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Happy Fourth of July 2016 and the fight for democracy continues
(PRNewsFoto/Jockey)
Chris Van Etten symbolizes the American Can-Do Spirit or did he do it in vain because we are too lazy to protect Democracy?
Marine Chris Van Etten, who lost both legs in Afghanistan in July 2012, returned to his family’s Illinois home for the holidays, after spending half a year at a Californian rehabilitation center. He was met with racist graffiti on his family home which was particularly strange as he is Caucasian. Someone spray-painted racial slurs on and threw raw eggs at the Van Etten’s house, likely as the family slept. Van Etten was critically injured from a roadside bomb explosion, which killed his best friend. Lance Cpl. T.J. Baune from Minnesota while on night patrol June 13. Full Article
Chris Van Etten, a Marine fought for America, presumably to spread Democracy to Afghanistan. He fought to stop Al-Qaeda from spreading their terror attacks to the West. He fought to uphold our freedom that began on July 4th of 1776 when Americans declared their independence from the British Tax System which they perceived as a yoke.
A few weeks ago the British Population declared that they wish to be freed from the yoke of the EU. In a recent podcast, Mr. Krugman, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics in 2008, says that “Brexit” was “a terrible blow to the elite leadership in Europe,” explains how the people who are most likely to emerge on top as a result of the move are “the Donald Trumps of England” and talks about the way in which the E.U. is fundamentally at odds with democracy and the idea of a democratically elected government. Full article and podcast
The world is once again at a cross road.
Shall a few rule over the many and subjugate them or shall the many fight for freedom of information which demands the protection of freedom of speech? In the EU a few bureaucrats rule over the many without regards for their opinion, wishes, preferences. The European Parliament gave them the power to do so, without any recourse but extreme measures for the pubic. Is the Brexit a good idea? Many agree that it is not and that it is based on misinformation presented by the originally Australian Rupert Murdoch’s news empire. He also is working on his fascists aims in breaking Democracy in the US using Fox TV and since a few years the Wall Street Journal.
A book by Larry Bartels promoted by Princeton University explains what is going on in a succinct way:
“Unequal Democracy debunks many myths about politics in contemporary America, using the widening gap between the rich and the poor to shed disturbing light on the workings of American democracy. Larry Bartels shows the gap between the rich and poor has increased greatly under Republican administrations and decreased slightly under Democrats, leaving America grossly unequal.” The review goes on to say: “Bartels demonstrates that elected officials respond to the views of affluent constituents but ignore the views of poor people. He shows that Republican presidents in particular have consistently produced much less income growth for middle-class and working-poor families than for affluent families, greatly increasing inequality.”
All of us have to choose whether the Independence our forefathers fought for should regress because we are too passive and allow the fascists and hyper-wealthy, uncaring people to repurchase yokes that make our lives miserable. The Brexit shows what dis-information can do to a civilized country. Will it happen here in the US?
Historic Push for Brexit
The right to self determination has been attacked by European Bureaucrats and regular people are fighting back.
After the first and second world war the concept of political self determination has been touted all over Europe.
A wonderful site from Princeton University explains:
“At its most basic, the principle of self-determination can be defined as a community’s right to choose its political destiny. This can include choices regarding the exercise of sovereignty and independent external relations (external self-determination) or it can refer to the selection of forms of government (internal self-determination). The fundamental concept of self-determination-the right to choose-has its roots in the American and French revolutions in the eighteenth century with their emphasis on justice, liberty, and freedom from authoritarian rule. It found its most prominent expressions following World Wars I and II. In the aftermath of the First World War, self-determination was perceived to be Woodrow Wilson’s guiding principle for redrawing European and world maps to establish a new, just order. Following World War II, self-determination was enshrined in the United Nations Charter, initiating its transformation into a legal right under international law. In practice, this notion provided the justification and impetus for de-colonization and is often conflated with independence. More recently, the term is associated with struggles by groups within a state for greater autonomy or independence-primarily ethno-nationalist claims or counter-reactions to oppression or authoritarianism.” The report ends with this astute suggestion: “The key to resolving self-determination claims is to understand and address multiple layers of conflict in ways that promote the ideals of self-determination (the right to choose) as well as the related norms of human rights and territorial integrity. This necessitates accounting for the emotional appeal of national and local identity while avoiding oppressive political actions that foment violence and instability.” Full text go to: Princeton Edu
While freedom, whether political or economic, is closely tied with the concepts of self determination the EU and government officials around the world has been largely tone-deaf to the concerns of individual native groups of people during the past 20 years, as big business has pushed for ever more globalization. Uniform Rules and Regulations are definitely practical when expanding a business around the world. It is not convenient to have a companies march toward global success impeded upon by regional preferences, likes, and dislikes.
