Episode 243. Ethel Ennis (BHM 2024)
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Today’s “Forgotten Diva” takes us outside of the realm of opera and into the rich musical field of jazz. I have been in musical heaven the past few days as I’ve been savoring the output of the great Ethel Ennis (28 November 1932 – 17 February 2019). In her native Baltimore she was known as the “First Lady of Jazz,” and while this might cause some persons to look askance at such a claim, I can only say that they have not yet sampled the vocal, musical and interpretive majesty that is Ethel Ennis! Because of her superlative gifts, worldwide fame kept nipping at her heels, and yet she had no interest in being “famous.” She just wanted to make music, and that’s exactly what she did, remaining in the city of her birth, where she performed regularly at certain clubs, including one she and her husband Earl Arnett ran in the 1980s called “Ethel’s Place.” She had recording contracts with both Capitol Records and RCA, for whom she released some monumental albums in the 1950s and 1960s, and later in her career, as her artistry become more refined, burnished, and inward-looking, she also recorded a number of spectacular live recordings on small, independent labels. Recordings sampled on this episode cover the musical gamut from the Great American Songbook to quirky non-standards, to contemporary pop. If you hear Ethel Ennis interpret just one song, I predict that you will become an immediate fan for life.
Information about the Ethel’s Place exhibition at the George Peabody Library is available here: https://www.library.jhu.edu/about/exhibitions/ethel-ennis/
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II: I Hear Music (Music in the Air). Ethel Ennis, Jimmy Jones, Jimmy Wells, George Duvivier, Walt Namuth, Osie Johnson [1964]
Lewis Gensler, Yip Harburg: Thrill Me. Ethel Ennis, Orchestra conducted by Neal Hefti [1957]
Thrill Me (Ballyhood of 1932). Ethel Ennis, Orchestra arranged and conducted by Sid Bass [1964]
Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown, and Ray Henderson: This Is My Lucky Day (George White’s Scandals of 1926). Ethel Ennis, Benny Goodman and His Orchestra [live Brussels V.1958]
Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke: But Beautiful (Road to Rio). Ethel Ennis, Billy Taylor, Walt Namuth, Slam Stewart [live Newport Jazz Festival 03.VII.1964]
But Beautiful (Road to Rio). Ethel Ennis [channeling Billie Holiday], Stef Scaggiari, Ryan Diehl, Mark Russell [live 2005]
Billie Holiday, Arthur Herzog, Jr.: God Bless the Child. Ethel Ennis, Marc Copland, Ron McClure, Billy Hart [1998]
Robert Haynes: A Little Bit Square But Nice. Ethel Ennis, Orchestra conducted by Sid Feller [1958]
Gladys Shelley: Clown Town. Ethel Ennis, arranged and conducted by Dave Wolpe [1973]
Gladys Shelley: I Can’t Talk to a Wall. Ethel Ennis, arranged and conducted by Dave Wolpe [1973]
Ethel Ennis: Mr. Roachman Blues. Ethel Ennis, Stef Scaggiari, Ryan Diehl, Mark Russell [live 2005]
Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick: Dear Friend (She Loves Me). Ethel Ennis, Orchestra arranged and conducted by Sid Bass [1964]
Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart: Little Girl Blue (Jumbo). Ethel Ennis, Jimmy Jones, George Duvivier, Osie Johnson [1964]
Frank Churchill, Larry Morey: Someday My Prince Will Come (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). Ethel Ennis, Orchestra arranged and conducted by Dick Hyman [1965]
George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin: Love Walked In (The Goldwyn Follies). Ethel Ennis, Drew Gress [1994]
Bernard Ighner: Everything Must Change. Ethel Ennis, Stef Scaggiari, Ryan Diehl, Mark Russell [live 2005]
Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown, and Ray Henderson: Bon Voyage. Ethel Ennis, Hank Jones, Eddie Briggs, Abie Baker, Kenny Clarke [1955]
Irving Berlin: The Song Is Ended. Ethel Ennis, Orchestra arranged and conducted by Neal Hefti [1957]