Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz, Updated Edition Paperback – Import, 17 June 2004

I have long been an Ella Fitzgerald fan, so overall I found this book to be an enjoyable and interesting read -- but in my opinion it was a bit unbalanced and tedious at times. There was quite a bit of "the music critics' " analyses of jazz, Ella's performances, and her recordings, which was much less interesting to me than her LIFE. But I now know that she was a very private person, so maybe there just isn't a lot of information to be had. But for example, I would have liked to know more about her marriage and her adopted son.

This was advertised as the 2004 updated edition. What was supplied was the original 1994 edition. Not cool.

A bit of a dull read. Ella did not have an interesting life in the way that, say, Billie Holiday did. The author makes quite a lot of comparisons between the two. Even though they were contemporaries, Billie's life makes for much more interesting reading because of her approach to life and to music and because of the people she associated with. I recommend "I Wished on the Moon" by Donald Clarke for a first class biography of BH.