Older people are much more in tune with “the way things were.” And, when the world around them changes at ever increasing speed and they feel that their expectations are no longer fulfilled and they feel “left behind” they don’t like it. Older people are more inclined to vote than younger people.
During an interview with the BBC in November 2014, Merkel was clear about the fact that she didn’t really care about the internal rumblings in Britain. She explained her disregard for the internal issues inside England that she ignored the internal concerns of native Germans as well. She wanted to uphold her “European Ideals” at all cost. The English people were concerned about having their island flooded with refugees and the associated costs of social benefits paid out. Germans were concerned about that as well. The BBC wrote:
“At the European summit on 25 October Angela Merkel was asked about a possible UK move to change the treaties to reduce the number of migrants. “We have the basic principle of free movement,” said the German chancellor, “and we won’t meddle with that.” It was her way of saying free movement was not up for negotiation.” Full BBC Article
She pointed out that she had given the decision as to how to deal with the social benefits issues to an appointed group of the European courts. The refugees would swamp villages all over Germany based on her rulings, bureaucrats in Brussels would decide that the locals had to take in the refugees and that they needed to pay for their housing, food, education and safety at a local level. As it turns out this insensitivity toward locals has extreme consequences for Europe.
“And from that point on it will be more important for the German government to save these European fundamentals in comparison with keeping the United Kingdom inside.” An article in Der Spiegel stated on November 2, 2014. David Cameron was under extreme pressure within Britain, but when he asked for assistance on working on a compromise, Merkel thought it was better for Europe that Britain exits rather than for Europeans to change their regulations to deal with the refugee crisis. Back then Merkel decided that keeping the Schengen Agreement alive was worth the price to push Britain out of the EU. Full Article
A local newspaper reported: “The report, presented on Thursday by the Association of German Cities, found that a total number of 500,000 new arrivals would cost €7 billion overall, while 1.2 million refugees would cost €16 billion. That adds up to a maximum of €5.5 billion more than has already been promised to local governments by Chancellor Angela Merkel from federal funds, the association’s finance chief told reporters in Berlin. Merkel had promised €670 per month per refugee to Germany’s 16 states.” Full Article
Merkel’s eagerness to live up to Time Magazine’s image of her as the most powerful woman in the world seemed more important than keeping the European populations’ belief in the EU alive. Time naively encouraged her to ignore Europeans’ wishes. While Obama had trouble bringing 25,000 or 40,000 refugees into the US. Germany was swamped by 1,500,000 million. Full Article
The key to solving the problems of the Brexit, Grexit, and Europe and the never-ending refugee crisis is to find a healthy balance between protecting the freedoms of multi national mega companies with those of “Self Determination on a local level.”
Whenever the middle class was eroded due to financial hardships as it has been over the past 30 years in most Western Countries, super powers fell apart. The masses need to benefit in order for them to support a governmental structure. Rude suppression of their needs and especially ignoring their concerns, lack of communication with the masses through out history has resulted in chaos. Government officials are ever more reliant on corporate donations instead of the middle class and it shows. (Pew Study on Middle Income Trends.)
