Sara Oschlag with Echoes of Ellington Jazz Orchestra

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook celebrates one of the greatest collaborations in jazz history.

Rising vocal star Sara Oschlag joins the Echoes of Ellington Jazz Orchestra for a joyous journey through the music Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington made their own. Expect glorious big-band arrangements, irresistible swing and classics including Take the ‘A’ Train, It Don’t Mean a Thing, Caravan and Cotton Tail.

An uplifting lunchtime celebration of two giants of jazz, performed by musicians steeped in the Ellington tradition.

Ella Fitzgerald’s association with Duke Ellington produced some of the most enduring vocal jazz ever recorded. Their landmark 1957 album Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book was unique among Fitzgerald’s celebrated Song Book series: Ellington himself and members of his orchestra took part, bringing Ella directly into the musical world of the composer whose songs she was interpreting.

The result was an extraordinary meeting of two giants. Fitzgerald’s apparently effortless swing, immaculate diction and extraordinary rhythmic freedom proved a natural match for Ellington’s sophisticated writing, while songs including Take the ‘A’ Train, It Don’t Mean a Thing, Caravan, Cotton Tail and All Too Soon became vehicles for some of her most memorable performances.

For this special lunchtime concert, Danish-born vocalist Sara Oschlag takes centre stage. Now firmly established on the British jazz scene, Oschlag is admired for her warm, unaffected delivery, instinctive swing and deep understanding of the classic jazz-vocal tradition. Rather than attempting an imitation of Fitzgerald, she brings her own personality to music forever associated with the First Lady of Song.

Behind her is the Echoes of Ellington Jazz Orchestra, one of Britain’s leading ensembles dedicated to the music of Duke Ellington. For more than three decades the orchestra has explored Ellington’s remarkable catalogue, performing original arrangements and recreating the distinctive sounds, colours and personalities that made the Ellington orchestra unlike any other big band. Together they revisit the exhilarating meeting of Ella and Duke: sophisticated, joyous and above all swinging.