The 1960s were not kind to mainstream jazz artists. Due to rock and roll and jazz fusion, acoustic jazzers either went into the world of avant garde or created kind of détente with pop music. Ella Fitzgerald walked a balance with the latter, with this 1969 concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival in the wake of her album Sunshine of Your Love, which had the First Lady of Swing taking on material by The Beatles, Burt Bacharach and even Eric Clapton. Man’s gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and jazz artists gotta adapt or they die…
She’s with her working trio of Tommy Flanagan/p, Frank De La Rosa/b and Ed Thigpen/dr, and deftly mixes standards like “I Won’t Dance” and “That Old Black Magic” with Top 40 material such as “This Girl’s In Love With You”. She throws in a KC swinger of “Well Alright, Okay, You Win” that hits it just right, as well as a few obscurities such as “Useless Landscape” and “A Place For Lovers”. She actually sounds pretty convincing on “Hey Jude” while “Sunshine of Your Love” is an absolute hoot. Her “Scat Medley” is spot on as well, creating a set that pleases the long time fans and perks the ear of the suede leathered kids in the audience. Surprisingly successful!