Is it true that economically free movement is beneficial, of course, especially if it pertains to a young and highly trained workforce. However this point has not been explained well to the local populations, financially and culturally burdened with the influx of refugees.
The Brexit would not have happened if people knew that there is a clear benefit to them. And the bureaucrats would have done better if instead of ignoring the natives with sweeping statements that had no relation to the individual lives of regular people would have studied the issues more carefully, and made adjustment that would have allowed regular people to benefit more obviously from the global economy they aim to support.
Putting an appointed governmental body above self determination of local neighborhoods, without providing any recourse and participation in the conversations is perceived as dictatorship. No matter how beneficial the bureaucrats think is is, and most importantly no matter how beneficial it actually is. Communication that goes both ways is a must for a stable government. Whenever “outsiders” gain too much power things fall apart. Big business unless it creates local jobs is considered an “outsider.” Education about how the economies work and related in simple language is the only way empires stay intact.
As we all know, of you don’t study history you are destined to repeat it.
In 476 C.E. Romulus Augustus, the last of the Roman emperors in the west, was overthrown by the Germanic leader Odoacer, who became the first Barbarian to rule in Rome. The order that the Roman Empire had brought to western Europe for 1000 years was no more. Really really fun full article here. When local people have to pay too much out to support foreigners and outsiders they tend to rebel.
Merkel now has put the faith of refugees into the hands of a Turk who wants to bring back the Ottoman Empire. Earlier this year death rates of refugees drowning in the Mediterranean again have surpassed 2,500 since people no longer want to risk being captured by the un-democratic Turk, Erdogan. This has not worked out very well and the Schengen Agreement that was so important to her when dealing with David Cameron’s attempt to actually listen to the British people has fallen by the way side anyway. Two years into the refugee crisis European Borders are being checked again anyway. The Guardian
German people are increasingly disgusted with the way the government ignores their “internal” needs and they are leaving the ruling parties in droves. In May 2016 Bloomberg reported: “Last week, the assembly held a debate in which Erdogan was labeled a “dictator” and Turkish threats to back out of the refugee accord should the EU refuse Turks visa-free travel were called blackmail.” Maybe Merkel and her EU bureaucrats would have done better if they had started to work through life changing issues with their people.
Unless the bureaucrats in Brussels wake up and start listening to their people and are working on dealing with the local people’s concerns, instead of working on the concerns of multi-national corporations without regard for the local countries Europe will go the way of the Roman Empire. The British people have spoken. Merkel’s lack of support of David Cameron and his need to deal with the internal issues of “Self Determination” had dire consequences. Big business would do well to start urging politicians to do their job. After all isn’t that what they pay them for?
Rolando Morales to appear at the Wente Vineyards outdoor patio wine tasting area tomorrow!
Tomorrow!
Saturday June 25, Wente Vineyards, Estate Winery and Tasting Room Patio, 5050 Arroyo Road, Livermore CA 94550, 1-5pm. Rolando does his first public Wente appearance. Enjoy a superb wine tasting on the lovely Wente Estate and enjoy Rolando on solo guitar and voice out on the patio among the lush grounds of the Estate Winery. www.wentevineyards.com/
Women share their thoughts. Enjoy!
Marmalade skies of Byholmsviken
"Northern light and its transparency is very important for the soul and art." Kalervo Karlsson
Marmalade skies of Åland Archipelago
Kalervo Karlsson shares his amazingly artistic photographs. “Nice to share with anyone who wish to see 
. ” He points out that you can see swans swimming if you look closely.
The artist and his beautiful wife Niina Karlsson of Fikorus.com fame, are on their yearly holiday to the northern lights where they restore their souls.
The Karlsson family summer in Byholmsviken, one of the few inhabited islands in Åland. It is easy to see how rooted their artistic inspiration is in their natural habitat.
