'Ella' review, Sista's Place, Jazz in July

The whisper of America’s greatest song stylist Ella Fitzgerald’s name strikes a kinetic force — you want to move, dance, swing.

- RONALD E. SCOTT

Her distinct timbre was a fascinating jaunt of crazy improvised scats, perfect pitch, and joyful rhythms dancing in life's galaxy, encompassing the sun, moon, stars, clouds, and Milky Way. After all, she is known as the ‘First Lady of Song.”

Throughout her illustrious career and after her transition on June 15, 1996, Fitzgerald's life has been well-documented. However, her tumultuous adolescent years in Yonkers and Harlem left gaps with room for speculation.

The writer and playwright Diane Richards has integrated those speculative gaps into an imaginative, melodramatic novel, “Ella” (Amistad, 2024). Richards vividly constructs a castle of dreams where Ella could retreat as her life quickly spiraled down into the depths of Hades.

After her mother’s death, Ella and her younger sister Frannie were left with her stepfather, a big brute of a man who abused Ella, forcing her to run away, tearfully leaving her younger sister behind. She found refuge in Harlem at her aunt's apartment, where she became entangled in street life as a numbers runner while pursuing her dream of becoming a famous dancer. Unfortunately, her school truancy earned her a free bus ride to upstate New York to a girls’ reformatory school where the white matrons eagerly treated Black girls to a harsh dose of racism.

Never giving up hope and always resourceful, she eventually escaped and returned to Harlem, only to fall into a pit of homelessness. However, Ella remained confident and, in the midst of despair, one night, she found herself patiently waiting in her soiled clothes on a long line for a chance to show off her talent at Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater. That historic night in 1934 introduced the magical voice of Ella Fitzgerald, whose improvised style shattered the sound of modern music and redefined the Great American Songbook.