By Ron Wynn
NASHVILLE, TN — She was acclaimed throughout her lifetime as the nation’s finest jazz vocalist and a supreme interpreter of the classic American popular songbook. But until last month there hadn’t been an extensive biography done on the great Ella Fitzgerald since her death in 1996. That is no longer the case, as music historian Ruth Crawford Seeger has written the new book “Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song” (Norton). A combination extensive personal profile and musical analysis and commentary work, Tick has compiled a hefty amount of information on Fitzgerald, and done something that not many biographers and music historians do when writing about African-American musicians: utilize the resources of the Black press.
Tick has carefully culled through the digital files of such prestigious journals as the Baltimore Afro-American and Chicago Defender. These provide insight and a look into Fitzgerald’s early and personal life with accounts that seldom, if ever, found their way into mainstream journals. She discusses how appearing at such venues as the Apollo Theater and Savoy Ballroom were critical to Fitzgerald’s maturation and development as a vocalist.
But she doesn’t ignore the musical side either, providing detailed breakdowns of several Fitzgerald hits, among them “The Object of My Affection,” “Goodnight My Love,” and “Mack the Knife.” She also examines her interaction and relationships with key record labels like Decca and Verve, as well as her work with the great arranger Nelson Riddle and the importance of the songbook LPs she did featuring her interpretations of George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, among others.
Another bonus is the inclusion of various music journalists’ reviews of and debates about Fitzgerald’s music. Tick ultimately concludes that Ella Fitzgerald “changed the trajectory of American vocal jazz in this century.” “Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singers Who Transformed American Song” is an early nominee as Music Book of the Year.
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