Åland is located in the Baltic Sea, at the southern end of the Gulf of Bothnia between mainland Finland and Sweden. The Åland archipelago consists of around 6 500 islands, but only more than 60 are inhabited. Åland has its own taxation system, its own postage stamps, its own flag and Swedish as its only official language. For travelers, the Åland islands offer activities from adventurous island-hopping to boating, fishing, golfing and lots more. It’s easy to get from one island to another thanks to the many bridges and ferries, and Åland’s roads are terrific for cycling holidays.
If you wish to experience the Viking Country you can plan and book your own trip by here. Visit Finland
Roger uses his keen journalistic observations’ capabilities to bring life to his naturally lit photographs.
Stillman’s interest in photography dates back to his early childhood. At age 10 he recalls helping his granddad, Edgar Rogers, process film and produce black and white enlargements in an improvised home darkroom in back of a ranch house on Central Ridge above Peck, Id. on land that had been homesteaded by his great great grandfather.
After graduating from Lewiston High School, he moved to Tacoma, WA where he attained his BS Degree in communications and broadcast journalism from Pacific Lutheran University. Most of his early images were taken in Hawaii while on assignments for radio and television stations. During his US Navy tour of duty in DaNang, Vietnam, he was seldom without his camera. He also anchored three nightly television broadcasts and traveled to Saigon for temporary network assignments. Upon completion of his military obligation he returned to Oahu, HI, where he continued to enhance his photography skills.
Stillman later traveled extensively throughout the mainland in a career change into management and marketing of regional shopping centers for major developers. He has working knowledge of locations in every mainland state and Hawaii which has helped him in scouting appropriate locations for photo shoots.
Stillman has an affinity for black and white images and still keeps an extra camera loaded with black and white film because, “some images were just meant to be captured on black and white film. Even in our digital age there is still drama in black and white film that just can’t be replicated.”
Stillman’s studio is virtual and all his work is outdoors utilizing natural light. He has recently expanded into Wedding Photography. Photoshop is seldom used to matriculate any of his images.
He is a model agency approved photographer.
Roger’s online site showcases both his artistic and commercial images.
Rolando Morales, Carlos Reyes, Omar Ledezma, Celso Alberti in free concert in Belvedere Park Sunday Afternoon June 19
Sunday June 19, Belvedere Concerts-in-the-Park Presents: “Carlos Reyes and Friends,” the park adjacent to City Hall, City of Belvedere, approx 4-5:30pm. Rolando joins with his dear friend, the great Paraguayan harpist/violinist Carlos Reyes for a fun outdoor concert of Latin-Groove music featuring from Gregg Rolie and Dianne Reeves, the amazing bassist Gary Brown; from Brazil, the exciting drummer from Steve Winwood, Celso Alberti; from Venezuela, the Grammy-winning Latin percussionist/vocalist Omar Ledezma; from Paraguay, the thrilling violinist and harpist Carlos Reyes; and the powerful Rolando Morales on guitar, guitar synthesizer and vocals. Free! www.belvedereconcerts.org.
With TTIP corporations will no longer be liable for any damage they cause. Time to remind us what freedom means?
Would TTIP have passed during the times of the Declaration of Independence?
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
TTIP is against democracy and it creates a framework for oligarchy to reign supreme. Read this article for details.
Rolando Morales at Barone’s Restaurant on Saturday
Saturday June 11, Barone’s Restaurant, 475 St. John St., Pleasanton CA, approx 7:30-10:30pm. Rolando returns to one of Pleasanton’s premier dining establishments for his only appearance of the month at this venue. Enjoy exquisite meals, libations and Rolando’s vast repertoire in the intimate Cocktail Lounge. See www.baronespleasanton.com, (925) 426-0987.
Rolando at Maria Maria in Danville Tuesday, June 14
Tuesday June 14, Maria, Maria Cantina, 710 Camino Ramon Road, Danville CA, approx 6:30-9:30pm. After a month away, Rolando returns to Carlos Santana’s most elegant restaurant for Taco Tuesday. $1 tacos, baby! And Rolando on solo guitar and voice with his diverse repertoire performing out on the patio. (925) 820-2366, www.mariamariarestaurants.com.
