Sun 8/27 @ 7PM
Ella Fitzgerald was known as one of the 20th century’s most accomplished jazz singers, but she was beloved by audiences well beyond the jazz community as “The First Lady of Song.” She was legendary for her crisp phrasing and her improvisational scat singing, which has influenced generations of jazz vocalists.
But she applied those techniques to material that was instantly accessible, whether it was a throwaway ditty like her 1938 #1 hit “A-Tisket A-Tasket,” or her luminous renditions of selections from the Great American Songbook. She collaborated with virtually all her fellow greats of early 20th century jazz — Louis Armstrong, Count Base, Duke Ellington and the Ink Spots.
Given the length and breadth of her career (she died in 1996 at the age of 79, having performed her last show three years earlier), it takes three singers to fill her shoes at the Cleveland Orchestra’s Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald at Blossom Music Center.
Randall Craig Fleischer will conduct the orchestra, while Capathia Jenkins, Harolyn Blackwell and Aisha de Haas will give voice to some of Fitzgerald’s nearly endless repertoire.
Tickets are $30-$99.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223