Ella Fitzgerald’s version of “Mack The Knife” is from her highly acclaimed Ella in Berlin, released in 1960. Fitzgerald had long been established as one of the leading jazz performers since her debut in the 1930s with Chick Webb’s band. She had mastered bebop, perfected scatting, and had gone through a creative change in 1956 when she started recording songs by great American songwriters like Cole Porter. Those skills all came together on the night in Berlin when she improvised the lyrics to “Mack The Knife” because she had forgotten them. Fitzgerald’s swift and mellifluous scatting plus the show that night in Berlin was another path to hip-hop, as she clearly mimicked horns and made up words years before the human beat box and freestyling. The music industry recognized the importance of the song and album by granting Fitzgerald two Grammys for Best Vocal Performance Album, Female and Best Vocal Performance Single Record Or Track, Female in 1961. Ella in Berlin: Mack The Knife was reissued in 1993 with four bonus tracks. The Recording Academy entered the album into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 because of its historical significance. The Moment Of Truth: Ella At The Coliseum, which is a never-heard recording of her 1967 concert at the Oakland Coliseum, was released in February.
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