Ella Fitzgerald (1917-96) had a rough start to her life, living in poverty and actually being homeless for a period. However after winning the Apollo Theater’s amateur contest led to her being hired by Chick Webb in 1935 (Fletcher Henderson made the fatal error of taking a pass), she became a major attraction. Ella was so popular that, after Webb’s passing in 1939, she became the figurehead leader of his ghost band for three years. Ella launched her solo career in 1942, Norman Granz became her manager a few years later, and she never struggled from then on. Decades passed during a whirlwind career of concerts, radio and television appearances, and many recordings. While her voice began to age and decline starting in the late 1970s, she continuing touring the world for another decade and her popularity and the happiness that she expressed while singing never waned.
The Moment Of Truth is a previously unreleased live set from June 30, 1967. At the time, Ella was touring with the Duke Ellington Orchestra but, although they accompany on a few of these numbers (with Jimmy Jones on piano, bassist Bob Cranshaw, and Duke’s regular drummer Sam Woodyard), they have little to do and do not have any solos. The focus is entirely on the singer.
Fortunately Ella Fitzgerald at 50 was very much in prime form. She performs six standards and three then-current pop tunes. The program begins with a high-powered performance of the obscure “The Moment Of Truth” which is taken as a swinger. She follows it up with “Don’t Be That Way” from the Chick Webb days which is taken at a perfect medium-slow tempo. Her scatting and placement of notes is unbeatable.
It was sometimes said by critics trying to find some hidden fault to Ella that she did not put enough emotion into ballads and always sounded too joyful. Actually that was rarely true when a song meant something to her. This version of “You’ve Changed,” which is taken quite slow, is proof of the emotional intensity that she could give to a superior piece. The same is true during a heartfelt and touching rendition of “Alfie.” Between those two songs, she swings up a storm on “Bye Bye Blackbird” which builds up to a remarkable level. And after “Alfie,” she scats as only she could on “In A Mellotone.” While Ella tries in vain to do much with “Music To Watch Girls By,” she concludes the evening with a version of “Mack The Knife” that swings so hard that it will make every listener smile and remember just how great she was.
Ella Fitzgerald • The Moment Of Truth
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Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