Eric Swinderman and Denise Perrier will join Junius Courtney Big Band at Yoshi’s June 7th.
Artist Highlight – John Handy
"Music elevates the human spirit" -- John Handy
John Handy is a performer and composer who continues to sweep audiences into ecstasy with his vast range of creative, emotional, and technical inventiveness. With a superb knowledge and practical experience with music of several cultures, he fuses, with each selection, a musical genre that is coherent, provocative, logical, and enjoyable. As a singer, he brings a kind of storytelling narrative to the blues that is entertaining, educational, and moving; while his up tempo scat vocals could be compared to the best scat singers anywhere. He sings ballads with inventiveness that is rare among singers.
John Handy has written a number of highly acclaimed, original compositions. “Spanish Lady” and “If Only We Knew” both earned Grammy nominations for performance and composition. The popular jazz/blues/funk vocal crossover hit, “Hard Work“, brought him fame in another realm; while “Blues for Louis Jordan” displayed his talents in rhythm and blues. He has written many compositions of various sizes for both instrumental and vocal groups. His more extensive works include Concerto for Jazz Soloist and Orchestra which was premiered by the Parnassus Symphony Orchestra; and Scheme Number One which was lauded as a fine example of fixed and improvised music by the great composer, Igor Stravinsky.
John Handy at Lincoln Center in 2016
John Handy has performed in the world great concert halls including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Berlin Philharmonic Auditorium, San Francisco Opera House, Davies Hall; the major performance venues including Tanglewood, Saratoga (NY), and Wolf Trap; and the pre-eminent jazz festivals including the Monterey Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, Playboy Jazz Festival, Chicago Jazz Festival, Pacific Coast Jazz Festival; and international jazz festivals at Montreaux (Switzerland), Antibe (France), Berlin (Germany), Cannes (France), Yubari (Japan), Miyasaki (Japan), among others. His album and CD covers read like a who’s who of record labels – Columbia, ABC Impulse, Warner Brothers, Milestone, Roulette, Boulevard, Quartet (Harbor), MPS Records and many others.
His most recent recordings are “John Handy Live at Yoshi’s” and “John Handy’s Musical Dreamland” (available only on Boulevard Records, Stuttgart, Germany), “Centerpiece“, and “Excursion in Blue“. Some of his earlier works have been reissued on CD – “John Handy: Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival“, “The Second John Handy Album“, “New View“, and “Projections“. He recorded with Sonny Stitt, and recorded nine albums with Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop.
His album and CD covers read like a who’s who of record labels – Columbia, ABC Impulse, Warner Brothers, Milestone, Roulette, Boulevard, Quartet (Harbor), MPS Records and many others.
For the best and most updated information visit John Handy’s website: www.johnhandy.com
Artist Highlight – Ella Fitzgerald
“Music comes out of her. When she walks down the street, she leaves notes.” — Jimmy Rowles
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald is considered one of the very best singer in the world. She is admired by her fans, young and old alike and she inspires her fellow artists and musicians. She performed at top venues all over the world. Her audiences were as diverse as her vocal range. They were rich and poor, made up of all races, all religions and all nationalities. In fact, many of them had just one binding factor in common – they all loved her.
Dubbed The First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald was the most popular female jazz singer in the United States for more than half a century. In her lifetime, she won 13 Grammy awards and sold over 40 million albums.
Her voice was flexible, wide-ranging, accurate and ageless. She could sing sultry ballads, sweet jazz and imitate every instrument in an orchestra. She worked with all the jazz greats, from Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Nat King Cole, to Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie and Benny Goodman.
Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald sing Cole Porter
She toured all over the world, sometimes performing two shows a day in cities hundreds of miles apart. In 1974, Ella spent a legendary two weeks performing in New York with Frank Sinatra and Count Basie. She was inducted into the Down Beat magazine Hall of Fame, and received Kennedy Center Honors for her continuing contributions to the arts. 1958 the first Grammy awards were held and Ella Fitzgerald won Best Female Vocal Performance for The Irving Berlin Songbook (album) and Best Individual Jazz Performance for The Duke Ellington Songbook (album) 1959 Grammy awards, Best Female Vocal Performance for But Not For Me and Best Individual Jazz Performance for Ella Swings Lightly.
