Kandace Springs on Ella Fitzgerald at 100: 'She'll always be my hero' | Music
I was 16 when I was first introduced to Ella Fitzgerald’s music. My parents took me to the Nashville Jazz Workshop, an amazing programme for local kids who had a strong interest in music. At this point I was already playing the piano, mostly by ear. The workshop started us out studying the music of Duke Ellington with the goal of learning a few of his classic pieces. I was thrilled with the idea of actually learning how to play these incredibly complex yet beautiful songs.
Most of the arrangements my teacher chose featured Ella’s amazing voice. I loved the way she stayed true to the melody, but when she wanted to she could switch to the most brilliant “make you wanna holla†ad libs. She would riff and scat just like an instrument. She also had such perfect diction, but never sounding overly proper â€" always cool.
I had been listening to a lot of Nina Simone, Diana Krall and Norah Jones, but Ella opened up a whole new world to me. The first song I heard her sing was In a Mellow Tone. She absolutely slayed it! I was hooked â€" I literally got chill bumps! I was like, “Who is this woman I’ve been missing out on?†I was so moved by her gorgeous vocal texture, and she inspired and challenged me to want to learn from her and follow in her footsteps. I wanted to bring sophisticated, soulful music to my generation in the same way she did.
There were so many other songs of hers that I fell in love with, such as A Tisket a Tasket with the Chick Webb orchestra. That song put her on the map, in 1938. And, of course, there was the Ellington composition It Don’t Mean a Thing, which crossed over to the pop mainstream â€" scatting like a jazz saxophone on mainstream radio and TV!
I began to buy every CD of hers I could get my hands on, and kept them on repeat nonstop. Some of my favourites were her Great American Songbook album with Duke Ellington and Porgy and Bess with Louis Armstrong. There is so much emotion in her voice. My friends would ask me what I was listening to, wondering why I was so obsessed with this “old-school singerâ€. They were mostly listening to Jay-Z and Britney Spears. It wasn’t like I had anything against that music â€" but it didn’t speak to me like jazz did, like Ella did.
I discovered that we had some things in common. She was painfully shy and a bit of a lone wolf. I could totally relate to that. She didn’t hang out much and wasn’t into going to parties. I was home-schooled and learned to entertain myself â€" mostly with my piano and CDs. I found out that Ella had a difficult childhood. She lost her mother at a young age and got into some trouble. It was music that got her life on track. I was never in any trouble like that, but music was definitely my rock. It helped me cope with any stress in my life. Her singing was often my place to hide.
Over the next few years, I listened to Ella’s music and started performing in local Nashville restaurants and bars. At first they only knew me as a piano player, but one night I saw a microphone off to the side of the piano and decided to go for it. With my heart pounding, I launched into The Nearness of You. I was channelling Ella’s vocal style. I’m not sure it was anything I even thought about â€" it just came out that way. People slowly started turning around and taking notice. I even got my first tips!
I continued to perform locally over the next few years, and always included as many Ella songs as possible. Some of my all-time favourites to sing became Solitude, Lush Life, Day Dream and What Is This Thing Called Love? By this time I was starting to write some of my own songs and perform them in my shows too. One of the first songs I did in my early shows was Rain Falling (from my album Soul Eyes). I was about 15 when I wrote it, and you can totally hear Ella’s influence in my delivery. Even when I performed other people’s songs, her style came through â€" the way she pronounced her words, her mellow tone and, most of all, the freedom in her phrasing.
My musical journey has been inspired by Ella Fitzgerald in so many ways. She had a one-in-a-million voice. I can be performing in Japan, New York, Paris or London and everyone reacts when I sing an Ella song. I only wish I could have known her. I know she must have been an amazing person. Her spirit comes through in her music. She will always be a hero to me. The First Lady of Song, the Queen of Jazz. Lady Ella.
• Ella and Dizzy: A Centenary Tribute is at the Proms on 4 August. Kandace Springs performs in the Proms’ Charles Mingus Revisited show on 24 August. A new box set Ella Fitzgerald: 100 Songs for a Centennial is out now.
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