Ruth Leon recommends… Ella and the Duke
UncategorizedElla and the Duke – “It Don’t Mean A Thing (If it Ain’t Got That Swing)”
This was recorded live as part of the Ed Sullivan variety show in 1965. It never gets old. Scat, almost unknown today, was the vocalisation of music without words, often, as here, in counterpoint to the melody of the song being sung.
Here is the Queen of Scat, the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald showing how it’s done. At the piano, who else?, Duke Ellington, , her favourite partner. And nobody could swing better.
It doesn’t get any better than this! Thanks for posting.
Ellington was a true giant of 20th century American music and Ella was just Ella, utterly peerless………https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqa5kNNaMlc