.

United States and Canada.

African Americans.

Genre:

Performance

Physical Description:

1 online resource (61 minutes)

Place of Publication:

Paris, Ile-de-France : Qwest TV, 1997.

Language Note:

In English.

Original language in English.

System Details:

video file

Summary:

This is a stunning performance that took place the same year as Bridgewater’s 1997 album *Dear Ella*. Recorded a year after Ella Fitzgerald died, the album became one of the most acclaimed tribute records ever – it won a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album and for Slide Hampton’s instrumental arrangement of Duke Ellington’s "Cotton Tail," which appears here with an immediate fervour at the forty-minute mark. In a contemporary review, Raoul Hernandez placed 1997 in context for Bridgewater’s career. He remarked that, though her voice had been compared to Sarah Vaughan’s for many years, she had yet to break into the pantheon of great female voices up until that point. However, with the success of *Dear Ella*, and her performances throughout the year, she had begun to silence doubters and to earn her rightful place alongside Vaughan, Billie Holiday, and indeed, Ella Fitzgerald. A notable mention for this concert goes to the great Ray Brown and his trio who step forward for an interlude, delivering an interpretation of "Blue Monk" that is brimming with effortless class, sumptuous tones, and smiles all round. It’s a full ten minutes before Bridgewater comes back in to take the reigns with the splendid ballad "My Heart Belongs to Daddy." Rowan Standish Hayes

Notes:

Title from resource description page (viewed July 15, 2024).