Please give your mother my best birthday wishes!

She has great taste -- Ella Fitzgerald is my fave, too!
And I am also a Leo. This Friday is my birthday.

My parents were great musiclovers. By the time I was 18 months old,
I had learned how to sing "A Tisket A Tasket," apparently one of Ella's first
hits. It was on a big heavy wide record...not the little round "45" that I was
more used to. (I still have that big record hidden under my bed as the treasure it was and is)

In my teens I saw Ella in concert a couple of times; of course, she was
wonderful! A few years later, I was in a small market across from the Troubadour in LA. I love fresh strawberries and I parked the car and
went in....There I am happily sniffing and choosing the nicest ones. I
looked up and about six feet away there was Ella; she was as picky as I was
carefully inspecting each potato. I was spellbound watching her.

Suddenly,she looked at me. I felt very embarrassed. I hoped so much that
she realized I adored her but wouldn't bother her. For that moment in time I was thinking, "Oh Ella, you're wonderful but I won't get in your way..."

She smiled and I just knew she could read my mind!

In the next several weeks, I saw her two more times and she always smiled at
me. Such a sweet memory.

Re your mother do you know if she ever saw the TV special that Ella and Sinatra
did together? It was completely fantastic to see these two great artists,
who obviously respected each other, singing their hearts out. I believe it
can be found on YouTube. Another brilliant Ella song your mother would surely like to see and hear there is "I Concentrate on You."

Thank you stonesrule!

Just got back from taking her out to dinner and for kicks I asked her if she knew who Mick Jagger was .....to my great surprise and delight she smiled and answered "you mean Sir Mick Jagger?"

I too grew up around music and Ella was always playing around the house. Hi fidelity stuff since my parents had a huge reel to reel tape player and an amazing library of big band, jazz and plenty of Ella. I'm not so fond of that style personally but I have a soft spot for Ella and can't hear her with thinking of my Mom sashaying around the house singing along. Man I miss those innocent and simple days.

Thanks for your story, as usual it is great.

I'm not sure about the Sinatra/Ella special or I Concentrate on You, but I've got a pretty good feeling she's heard/seen them, Sinatra is also high on her list. I will ask her next time I see her and she will be amazed at the great musical knowledge her son has about Ella so I'm going to have to thank you in advance. If she hasn't heard them I will be sure to share the YouTube videos and even score more points!

Speaking of stories, I am a huge Elton fan, those early days from 1970-1973, just Wow. That guy had something really special going on and his output in 3 short years was insane! Such a brilliant songwriter and his performances must have been great. So, any stories you have of Elton from back then would be greatly appreciated. Much thanks my dear.

This 1972 performance of Rocket Man blows me away, have you seen it?

[www.youtube.com]