Ella Fitzgerald Sings Songs from Kander & Ebb's Chicago

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 11:30am

In 1975, Ella Fitzgerald recorded two 45 RPM singles from the new musical Chicago: a fun version of "Roxie" and an especially bluesy rendition of "My Own Best Friend."

The songs were not successful and the 45's went out-of-print quickly. They were never put on LP, tape or CD.

They have remained for decades rare treats for Ella fans and, to a lesser degree, for Chicago fans.

Here they are in audio-only YouTube links:

"Roxie"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoPfXS1yf6w


"My Own Best Friend"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPmRzT9nucY

Updated On: 8/4/08 at 11:30 AM

[Chevstriss]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 1:39pm

is she singing "bleep" instead of boobs?

I FREAKIN' LUV ELLA

i think she had the most versatile voice of the century

[Raspberry]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 1:52pm

I heard feet.

And these are fantastic--thanks for posting! I just downloaded both of them.

And I love some of those alternate Roxie lyrics. "The Windy City's gonna shake from Hurricane Roxie."

Updated On: 8/4/08 at 01:52 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 2:25pm

Apparently, Norman Granz, Ella's manager and producer and guru and the head of Pablo Records hated these recordings and wanted them forgotten.

I love them, especially the "Roxie."

I have all her albums and I went to her concerts from 1972 till she died, and I never heard her sing either of these songs.

[Chevstriss]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 7:02pm

perhaps Mr. Granz didn't think it fit her "style" or "image" but she sounds absolutely wunnerfulll.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 8:01pm

Thanks for sharing those, PJ! They were a lot of fun.

I can't believe you have all her albums!!

Several hundred I would imagine.

I thought I was "cool beans" having all her Verve "songbook" remastered CDs (no, not the big songbook box set, but the individual REMASTERS that were done several years later and included many alt takes and added tracks).

But YOU are the collector!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 9:22pm

I love all my Ella!

There are the Verve Songbooks and the Verve live albums (Newport, Berlin, Return to Berlin, Rome, Hollywood, Juan-Les-Pins) and the Verve concept albums (Ella Swings Brightly with Riddle, Ella Sings Gently with Nelson Riddle, Hello Dolly, Hello Love, Let No Man Be My Epitaph, Like Someone in Love and the Louis Armstrong Collaborations, including the Porgy and Bess).

Then there are the early albums on Decca, when she was learning from Chick Webb and Dizzy Gillespie and her voice was still girlish: Ella Sings Gershwin (10 years pre-Songbook), Songs in a Mellow Mood and Lullabies of Birdland, which has all her first be-bop-influenced scat numbers.

And then there are the late albums from her post-Verve years, the years during which I would make a yearly summer pilgrimage with whatever friends I could persuade to come with me to my 11th, concert, my 12th, my 13th, my 18th, no matter how broke I was I had to be there, at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Tanglewood and her last NY concert at Radio City, which I went to alone.

Her voice in these late albums is not as pretty or supple as on the Decca or Verve albums, but this is the Ella I remember seeing live: her Carnegie Hall, her albums with Count Basie and Duke Ellington orchestras, her collaborations with Oscar Peterson and Joe Pass, her Jobim addition to the Songbook series, her one last Gershwin album and her one last Cole Porter.

This is what she was like when I would see her: a 1983 "How High the Moon" which is one of the songs from her Decca Lullabies of Birdland:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d-l7_TGnIE

Updated On: 8/4/08 at 09:22 PM

[Chevstriss]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 9:34pm

*bows down to PJ's Ella knowledge*

[DMsquared2]

Posted: 8/4/08 at 11:05pm

Thanks for sharing this, PalJoey.

[Raspberry]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 11:56am

PalJoey, do you know of any other recordings of Ella singing Kander & Ebb songs? I have one of her doing "Cabaret," but that's it.

According to my iTunes, I've listened to "Roxie" 42 times since I downloaded it yesterday.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/5/08 at 12:13pm

I can't think of any off hand ("The Happy Time" maybe?), but I'll look when I get home.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 11:47pm

I used to have a recording of Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby singing "Roxie" that was recorded in London not long before Bing died. I forget what they replaced "Boobs" with, but "Sohpie Tucker will SPIT, I know..."

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/7/08 at 12:22am

I loved that album! YouTube has an audio-only of the two of them singing "How Lucky Can You Can Get" but not "Roxie":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc9KynGTfg0

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/25/11 at 4:21pm

Happy birthday, Ella. I'm so glad you sang these songs from Chicago.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 4/25/11 at 4:24pm

We were ALL blessed the day Ella decided to open up her mouth and sing.

I have the Verve Songbooks....those are pretty great. I'm astounded at the vast amount of knowledge you have on Miss Ella PJ.

Then again, I take that back....you know EVERYTHING! :)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/25/11 at 4:59pm

As the song says,

I know a LITTLE bit about a lot of things,
But I don't know enough about you...

http://youtu.be/hKfCWf_9rhs

(Peggy Lee--there was no YouTube video with Ella singing it)