As a kid, my parents would listen to NPR all the time. It was just ubiquitous in our home. After the news ended, our local public radio station would switch to night time jazz. I can’t even express to you how much I loved it. The way that melodies wafted like smoke in a club, percussion tinkled like ice in a glass, and voices climbed and dipped all brought such vivid pictures to mind. My most favorite voice of all of them was Ella’s.
Once I was at a cousins house . We are very close in age, and prior to puberty would play with both his Star Wars toys and his mom’s old Barbie dolls at his house. We hadn’t seen each other in a while, and we were catching up about what we were interested in now that we were verrrry mature 6th graders. He told me all about the hair bands he was into. He had posters covering his walls of bands like Mötley Crüe & Poison. I told him I was into Jazz. I will never forget the look on his face. Kind of a mix between confusion, contempt, and disbelief all rolled into one.
I have always been a jazz lover, there are many artists I could and may include in this project, but Ella is the one that moves me the most. Her voice which can go from sweet to sultry and high to low so quickly, is the one that makes that pink glow shine the brightest in my mind.