BRATTLEBORO — The Vermont Jazz Center will present its annual big band swing gala on Friday, Dec. 2, at 8 p.m., paying tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, one of the greatest jazz singers in history.
The performance will celebrate Fitzgerald's centennial birthday anniversary by featuring arrangements she performed with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and others. All proceeds will support the VJC's Scholarship Program.
The VJC Big Band is composed of area professionals, is led by music director Rob Freeberg, and is run by band manager Sherm Fox.
Acclaimed vocalist Wanda Houston will front the band for this gala performance, an annual concert that has evolved into one of the VJC's most popular events.
A sparkling career
Dubbed “The First Lady of Song,” Fitzgerald was the most popular female jazz singer in the U.S. for more than half a century. In her lifetime she won 13 Grammy awards and sold over 40 million albums.
She worked with jazz greats including Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie, and Benny Goodman. Fitzgerald had a deep concern for child welfare and frequently made generous donations to organizations for disadvantaged youths.
In 1987, President Ronald Reagan awarded her the National Medal of Arts. France followed suit several years later, presenting her with their Commander of Arts and Letters award. Yale, Dartmouth, and several other universities bestowed her with honorary doctorates.
The Vermont Jazz Center is using Ella Fitzgerald's upcoming 100th birthday anniversary on April 25 as an opportunity to honor and celebrate Ella's immense contributions to jazz music and the advancement of race relations.
Born into a poor, working-class family in Newport News, Virginia, in 1917, Fitzgerald was orphaned at the age 15. She ended up working odd jobs and singing on the streets of New York, barely scraping by and often homeless.
An American legend
In the fall of 1934, at the age of 17, Fitzgerald won an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. This recognition opened doors and led to a musical bond with bandleader/drummer Chick Webb with whom, in 1938, the then-21-year-old Ella recorded a playful version of the nursery rhyme “A-Tisket, A-Tasket.” The album sold a million copies, hit number one, and stayed on the pop charts for 17 weeks.
Ella Fitzgerald is now a legend whose music is enjoyed by appreciators of all genres. Fitzgerald's discography is extensive and is noted for its loving inclusion of numerous “songbooks,” - album collections of songs that feature the work of individual composers such as Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Jonny Mercer, Jerome Kern, and Antonio Carlos Jobim.
She was a guest in TV specials with Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole, Mel Tormé and recorded top-selling albums with Louis Armstrong, the Oscar Peterson Trio, Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and many others. Although she died in 1996 due to complications related to diabetes, she lives on in the hearts of her numerous admirers through her enduring music and through the good work of the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation.
Right for the role
Playing the part of Ella Fitzgerald for the VJC's gala concert is singer Wanda Houston. Houston has loved and sung along with Fitzgerald's music since she was a young girl.
Originally from Chicago, Houston grew up singing gospel music in church and with her family's theater group. She has led an active career as an actress performing on the grand stages of Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Broadway; she toured Europe as the wicked stepsister in “Sisterella” (for which she was recognized as “Best Supporting Actress in a Musical” by the NAACP) and has held lead rolls in “Ain't Misbehavin',” “Hello Dolly,” and “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”
Houston was part of the gospel group Broadway Inspirational Voices, with whom she performed on PBS's “Great Performances,” earning a Grammy nomination. She has shared the stage with Oleta Adams, Patti Austin, Eartha Kitt, Liza Minelli, Pattie Labelle, Joe Cocker, Celine Dion, and Barbara Streisand. Like Fitzgerald, she is a superb storyteller as well as a great singer, coloring the spaces between her songs with fascinating stories of her youth and the trials of life on the road.
The VJC Big Band is directed by trumpeter Rob Freeberg and is composed of the following musicians: Trumpeters Charlie Schneeweis, Joe Conti, Rick Anderson and Don Anderson; trombonists John Wheeler, Riley Goodemote, Bob Thies, Rob Skrocki; saxophonists Michael Zsoldos, Bob Stabach, Larry Tutt, Nick Pelton, and Sherm Fox. The rhythm section is Eugene Uman (piano), David Picchi (bass) and Steve Rice (drums).