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born in Newport News, Va. on April 25, 1917. Her father, William, and mother, Temperance (Tempie), parted ways shortly after her birth. Together, Tempie and Ella went to Yonkers, N.Y, where they eventually moved in with Tempie’s longtime boyfriend Joseph Da Silva. Ella’s half-sister, Frances, was born in 1923 and soon she began referring to Joe as her stepfather. Their apartment was in a mixed neighborhood, where Ella made friends easily. She considered herself more of a tomboy, and often joined in the neighborhood games of baseball. Sports aside, she enjoyed dancing and singing with her friends, and some evenings they would take the train into Harlem and watch various acts at the Apollo Theater.
In 1934 Ella’s name was pulled in a weekly drawing at the Apollo and she won the opportunity to compete in Amateur Night. Ella went to the theater that night planning to dance, but when the frenzied Edwards Sisters closed the main show, Ella changed her mind. “They were the dancingest sisters around,” Ella said, and she felt her act would not compare. Once on stage, faced with boos and murmurs of “What’s she going to do?” from the rowdy crowd, a scared and disheveled Ella made the last minute decision to sing. She asked the band to play Hoagy Carmichael’s Judy, a song she knew well because Connee Boswell’s rendition of it was among Tempie’s favorites. Ella quickly quieted the audience, and by the song’s end they were demanding an encore. She obliged and sang the flip side of the Boswell Sister’s record, The Object of My Affections. Off stage, and away from people she knew well, Ella was shy and reserved. She was self-conscious about her appearance, and for a while even doubted the extent of her abilities. On stage, however, Ella was surprised to find she had no fear. She felt at home in the spotlight. “Once up there, I felt the acceptance and love from my audience,” Ella said. “I knew I wanted to sing before people the rest of my life.” In the band that night was saxophonist and arranger Benny Carter. Impressed with her natural talent, he began introducing Ella to people who could help launch her career. In the process he and Ella became lifelong friends, often working together.
In January 1935 she won the chance to perform for a week with the Tiny Bradshaw band at the Harlem Opera House. It was there that Ella first met drummer and bandleader Chick Webb. Although her voice impressed him, Chick had already hired male singer Charlie Linton for the band. He offered Ella the opportunity to test with his band when they played a dance at Yale University. If the kids like her she can stay, Chick announced.
Shortly afterward, Ella began singing a rendition of the song, (If You Can’t Sing It) You Have to Swing It. During this time, the era of big swing bands was shifting, and the focus was turning more toward bebop. Ella played with the new style, often using her voice to take on the role of another horn in the band. You Have to Swing It was one of the first times she began experimenting with scat singing, and her improvisation and vocalization thrilled fans. Throughout her career, Ella would master scat singing, turning it into a form of art. In 1938, at the age of 21, Ella recorded a playful version of the nursery rhyme, A-Tisket, A-Tasket. The album sold 1 million copies, hit number one, and stayed on the pop charts for 17 weeks. On June 16, 1939, Ella mourned the loss of her mentor Chick Webb. In his absence the band was renamed Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Band, and she took on the overwhelming task of bandleader.
Ella Fitzgerald sings April in Paris with her husband Ray Brown on bass
While on tour with Dizzy Gillespie’s band in 1946, Ella fell in love with bassist Ray Brown. The two were married and eventually adopted a son, whom they named Ray, Jr. At the time, Ray was working for producer and manager Norman Granz on the “Jazz at the Philharmonic” tour. Norman saw that Ella had what it took to be an international star, and he convinced Ella to sign with him. It was the beginning of a lifelong business relationship and friendship.
