ELLA FITZGERALD: JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS
1 hr 29 min, NR - Documentary
Language: English
Ella Fitzgerald was a 15 year-old street kid when she won a talent contest in 1934 at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. Within months she was a star. Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things follows her extraordinary journey over six decades as her sublime voice transforms the tragedies of her own life and the troubles of her times into joy. Here is an Ella the world never knew – tough, thoughtful, funny, a dazzling musical innovator.
The film also uncovers Ella’s commitment to the battle for Civil Rights; and it explores the conflicts that always haunted this intensely private woman: the struggle to reconcile her hunger for adoring audiences with her longing for a domestic life with her husband and son. Featuring interviews with Tony Bennett, Jamie Cullum, Laura Mvula, Johnny Mathis, Smokey Robinson, Cleo Laine, Andre Previn, Itzhak Perlman, a rare interview with Ella’s son, Ray Brown Jr., and more, the film uses personal testimonials and never-before-seen images to bring Ella Fitzgerald to life and to tell the full story of her music.