Music Features

Jazzmeia Horn on Ella Fitzgerald and scat singing

Music & Culture

Ella Fitzgerald's Signature Singing Style, Explained By Jazzmeia Horn

10:32am September 05, 2019

Ella Fitzgerald's talent for vocal improvisation made her one of the most important singers of all time. Watch Jazzmeia Horn explain what scat singing is and demonstrate Fitzgerald's trademark skill.

When you look at Ella Fitzgerald's clothes, fancy by any standard, you realize her delight made them something any of us could wear.

Music & Culture

The Joy Of Ella Fitzgerald's Accessible Elegance

9:11am September 05, 2019

by Holly Gleason

"I know I'm no glamour girl," Fitzgerald reportedly once said. But generations of fans inspired by her elegant style over the years, including writer Holly Gleason, beg to differ.

Hold music has a paradoxical purpose: Keep folks on the line, but don't draw their attention.

Music & Culture

The Many Requirements Of Hold Music, A Genre For No One

6:30am September 05, 2019

by Sophie Haigney

Hold music is camouflaged sound — it needs to obviously exist, while also barely doing so. Small wonder, then, that its biggest "hit" does none of that.

On her new album, Lana Del Rey (shown here in 2018) is at her most instantly compelling, fully committed to the messy alignments upon which her art is built.

Music & Culture

Lana Del Rey Lives In America's Messy Subconscious

2:45pm September 04, 2019

by Ann Powers

Over a decade, the Los Angeles-based singer has built a career — one that peaks on her new album — and a musical identity on the idea that greatness doesn't have to be emotionally tidy.

Music & Culture

Ella Fitzgerald, Ethel Waters And The Colors Of Sound

10:00am September 04, 2019

by Dwandalyn Reece

Critics, scholars and fans are often caught up in the idea of an ideal black sound, using vocal tone to measure racial identity. What becomes of the black female singer who defies this categorization?

An "Is it Ella or is it Memorex?" ad from 1973.

Music & Culture

The Voice That Shattered Glass

1:07pm September 03, 2019

by Michelle Mercer

In the 1970s, Fitzgerald became the face (and glass-shattering voice) of Memorex tapes. It fueled a career revival that extended her relevance and positioned her to pass the torch to a new generation.

Music & Culture

The World Of Ella Fitzgerald: A Turning The Tables Playlist

10:16am September 03, 2019

by Gwen Thompkins

Listen to a selection of marvelous music from the First Lady of Song, plus music by artists who have felt her influence.

Santana's cultural mash-up made a statement about Latin music that still reverberates to this day.

Music & Culture

Santana's Debut Album Turns 50 Years Old

1:37pm August 30, 2019

by Felix Contreras

Just a week after performing at Woodstock, Santana released its self-titled debut. Hear original members of the band recount its creation.

Marian Anderson's story reveals a longstanding legacy of black women amplifying black women's perspectives through the politics of concert performance.

Music & Culture

Lift Every Voice: Marian Anderson, Florence B. Price And The Sound Of Black Sisterhood

10:01am August 30, 2019

by Alisha Lola Jones

The famous contralto made a practice of amplifying black artists, especially black women artists, as seen through her collaborations with composer Florence B. Price.

Marian Anderson is known more for two events than for the talents that made them possible. But there is more to be told, and so she asks us to listen again for who and what we know her to be.

Music & Culture

Listening For Marian Anderson In The Past And Present

2:31pm August 29, 2019

by Shana L. Redmond

Anderson was an early inspiration for scholar Shana Redmond, who explores the places she still feels the diva's presence: an inscrutable photo, a scrap of silent film, a concert borne on her legacy.