Under Norman’s management, Ella joined the Philharmonic tour, worked with Louis Armstrong on several albums and began producing her infamous songbook series. From 1956-1964, she recorded covers of other musicians’ albums, including those by Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, the Gershwins, Johnny Mercer, Irving Berlin, and Rodgers and Hart. The series was wildly popular, both with Ella’s fans and the artists she covered.
“I never knew how good our songs were until I heard Ella Fitzgerald sing them,” Ira Gershwin
Ella Fitzgerald on the Dean Martin Show
Ella also began appearing on television variety shows. She quickly became a favorite and frequent guest on numerous programs, including “The Bing Crosby Show,” “The Dinah Shore Show,” “The Frank Sinatra Show,” “The Ed Sullivan Show,” “The Tonight Show,” “The Nat King Cole Show,” “The Andy Willams Show” and “The Dean Martin Show.”
Ella Fitzgerald received so many awards that they are too numerous to mention in this article, some of the highlights which included:
• 13 Grammy awards
• A-Tisket, A-Tasket entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame
• Kennedy Center for Performing Arts’ Medal of Honor Award
• The Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award
• Pied Piper Award
• American Society of Composers
• Women at Work organization’s Bicentennial Woman
• Authors and Publishers’ highest honor
• George And Ira Gershwin Award for Outstanding Achievement
• National Medal of Art
• Honorary chairmanship of the Martin Luther King Foundation
• Received first ASCAP award in recognition of an artist
• Honorary doctorate degrees from Dartmouth, Talladega, Howard and Yale Universities
• Peabody Award for Outstanding Contributions in Music
• The first Society of Singers Lifetime Achievement Award, named “Ella” in her honor
• NAACP Award for lifetime achievement
Ella continued to work as hard as she had early on in her career, despite the ill effects on her health. She toured all over the world, sometimes performing two shows a day in cities hundreds of miles apart. In 1974, Ella spent a legendary two weeks performing in New York with Frank Sinatra and Count Basie. Still going strong five years later, she was inducted into the Down Beat magazine Hall of Fame, and received Kennedy Center Honors for her continuing contributions to the arts.
Outside of the arts, Ella had a deep concern for child welfare. Though this aspect of her life was rarely publicized, she frequently made generous donations to organizations for disadvantaged youths, and the continuation of these contributions was part of the driving force that prevented her from slowing down.
To learn more or to watch a few videos about Ella Fitzgerald major performances visit: www.ellafitzgerald.com
Ella Fitzgerald started a non-profit organization in 1993 that is still going strong. http://www.ellafitzgeraldfoundation.org/news.html
Artist Highlight – Thelonious Monk
Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire (including his classic works Round Midnight and Blue Monk). He is often regarded as a founder of bebop, although his playing style evolved away from the form.
“Everyone is influenced by everybody but you bring it down home the way you feel it.”
Thelonious Monk
Round Midnight
His compositions and improvisations are full of dissonant harmonies and angular melodic twists, and are impossible to separate from Monk’s unorthodox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of silences and hesitations. Round Midnight is a 1944 jazz standard by jazz musician Thelonious Monk. It is thought that Monk originally composed it sometime between 1940 and 1941, however Harry Colomby claims that Monk may have written an early version around 1936 (at the age of 19) with the title Grand Finale. This song has also been performed by many artists such as Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea and Hermeto Pascoal.
Blue Monk
Bebop or bop is a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos and improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody. It was developed in the early and mid-1940s. It first surfaced in musicians’ argot some time during the first two years of the Second World War. Hard bop later developed from bebop combined with blues and gospel music. Melodically the predominating contour of improvised bebop is that it tends to ascend in arpeggios and descend in scale steps. While a stereotype, an examination of Charlie Parker solos will show that this in fact is a key quality of the music. Ascending arpeggios are frequently of diminished seventh chords, which function as 7b9 chords of various types. Typical scales used in bebop include the bebop major, minor and dominant (see below), the harmonic minor and the chromatic. The half-whole diminished scale is also occasionally used, and in the music of Thelonious Monk especially, the whole tone scale.
