Svenska Stjärnor - Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald

April 25^th, 2017 would have been legendary jazz star Ella Fitzgerald’s 100^th birthday. Berwaldhallen celebrates with a concert that focusses on her interpretations of songs from George and Ira Gershwin’s musical riches.

Being one of the 20^th century’s greatest singers, Ella Fitzgerald (1917 – 1996) held the honorary title The First Lady of Jazz.

Her repertoire included a lot of music from The Great American Songbook, i.e. the most important and influential songs from the American musical flora of the early 20^th century.

She sang a lot of Gershwin, who also composed orchestral music with a touch of jazz. So when conductor Anders Berglund, who is also artistically responsible, was tasked with putting the concert together, he chose the large box of Gershwin music that Ella released in 1959, arranged by another jazz legend, namely Nelson Riddle, who was also behind many of Frank Sinatra’s songs.

“It’s going to be a sort of Gershwin songbook,” promises Anders Berglund, who says that they have been lent some of the songs’ original arrangements by the Arizona library that administrates Riddle’s musical treasure chest.

“That’s very valuable in the context, and it may also be the first time that the original versions are heard live in Sweden.”

A trio of some of Sweden’s most talented female jazz singers will be on stage, accompanied by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and reinforcements from a saxophone and comp section, brought in especially for this event.

“We have three fantastic singers who are all based in jazz, but in different ways: Rigmor Gustafsson – one of Sweden’s best jazz singers, Sharon Dyall who has also performed a lot of musicals, and Ellen Andersson, jazz singer on the way up, and 2017’s winner of the Jazzkatten Award, who has adopted some of Ella’s style when it comes to scat singing, a skill not mastered by many people in Sweden.”

You’re now celebrating that Ella Fitzgerald would have been 100 years old until her birthday on April 25^th, 2018. What significance do you think she has for the jazz singers of today?

“She has been incredibly influential. Not just jazz singers. Everyone has listened to Ella Fitzgerald.”

Text: Ylva Lagercrantz Spindler