by Kim Nalley
Within the first seconds of Ella Fitzgerald: Just One Of Those Things British Eagle Rock’s documentary on the jazz vocalist, the seamless connection between the tempo and lyrics of Ella Fitzgerald singing How High The Moon and the shaky black and white images of Ella racing down the highway in a car portends that this is going to be a great film. Sit down, relax, and fix yourself a drink because this is a movie worth savoring.
The wonderful sounds of Ella Fitzgerald and Kim Nalley are even more fun if you can watch them perform.
There is no way we can include all the great material one can find on the Internet. We offer a sampling that will keep you happy for hours featuring both Ella and Kim.
By C.J. Hirschfield
In 1964, renowned and prolific choreographer Merce Cunningham and his troupe embarked on their first world tour. In Paris, angry audience members threw eggs and tomatoes at him. “I wished it was apples; I was hungry,” he recalls. But when they performed in England, the response was dramatically different: “Merce Cunningham Conquers Conservatism,” read the headlines. And although Cunningham famously refused to define his work as modern or avant garde (preferring to let his audience define him based on their experience), he, and his partnerships with celebrated artists of the day, was in the center of an influential group changing the way we characterize music, visual art—and dance.
The original Merce Cunningham Dance Company. ©Robert Rutledge. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
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