Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Ella Fitzgerald, Jo Stafford, Benny Goodman, Harry James, and Red Norvo!

Man, do I love YouTube! Check this out. According to some of the comments, this is a short clip from an hour long Texaco-sponsored show called "Swing into Spring" recorded in 1958. Lots of my favorite masters of melody...Benny Goodman on clarinet, Harry James on trumpet, Red Norvo on vibes, Ella Fitzgerald *and* Jo Stafford on vocals...all in one room! I've always wished I could go back in time to the big band/swing era...could you imagine seeing these guys live? Or even in real-time on your television? I'd even take that.

And to top it all off, Ella Fitzgerald starts off with one of my favorite songs, "I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues." (I'm partial to the Lena Horne version...you can listen to it on iTunes here.)

Ella & Jo even sing together a little on "St. Louis Blues" for the finale. Very very cool.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I Found this website for Benny Goodman Complete Discography: http://www.discoogle.com/wiki/Goodman%2C_Benny_Discography with catalog numbers, photo vinyls 78rpm, mono/stereo... Same Jo Stafford, Ella Fitzgerald, Harry James...
Bye!!!!

Josephine Cameron said...

cool. thanks!