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Nice Work If You Can Get It (album)
''Nice Work If You Can Get It'' is a 1983 studio album by Ella Fitzgerald and André Previn, with accompaniment from the double bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. It was Fitzgerald's only album recorded with Previn, and represented her first album of single composer material since her 1981 album ''Ella Abraça Jobim''. ''Nice Work If You Can Get It'' was the last in a long line of collaborations that Fitzgerald made with predominantly jazz piano accompaniment. Her earlier albums in a similar vein were ''Ella Sings Gershwin'' (1950), ''Ella Fitzgerald Sings Songs from "Let No Man Write My Epitaph"'' (1960), and ''Ella and Oscar'' (1975). For these albums she was accompanied by the pianists Ellis Larkins, Paul Smith (musician), Paul Smith, and Oscar Peterson respectively. ''Nice Work If You Can Get It'' was also Fitzgerald's first all George Gershwin, Gershwin album since 1959's ''Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook''. The album cover is a caricature of ...
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Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. After a tumultuous adolescence, Fitzgerald found stability in musical success with the Chick Webb Orchestra, performing across the country but most often associated with the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Her rendition of the nursery rhyme "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" helped boost both her and Webb to national fame. After taking over the band when Webb died, Fitzgerald left it behind in 1942 to start her solo career. Her manager was Moe Gale, co-founder of the Savoy, until she turned the rest of her career over to Norman Granz, who founded Verve Records to produce new records by Fitzgerald. With Verve she recorded some of her more widely noted works, particularly ...
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Ella Fitzgerald Sings Songs From "Let No Man Write My Epitaph"
Ella may refer to: * Ella (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Places United States * Ella, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Ella, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Ella, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * Ella, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community * Lake Ella, Tallahassee, Florida Greenland * Ella Island, an uninhabited island of the Greenland Sea, Greenland Sri Lanka * Ella, Sri Lanka, a town in Uva, Sri Lanka Arts and entertainment Music * ''Ella'' (Ella Fitzgerald album), 1969 * ''Ella'' (Juan Gabriel album), 1980 * Ella (Malaysian singer) (born 1966) * "Ella" (Jack de Nijs song), by André Moss, Jack De Nijs, 1973 * "Ella", song by Raphael (singer) L. Favio, 1969 * "Ella" (José Alfredo Jiménez song) * "Ella", song by The Way (band) J. Hill, R. Hill, 1972 * "Ella", song by Bebe from '' Pafuera Telarañas'', 2004 * , by Argentine group Tan Biónica, 2010 Other *'' Ella'' (2016), documentary film about Austral ...
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How Long Has This Been Going On?
"How Long Has This Been Going On?" is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, for the musical '' Funny Face'' in 1927. History According to Ira Gershwin in his book ''Lyrics on Several Occasions'', after the premiere of '' Funny Face'' in Philadelphia he received a call from the then professional manager of Shapiro, Bernstein and Co. asking him to remove the song because ''“It doesn't mean anything”'' and because ''“Well, we've bought a song with the same title and we're about to publish it. Yours doesn't get you anywhere, so how about taking it out of the show?”'' Eventually the song was deleted as Ira Gershwin indicates, ''“Well, he had'' his ''wish. A couple of weeks later on the road (either in Atlantic City or Washington) ''"How Long..."'' was out, replaced by "''He Loves and She Loves''"”. Replaced by "He Loves and She Loves" in ''Funny Face'', it was eventually introduced in the musical '' Rosalie'' (1928) by Bobbe Arnst as Mary O'Bri ...
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Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
"Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" is a song written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin for the 1937 film '' Shall We Dance'', where it was introduced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers as part of a celebrated dance duet on roller skates. The sheet music has the tempo marking of "Brightly". The song was ranked No. 34 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs. Background The song is most famous for its "You like to-may-to / And I like to-mah-to " and other verses comparing British and American English pronunciations. The differences in pronunciation are not simply regional, however, but serve more specifically to identify class differences. At the time, typical American pronunciations were considered less "refined" by the upper-class, and there was a specific emphasis on the "broader" ''a'' sound. This class distinction with respect to pronunciation has been retained in caricatures, especially in the theater, where the longer ''a'' pronunciation is most strongly associated with the word '' ...
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Nice Work If You Can Get It (song)
"Nice Work If You Can Get It" is a popular song and jazz standard composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Background It began life in 1930 as a nine-bar phrase with the working title "There's No Stopping Me Now". Its title phrase "Nice work if you can get it" came from an English magazine. It was one of nine songs the Gershwin brothers wrote for the movie '' A Damsel in Distress'' in which it was performed by Fred Astaire with backing vocals by The Stafford Sisters. The song was published in 1937. First recordings The first jazz recording of the work was by Tommy Dorsey three weeks after the release of the film. Early chart versions were by Shep Fields, Teddy Wilson with Billie Holiday, Fred Astaire, Maxine Sullivan, and The Andrews Sisters. The song was recorded by many jazz singers and adopted by bebop instrumentalists; Jerry Newman recorded pianist Thelonious Monk performing the tune in 1941 at Minton's Playhouse, a nightclub closely connected with early be ...
