Ella Fitzgerald's 1969 Performance Is a Hidden Gem: You Can Watch it on YouTube!

By: Erin Lockett | March 8th, 2023

On June 22, 1969 Ella Fitzgerald performed a historic set at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland. Ella’s instrumentalists made a bold impression, appearing on the stage one at a time to give us a taste of the essence of their musical roles. This began with just the lively personality of Ed Thigpen on the drums. After playing what sounded like foreshadowing of the upcoming melody on his drum set, Thigpen layed down the rhythmic roots of the song that soon followed. Ed was joined by Frank de la Rosa on the upright bass, showing off his melodic side atop Ed’s beat. Next entered Tommy Flanagan who took his seat at the piano and showcased the harmonic basis of the tune in his left hand while riffing in his right.

Ella's Enchanting Introduction

Ella appeared like a shooting star floating onto the stage and commanded every eye and ear in the venue to be present, saying, “Thank you. Thank you!” with visceral humility. The track list lacked Ella’s famous numbers such as “How High The Moon,” “Summertime,” and "Mack the Knife.” There is something about an artist skipping out on their famous songs that makes a performance feel more intimate, like a private seat in a jam session of the band’s favorites. Some of the songs were however pulled from the setlist of “Sunshine of Your Love,” a live album Ella recorded the previous year in San Francisco in 1968, including the title track itself which Ella and her band performed as their tenth song of the night.

"Give Me The Simple Life"

The quartet played a menagerie of songs, each their own animal with unique energy. The long trailing introduction turned out to be the start to the set’s opening number, “Give Me The Simple Life” performed at a medium swing tempo. This song is a sweet story of desiring simple pleasures of life without a need for excess or opulence. After the extended introduction, the tune was performed in a popular American song form with Ella singing the melody. The band performed the head with a tag at the end of the last A section. They then began the form again with Ella altering the melody, using higher pitches and a wider range of dynamics to build the energy. There was another tag at the end of the first A section of the tune. These were the perfect moments to highlight piano player Tommy Flanagan, who filled these tags–that were empty of vocalization– with expressive bursts of right-handed riffs. Fitzgerald continued blending creative melodic choices and scat singing. The band played the whole form again, adding a turnaround on the last A section. The instrumentation supported Ella’s centerpiece vocals and storytelling. The song was performed without any formal solo section.

"I Love You Madly"

Later in the set, Ella said, “For the Duke Ellington fans!” before breaking into, “I Love You Madly” with her warm, kind voice singing the melody and often speaking between sections. The song was performed with the last four bars of the head as an intro before moving into a classic AABA form at a medium swing tempo. After the first head, Ed Thigpen broke into a motown-inspired drum beat. Ella said, “This is the way we think they might sing it nowadays with the modern sound.” This change in drum beat rippled into the approach of every other instrument, including Ella’s rhythmic, dynamic, pitch and tonal choices. The group performed another pass of the AAB sections with this new groove before switching back to the original medium swing groove to play the final A section. This final section was repeated with a ritardando on the last bar to close the song.

Encore, Encore!

The group closed the night with two encores. The first was a fully improvised tune. It began with the piano, drums and bass all involved in an excited conversation, following each other for strong, punchy accents. The drums felt influenced by a bebop sound, occasionally dropping bombs and keeping time on the ride cymbal. But Ed Thigpen was also turning the beat around and experimenting with a variety of rhythmic accentuations and subdivisions. This number showed off Ella's reverence of every instrument in the ecosystem that is a jazz band and their key function as the band dropped out allowing her to scat a cappella for multiple minutes. Fitzgerald found herself expressing sounds akin to drums, focusing on rhythmic beats and less on pitch. Then, warming up and rounding out her tone, Ella transformed into an acoustic bass, before finally bringing in multiple musical lyrical references including, “Anything Goes” amongst others, to show her adoration for the voice as an important instrument, respectively. Ella expressed all of this while simultaneously cuing the rhythm for Tommy Flanagan’s piano chords with her hands.

Endless Reverence and Respect for Ella

She was not only a fantastic vocalist, but also a communicative band leader. The last was a song called, “A House Is Not A Home” by Burt Bacharach. Ella wanted to end the night softly with this sweet ballad, like a palette cleanser to the many creative flavors of the former number. Ella Fitzgerald and her band displayed not only musical magnificence, but also a beautiful down-to-earth energy. From Ella’s respect of the crowd’s language, being sure to wish them, “Bonsior,” at the beginning of the night, to her insistent gratitude for the listeners’ love, Ella exuded a deep humility that not many singers carry the way she does. It was an honor to experience this performance and all the artistry and humanity within it.