Artist:Ella Fitzgerald w/Joe Pass
Song:Cry Me a River
Video:Duets in Hannover 1975
In the 1970s, Verve Records founder Norman Granz started a new label Pablo Records. And not surprisingly he signed some of his favorites from the old days like legendary singer Ella Fitzgerald. Obviously by this time Ella is older so she's not the same. But she was still recording and touring regularly with her own band led by Tommy Flanagan or with Duke Ellington. Granz decided to pair her with guitarist Joe Pass. I don't know if Ella was familiar with him but they recorded four albums and they toured to support the albums. So she must have enjoyed working with him. Ella first recorded Cry Me a River on the 1961 album Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie with Lou Levy on piano and Herb Ellis on guitar. Arthur Hamilton wrote Cry Me a River for the 1955 film Pete Kelly's Blues. Ella was in that film and was supposed to sing that song. But film producer, director and star Jack Webb dropped it from the film and gave it to his ex-wife Julie London. She scored a top ten pop hit and Cry Me a River became a jazz standard. Hamilton knew Julie from high school and she gave the song to Webb. Ella never recorded Cry Me a River with Pass. But they did perform it live on this 1975 concert in Hannover, Germany. Ella even mentioned that she had the lyrics handy in case she forgot the words. This concert was released on DVD in 2008. It's out of print but you can stream the entire concert for free on YouTube. Here's Ella Fitzgerald with Joe Pass performing Cry Me a River in Hannover, Germany 1975.
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