Pure Love: The Voice of Ella Fitzgerald

Pure Love: The Voice of Ella Fitzgerald

Documentary, Music | Feb. 19, 2017

Ella Fitzgerald's voice is a phenomenon and unrivalled to this day. She had the perfect pitch and perfect intonation. Ella's voice spanned three octaves, her phrasing seemed effortless. There is almost no style of music, in which she did not excel, and her numerous - now legendary - recordings of the 'Great American Songbook' with pieces of US composers such as George and Ira Gershwin, Harald Arlen, Cole Porter or Duke Ellington, remained a benchmark for the "right" interpretation of those songs for generations of singers. In the film the focus will be on the voice of Ella Fitzgerald. We want to unravel the secret of her voice through many different people (musicians, singers, critics etc.), who will tell about what impact her voice had on them and still has. We want to learn more about Ella´s life to find out what made her sing like she did and only she could.

Pure Love: The Voice of Ella Fitzgerald

Documentary, Music | Feb. 19, 2017

Pure Love: The Voice of Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald's voice is a phenomenon and unrivalled to this day. She had the perfect pitch and perfect intonation. Ella's voice spanned three octaves, her phrasing seemed effortless. There is almost no style of music, in which she did not excel, and her numerous - now legendary - recordings of the 'Great American Songbook' with pieces of US composers such as George and Ira Gershwin, Harald Arlen, Cole Porter or Duke Ellington, remained a benchmark for the "right" interpretation of those songs for generations of singers. In the film the focus will be on the voice of Ella Fitzgerald. We want to unravel the secret of her voice through many different people (musicians, singers, critics etc.), who will tell about what impact her voice had on them and still has. We want to learn more about Ella´s life to find out what made her sing like she did and only she could.
Producers Tag/Traum Filmproduktion, SWR/Arte
Original title Pure Love: The Voice of Ella Fitzgerald
Directors Katja Duregger
Writers Katja Duregger

Cast

Ella Fitzgerald

as Self (archive footage)

Jim Blackman

as Self - Ella Fitzgerald's friend and road manager

Theo Bleckmann

as Self

Regina Carter

as Self

Will Friedwald

as Self - music critic

Tad Hershorn

as Self - archivist, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University

Sheila Jordan

as Self

Dianne Reeves

as Self

Judith Tick

as Self - professor of music history, Northeastern University