Got to say that the radio documentary was a bit of a mess. I particularly disliked the way the narration went in to vocalese at one point. It is interesting to hear how Annie Ross started and got her break but it was unhelpful insofar that it failed to explain who her aunt was. Looking at Wicki, it appears Ella Logan largely worked on Broadway and appeared in Holywood films as well as recording for Columbia. There seemed to be an interesting story there that was overlooked and replaced with an incident when a lesser known singer replaced the sick Billie Holiday at the Apollo. I am sure that there must have been plenty of singers who probably had a similar story.
The weirdest thing was that the selection of tracks was suspect. Ross stated that the first record she was given was when she was 4 and it was a Chick Webb / Ella disc which was recorded in 1938 which would have made her 8 at least. The chronology of the records seemed out of keeping with the accounts given. I just got the impression that Ross was a bit unreliable as a witness.
The other interesting fact that was glossed over was the casual relationship of various musicians. Duke and Billie would have seemed odd but they did one record together in around about 1935 that is little known. I wish that there was more information but the programme seemed to have been produced with people with little knowledge of jazz in mind. I didn't think that Annie Ross was THAT obscure!
The weirdest thing was that the selection of tracks was suspect. Ross stated that the first record she was given was when she was 4 and it was a Chick Webb / Ella disc which was recorded in 1938 which would have made her 8 at least. The chronology of the records seemed out of keeping with the accounts given. I just got the impression that Ross was a bit unreliable as a witness.
The other interesting fact that was glossed over was the casual relationship of various musicians. Duke and Billie would have seemed odd but they did one record together in around about 1935 that is little known. I wish that there was more information but the programme seemed to have been produced with people with little knowledge of jazz in mind. I didn't think that Annie Ross was THAT obscure!
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