A new musical about jazz icon Ella Fitzgerald is in the works from Anna Deavere Smith (Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Notes From the Field). Titled ELLA: An American Miracle, the work will portray Fitzgerald at different points in her life, drawing from her own songbook for the score. The musical is holding a work session August 25-September 21, which will culminate in a private industry presentation.

Starring in the work session are Tony winner and three-time Grammy winner Dee Dee Bridgewater (The Wiz, Lady Day) as the ghost of Ella and Charity Angél Dawson (Chicago, Waitress) as Young Ella, along with Saint Aubyn, Angela Birchett, J. Bernard Calloway, Milanis Clark, Crystal Joy, Ken Marks, Jhardon Dishon Milton, Joshua Morgan, Rance Nix, Okwui Okpokwasili, Nick Rehberger, Jessica Rush, Deandre Sevon, and Erica Sweany.

“Composers wanted Ella Fitzgerald to sing their songs because listening to her, they knew how their songs were supposed to be sung,” says Smith in a statement. “A jazz singer, a scat singer, she also famously both sang and defined the American songbook. To say she had humble beginnings is a profound understatement. She sang America through some of its most discordant times. She was America’s love song. She was an American miracle.”

The project is directed by Philip Wm. McKinley (The Boy From Oz) and choreographed by Ellenore Scott (Funny Girl, Mr. Saturday Night). Jazz musician Mark G. Meadows is music directing, with costumes set to be designed by Ann Hould-Ward. ShowTown Theatricals serves as general manager, with Steve J. Scarduzio and John Hart producing.

Read more on Playbill

Dee Dee Bridgewater on TKA

When, during the pandemic, Lizz Wright found the time to listen back to some previous live dates, she was particularly struck by a show recorded in Berlin, the final date of her 2018 European summer tour. Produced by Christian Ulbrich and the first album to be released on Wright’s own label, Blues & Greens Records, Holding Space features Wright and her exceptional band – Chris Bruce (guitar), Bobby Ray Sparks II (keys), Ben Zwerin (bass), Ivan Edwards (drums) – performing 11 songs from that Berlin date. Six are taken from Wright’s most recent studio album, Grace (2017), including the deeply moving Rose Cousins-penned title track, the warm embrace of her original co-write with Maia Sharp ‘All The Way Here’, plus the great song of belonging, ‘Seems I’m Never Tired Loving You’, penned by Aretha Franklin’s sister, Carolyn. We’re also treated to a brace of songs from Wright’s 2015 album Freedom & Surrender – the spirited country blues ‘The New Game’ and the sudden, ecstatic outbursts of ‘Somewhere Down The Mystic’ – the sublime traditional gospel song ‘Walk With Me Lord’ from her 2003 Verve debut Salt, and the incredibly powerful ‘No More Will I Run’ written by Wright’s great friend, the brilliant Toshi Reagon. With stunning recorded sound, a wonderfully attentive audience, and an irresistible communion between singer and band, it’s the most transporting and beautiful album I’ve heard this year.

Read the review on Jazzwise

Lizz Wright on TKA

Walter Trout
Ride
(Provogue)
4 out of 5 stars

Even in the notoriously unsparing blues world, Walter Trout has had a bumpy, at times life-threatening, career. And it has been a long one.

The now 71-year-old guitarist/vocalist and songwriter has been playing professionally since his late teens, eventually supporting well-respected roots acts like Big Mama Thornton and John Lee Hooker. But a high-profile stint in Canned Heat starting in 1981 generated international recognition as one of the best blues rocking guitarists of his generation, along with kick-starting him on a never-ending road of grueling one-night stands propped up by drug and alcohol abuse. A five-year run working with the legendary John Mayall further spotlighted his scorching talents, after which he went solo.

That was in 1990 and he hasn’t stopped for long since, logging thousands of road miles along with churning out 29 albums. The life of near-constant travel and various substance abuses came to a head in 2013 when Trout’s liver failed. A transplant a year later created more health complications, but trooper that he is, the appropriately titled Battle Scars appeared in 2015, followed by the just as aptly named Survivor Blues in 2019.

He’s back for album number thirty and if anyone thinks his health issues have mellowed him, one spin of this hour-long set removes any doubts. From the opening swamp stomp of “Ghosts,” a song about old, often bad habits that won’t let go, to the sweet, closing love ballad “Destiny,” Trout sings and plays with the gutsy passion and emotional intensity of a guy who has persevered over obstacles that would have derailed other musicians. 

Read the full review on American Songwriter

Walter Trout on TKA

How exciting to see so many all-star jazz greats performing together. The SFJAZZ Collective is a talented cohort of artists who perform arrangements of works by modern composers and also newly commissioned pieces by each member of the band.

In 2020, the Collective was scheduled to perform an in-person Tiny Desk concert, but it was canceled due to the pandemic. We are still working to make that happen — but in the meantime, let’s enjoy this uplifting Tiny Desk (home) concert, recorded in The Joe Henderson Lab at SFJAZZ, a large, sunny venue that serves as both a live performance space and as the Collective’s rehearsal space.

Earlier this year, the ensemble released New Works Reflecting the Moment (Live from the SFJAZZ Center 2021), an album addressing racial injustices, the ongoing pandemic and political polarization. In this concert, the musicians perform three songs from that project. “Ay Bendito” was written by tenor saxophonist David Sánchez, and its title is slang for “oh my God” or “aw man”; it’s also subtitled “The Struggle Continues.”

Written to reflect the present moment, especially the isolation and social upheaval many of us continue to endure, “Mutuality” by tenor saxophonist Chris Potter was inspired by a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quote that reads, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”

Watch the full video on NPR

SFJAZZ Collective on TKA