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A Foggy Day
"A Foggy Day" is a popular song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The song was introduced by Fred Astaire in the 1937 film '' A Damsel in Distress''. It was originally titled "A Foggy Day (In London Town)" in reference to the pollution-induced pea soup fogs that were common in London during that period, and is often still referred to by the full title. The commercial recording by Astaire for Brunswick was very popular in 1937. Other recordings * Frank Sinatra – ''Songs for Young Lovers'' (1953) *Ella Fitzgerald on her Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book from Verve Records, 1959. * Charles Mingus – '' Pithecanthropus Erectus'' (1956) * Louis Armstrong with Ella Fitzgerald – '' Ella and Louis'' (1956) * Billie Holiday – '' Songs for Distingué Lovers'' (1957) * Red Garland – ''Red Garland at the Prelude'' (1959) * Frank Sinatra — ''Ring-a-Ding-Ding!'' (1961) * Judy Garland — ''Judy at Carnegie Hall'' (1961) * George ...
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Al Hirschfeld
Albert Hirschfeld (June 21, 1903 – January 20, 2003) was an American caricaturist best known for his black and white portraits of celebrities and Broadway stars. Personal life Al Hirschfeld was born in 1903 in a two-story duplex at 1313 Carr Street in St. Louis, Missouri, and moved with his family to New York City in 1915, where he received his art training at the National Academy of Design. He married chorus girl Florence Ruth Hobby in 1927; the couple separated in 1932 and divorced in 1943. That same year he married actress Dolly Haas. Haas died in 1994, aged 84. They had one child, a daughter, Nina (b. 1945). In 1996, he married Louise Kerz, a theatre historian (b. 1936). Career In 1924, Hirschfeld traveled to Paris and London, where he studied painting, drawing and sculpture. When he returned to the United States, a friend, fabled Broadway press agent Richard Maney, showed one of Hirschfeld's drawings to an editor at the ''New York Herald Tribune'', which got Hirsch ...
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Caricature
A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, and can serve a political purpose, be drawn solely for entertainment, or for a combination of both. Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in editorial cartoons, while caricatures of movie stars are often found in entertainment magazines. In literature, a ''caricature'' is a distorted representation of a person in a way that exaggerates some characteristics and oversimplifies others. Etymology The term is derived for the Italian ''caricare''—to charge or load. An early definition occurs in the English doctor Thomas Browne's ''Christian Morals'', published posthumously in 1716. with the footnote: Thus, the word "caricature" essentially means a "loaded portrait". Until the mid 19th century, it was commonly and mistakenly ...
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Ella Fitzgerald Sings The George And Ira Gershwin Songbook
''Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book'' is a box set by American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald that contains songs by George and Ira Gershwin with arrangements by Nelson Riddle. It was produced by Norman Granz, Fitzgerald's manager and the founder of Verve Records. Fifty-nine songs were recorded in the span of eight months in 1959. It is one of the eight album releases comprising what is possibly Fitzgerald's greatest musical legacy: '' Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Complete American Songbook'', in which she recorded, with top arrangers and musicians, a comprehensive collection of both well-known and obscure songs from the Great American Songbook canon, written by the likes of Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, George and Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, and Johnny Mercer. Fitzgerald's recording of " But Not for Me" won the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Female. Ira Gershwin subsequently said that "I never knew ...
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George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions '' Rhapsody in Blue'' (1924) and '' An American in Paris'' (1928), the songs " Swanee" (1919) and " Fascinating Rhythm" (1924), the jazz standards " Embraceable You" (1928) and " I Got Rhythm" (1930), and the opera ''Porgy and Bess'' (1935), which included the hit " Summertime". Gershwin studied piano under Charles Hambitzer and composition with Rubin Goldmark, Henry Cowell, and Joseph Brody. He began his career as a song plugger but soon started composing Broadway theater works with his brother Ira Gershwin and with Buddy DeSylva. He moved to Paris, intending to study with Nadia Boulanger, but she refused him, afraid that rigorous classical study would ruin his jazz-influenced style; Maurice Ravel voiced similar objections when Ger ...
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Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, as well as a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy, and received numerous other awards and honours. He played thousands of concerts worldwide in a career lasting more than 60 years. He was called the " Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, simply "O.P." by his friends, and informally in the jazz community as "the King of inside swing". Biography Early years Peterson was born in Montreal, Quebec, to immigrants from the West Indies ( Saint Kitts and Nevis and the British Virgin Islands); His mother, Kathleen, was a domestic worker and his father, Daniel, worked as a porter for Canadian Pacific Railway and was an amateur musician who taught himself to play the organ, trumpet and piano. Peterson grew up in the nei ...
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