Charlie Parker, Well You Needn’t
He was born on October 10, 1917 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the son of Thelonious and Barbara Monk, two years after a sister named Marian. A younger brother, Thomas, was born a couple of years later. His parents moved to New York when young Thelonious was five years of age. A year or so later he was picking out tunes on the family piano. Monk started playing the piano at the age of nine; although he had some formal training and eavesdropped on his sister’s piano lessons, he was essentially self-taught. By the time he was 12 he was accompanying his mother at the local Baptist church as well as playing at “rent parties”, those informal gatherings where tenants who were behind with their payments to the landlord would hold a party in the hope that visitors would contribute to the debt clearance!
Thelonious Monk started his first job touring as an accompanist to an evangelist. He was inspired by the Harlem stride pianists (James P. Johnson was a neighbor) and vestiges of that idiom can be heard in his later unaccompanied solos. However, when he was playing in the house band of Minton’s Playhouse during 1940-1943, Monk was searching for his own individual style. Private recordings from the period find him sometimes resembling Teddy Wilson but starting to use more advanced rhythms and harmonies.
He worked with Lucky Millinder a bit in 1942 and was with the Cootie Williams Orchestra briefly in 1944 (Williams recorded Monk’s “Epistrophy” in 1942 and in 1944 was the first to record “‘Round Midnight”), but it was when he became Coleman Hawkins’ regular pianist that Monk was initially noticed. He cut a few titles with Hawkins (his recording debut) and, although some of Hawkins’ fans complained about the eccentric pianist, the veteran tenor could sense the pianist’s greatness.
Fortunately, Alfred Lion of Blue Note believed in him and recorded Monk extensively during 1947-1948 and 1951-1952. He also recorded for Prestige during 1952-1954, had a solo set for Vogue in 1954 during a visit to Paris, and appeared on a Verve date with Bird and Diz.
In 1955, he signed with Riverside and producer Orrin Keepnews persuaded him to record an album of Duke Ellington tunes and one of standards so his music would appear to be more accessible to the average jazz fan. In 1956 came the classic Brilliant Corners album, but it was the following year when the situation permanently changed. Monk was booked into the Five Spot for a long engagement and he used a quartet that featured tenor saxophonist John Coltrane. Finally, the critics and then the jazz public recognized Thelonious Monk’s greatness during this important gig. He came to Europe to play at the Paris Jazz Fair and played in the audiences at the Salle Pleyel and the Club St. Germain, joining in the loud applause for this true jazz original. Towards the end of the Fifties, with riverside records setting up all manner of interesting studio sessions, he formed his own quartet, first with tenor saxist John Coltrane, then Johnny Griffin and, in 1959, Charlie Rouse. It was Rouse who probably had more experience of Monk’s music than any other horn player, for Charlie remained with Thelonious from 1959 until 1970. In the autumn of 1967 Monk’s quartet was booked to take part in a touring extravaganza under the title “Jazz Expo ’67”; along with men such as Dave Brubeck, Herbie Mann etc. It was decided to enlarge Thelonious’s working group of Charlie Rouse, Larry Gales and Ben Riley with the addition of some additional frontline players and the so-called Nonet made its appearance in the Odeon Hammersmith, in London, just a week before the Salle Pleyel date presented here.
Thelonious Monk, who was criticized by observers who failed to listen to his music on its own terms, suffered through a decade of neglect before he was suddenly acclaimed as a genius; his music had not changed one bit in the interim. In fact, one of the more remarkable aspects of Monk’s music was that it was fully formed by 1947 and he saw no need to alter his playing or compositional style in the slightest during the next 25 years. After his death it seemed as if everyone was doing Thelonious Monk tributes. There were so many versions of Round Midnight that it was practically a pop hit! He played with the Giants of Jazz during 1971-1972, but then retired in 1973. He passed away on February 17, 1982.
By Ranie Smith