Ella Fitzgerald -- Billie Holiday
 

Discuss. Compare and contrast.

Ella...scat?
Billie...no scat?

Ella no drugs?
Billie all drugs.

Ella is one of the most brilliant vocal technicians to ever grab a mic. She blows an 8 chorus scat solo on "How High The Moon" where the band drops out, no pitch reference, she changes keys twice, and then hits the final shout chorus with the band dropping in, perfectly in key. That's an amazing feat. Ella thought about voice like Louis Armstrong thought about the trumpet. She was convinced it could do more, be more powerful anyone had used it before, and she set about proving it.

.

Billie Holiday was, in many ways, the pre-cursor to the rock star artist of the 1960s. Her self-destruction was real, but it was also cultivated as part of her image. She was pathos, the tortured artist, and it adds a poignant beauty to everything she sang. Take a listen to Bing Crosby singing "I'll Be Seeing You", it's wartime sugar-pop sap, and you know that whoever he's singing to will be coming home, Bing's just waiting it out for a while. Then listen to Holiday sing it, and it is a heart-wrenching ballad - whoever she's singing to is gone, and Billie is going to be haunted by them every moment of her life.

"Strange Fruit" is one of the bravest things an artist has ever done.

That is one of the most powerful songs ever recorded.

Yes.

I love them both but Ella always makes me smile when i listen to her.
There is always a bit of sadness when i listen to Billie, because I always think of the tough life she had.
I think I was about 14 or 15 when i read her auto-biography.

Ella: Scat

Billie: Smak.

i sometimes have trouble believing the sounds inga swearingen makes aren't synth