Radio Review: 26 April
In recent weeks, this column has become something of a whistlestop tour of my record collection. First it was Wally Stott, then it was Tom Lehrer, and now it’s Ella Fitzgerald. It’s not my fault. It’s all down to radio types making programmes aimed specifi cally at me. Last week, Radio 4 devoted half an hour to the 1960 live Berlin recording where Ella forgot the words of Mack The Knife and turned a potential disaster into a tour de force of improvisation. I found the LP in my grandfather’s collection when I was barely out of nappies, and fell in love with Ms Fitzgerald instantly. Despite my interest in the subject, the way the documentary was approached annoyed me a bit. Enlisting jazz singers of the stature of Cleveland Watkiss and Dame Cleo Laine to head the programme was fi ne, but did we need to hear Watkiss meeting Laine for the fi rst time and having a coffee together? The ‘personal journey’ school of documentary gets on my nerves and this used up airtime that would have been better spent in talking about the music.
Far more interesting was hearing from Fritz Rau, the young man who Ella’s manager Norman Granz asked to look after her. He said that he had been in the Hitler Youth, like most German Gentiles, but that jazz had made him a human being. Being a jazz fan under the Nazis had been a defi ant political act, because it was classed as degenerate music. To add another political dimension, 1960 was pre-Berlin Wall, and informed contributors suggested that East Berliners made up most of the audience. The vital importance of Granz in taking big American stars to European concert halls was underlined too.
The highlight was hearing Rau and Fitzgerald’s guitarist Jim Hall talking about Mack The Knife. She asked Rau to get her the English lyrics of this German song so she could learn them for the Berlin audience. Come the night, she lost her way. Hall explained that she sometimes forgot the odd word and always covered up brilliantly, but that to forget this much and to turn it around was a revelation. Obviously, Hall and the rest of the band deserve credit for being able to follow her.
A near-perfect half-hour, marred by a few redundant minutes of documentary cliché.
Ella In Berlin, BBC Radio 4, is available on iPlayer until 30 April.
ROCK ON
Absolute Radio celebrates 30 years on air this month, with launch breakfast presenter Russ Williams still very much on board. The station opened on 30 April 1993 as Virgin 1215. A series of special programmes will mark the anniversary.Follow Louis on Twitter: @LadyWireless or email him at: wireless@cheeseford.net
For Louis’ blog: www.lady.co.uk