For Release: May 21 , 2007
For more than half a century, Ella Fitzgerald packed houses around the world with her peerless delivery of ballads, pop standards and straight-ahead jazz. It would be impossible to overestimate her influence on the next generation s of musicians and singers.Many of them -- including Patti Austin, Natalie Cole, Quincy Jones, Ruben Studdard, Nancy Wilson, Stevie Wonder\~and Wynonna, to name a few -- commemorated what would have been Ella's 90th birthday (April 25) with an all-star tribute concert at the University of Southern California's Galen Center. That performance airs Wednesday, June 6 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET1 on Great Performances "We Love Ella! A Tribute to the First Lady of Song . "
Cole and Jones host the concert , which also features performances by George Duke, Jon Faddis, Dave Koz, Ledisi, Monica Mancini, James Moody, Take 6, The USC Thornton Symphony and Jazz Orchestra and Lizz Wright. The program also includes interviews, anecdotes, a slideshow and never-before-released vocal tracks by Fitzgerald .
Great Performances "We Love Ella! A Tribute to the First Lady of Song" is a co-production of WNET/New York, Verve, Concord Music Group and University of Southern California Athletic Department. More information about KET programming and education services, as well as how to support KET, can be found at www.ket.org.