Ella Fitzgerald – Savoy Truffle
Ella Fitzgerald
Listen/Download – Ella Fitzgerald – Savoy Truffle
Greetings all.
I hope you’re all well.
We gather here at the beginning of another groovy week at the Funky16Corners blog, and I have a couple of announcements to make before proceeding.
First and foremost I should remind you that next Monday, 6/5 will mark the beginning of the 2011 Funky16Corners Pledge Drive. This time out we’ll be doing another ‘virtual’ Allnighter, with contributions from some of the finest selectors/collectors that I know.
There’ll be hours of new mixes to pull down, covering funk, soul, rock steady, and basically everything you’re used to hearing here at the Corners.
For those of you that also stop by my other blog Iron Leg, there’ll be some treats there too, so all of the Funky16Corners Blogcasting Nerve Center and Record Vault bases will be covered.
The tune I bring you today is yet another example (there have been many in the 6+ year history of the blog) wherein an old(er) school jazzer steps into a more contemporary setting in order to maintain relevance and perhaps approach a younger audience.
As you might imagine, some of these efforts proved to be downright embarrassing, as any record collector that’s ever prowled a flea market can attest, but sometimes, depending on the setting and the performer, things turned out very well indeed.
The record I bring you today is one of the good ones (natch).
I’ll assume that most of you know something about Miss Ella Fitzgerald, if only a vague acquaintance with her status as one of the greatest of all jazz singers with a career that started in the swing era, and lasted into the early 90s (she passed in 1996).
By the time she recorded the LP ‘Ella’ in 1969, she had dabbled in things groovy (her swinging take on ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ appeared in this very space a few years back) but never to the extremes shown here.
‘Ella’ was composed entirely of contemporary soul, rock and pop material, with compositions by Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, Burt Bacharach, Smokey Robinson and the Beatles.
Speaking of the Beatles, the tune I bring you today is her cover of ‘Savoy Truffle’, a George Harrison composition from ‘The Beatles’ (aka the White Album).
Inspired by his friend Eric Clapton’s craving for chocolate (no doubt itself inspired by other addictions), the song is a tour through an elaborate box of chocolates ending of course with the admonition that ‘You’ll have to have them all pulled out after the Savoy Truffle’ (a lyric I never heard correctly before hearing this version!).
Ella’s version is very cool, opening with electric piano, and a horn section not too far removed from the Beatles’ original.
‘Savoy Truffle’ and ‘Get Ready’ (both 45s from the ‘Ella’ album) have both gotten frequent dance floor spins.
It is very groovy indeed, and I hope you dig it.
Peace
Larry
Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recr events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.
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Killer!!!
Peace and SOUL…
Hello,
I just came across your site about a week ago and have been listening to your podcasts. They are fantastic. Keep up the good work.
Jesse
Thanks Jesse!