Ella Fitzgerald Live in Australia (1960)

60 Years ago this week, a performance of singer Ella Fitzgerald was videotaped by Channel 9 at The Embers, the signature nightclub in Melbourne, Australia, at the time (1959-1963). The club on 55 Toorak Road, South Yara, was owned by James Noall, who was also the organizer of Miss Fitzgerald’s tour.

Ella was backed by her regular accompaniment, the Lou Levy Quartet, with pianist Lou Levy, guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Wilf Middlebrooks and drummer Gus Johnson. This was the first edition of the “BP Super Show” to be telecast outside a TV studio. Two cameras recorded 80 minutes of music. The television lights in the nightclub were so hot that Ella Fitzgerald had to mop her brow with a handkerchief throughout her performance.

The 1-hour show was broadcast on Saturday, January 21, 1961. To me, the only weakness in this high quality registration is the close harmony introduction of compere Horrie Dargie and his group, which was added later in the studio. But that’s a sign of the times of the early nineteensixties. Fortunately Ella swings like the First Lady of Jazz that she was.