There is a very nice documentary about Ella Fitzgerald on Netflix. She was known as the Queen of Jazz and her career spanned 60 years. Ella has a Houston connection thru Arnett Cobb who wrote Smooth Sailing for her in 1951. She recorded it many times and it is one of the few songs that she scats the entire song. Ella toured thru Houston with Chic Webb's band in the late 30's and in 1955 she was arrested during a concert at the Music Hall along with Dizzy Gillespie and Illinois Jacquet. It was retaliation for concert promoter, Norm Gantz insisting that the audience be intergrated. They were released and allowed to continue the concert. This event did not stop Ella from continuing to perform in Houston at venues like the Astrodome in the 70's and Rockefeller's in the mid 80's. We will also be spotlight the music of pianist, Jason Moran who will be in concert this Saturday night kicking off DaCamera's Jazz series. Jason will be presenting a master work celebrating the musical contribution of composer and bandleader, James Reese Europe in a work called, Absence of Ruin.
The Houston Jazz Spotlight is a labor of love by Visual Artist, Jazz Historian, and DJ, Tierney L. Malone.