{"id":962,"date":"2015-04-07T00:57:43","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T05:57:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=962"},"modified":"2015-04-07T15:23:17","modified_gmt":"2015-04-07T20:23:17","slug":"were-singing-it-because-you-ask-for-it-ella-fitzgerald-scatting-and-how-high-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2015\/04\/07\/were-singing-it-because-you-ask-for-it-ella-fitzgerald-scatting-and-how-high-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"“We’re singing it because you ask for it”: Ella Fitzgerald, Scatting, and “How High the Moon”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Album cover for Ella Fitzgerald’s 1960 album, Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife, which contains her legendary performance of “How High the Moon”<\/p><\/div>\n

In the late 1950s and 1960s, as the Civil Rights Movement took precedence in American politics, critics began to view music through the lens of race. Jazz was a frequent subject of scrutiny because of its history as an African American art form commonly performed by white musicians. Until this era, jazz was considered a “colorblind” art form, but as racial tensions rose, it became impossible to ignore the racial implications that came with the performance of jazz.1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Almena Lomax, a civil rights activist and journalist for the African American newspaper, the Los Angeles Tribune, criticizes Ella Fitzgerald for her acquiescent attitude toward white producers in a 1960 article. Lomax asks, “how come once she is on it [a television program] and the magic of her name has been used to snare viewers, she is given the lesser roles . . . and why does she continue to sit still for such patronizing treatment?” According to Lomax, Fitzgerald had the ideal voice to sing Gershwin, but at a recent all-Gershwin program, Fitzgerald was relegated to sing “only the ‘virtuoso’ numbers–in the tradition of the Negro showing his ‘extra heel,’ or his sixth finger, or his tail, or whatever it is that stamps him as something else but human.” Lomax goes on to compare Fitzgerald’s rendition of “How High the Moon” to such Uncle Tom-like behavior:2<\/sup><\/a>
\n\"Screen<\/a>We cannot be sure of what rendition Lomax is referring to as the “last time” Fitzgerald sang “How High the Moon.” Fitzgerald first recorded the song in 1956 on her album Lullabies of Birdland<\/em>, and another performance of it was recorded in 1958 at Mister Kelly’s, but the recording was not released until 2007. So Lomax is either referring to the Lullabies of Birdland<\/em> version or a performance she heard live. She is not, however, referring to the famous\u00a0Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife\u00a0<\/em>recording of “How High the Moon” because that concert did not occur until February 13, 1960, about a month after this article was published.<\/p>\n

Assuming Lomax was\u00a0using the\u00a0Lullabies of Birdland\u00a0<\/em>recording as her reference, I am wondering if Lomax may have had different thoughts\u00a0about the implications of “How High the Moon” after hearing the\u00a0Ella in Berlin\u00a0<\/em>recording. You can hear the transformation Fitzgerald’s interpretation\u00a0underwent between 1956 and 1960 by listening to the links below:<\/p>\n

Lullabies of Birdland<\/em> (1956)3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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