“Oh yes, I’ll definitely be performing ‘A-Tisket, A-Tasket,’ says acclaimed Las Vegas singer Amanda King, who is bringing her joyous show ‘Ella The Early Years’ to London for the first time, with two special nights at The Pheasantry in Chelsea on 22 and 23 March.
Amanda King, who describes herself as a “classic chanteuse,” will be celebrating the music and life of Ella Fitzgerald and her early music with drummer Chick Webb and his Orchestra. In a zoom interview from her home in Las Vegas, King explains that she first “connected” with Fitzgerald when she started researching Mildred Bailey and other pre-war American singers. “What makes Ella special is that she sang the damn song. That’s it. Outside of scatting, at which she was untouchable, and honestly even then, there were no unnecessary vocal acrobatics added. She told you the story in her way. That is what I do as well. I like to share her early recordings, partly because many people don’t know this music and also to put them in perspective of her life at the time.”
Webb’s 1930s orchestra, a band that sent dancers into a frenzy at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom, gave a platform to teenage star Fitzgerald, who could make something special out of almost any tune. King describes Webb , who was just 34 when he died in 1939, as “a truly indomitable spirit” for the way he battled tuberculosis of the spine, and she loves “the beauty” in the fact that, through his mentoring, he passed on his love of music and work ethic to Fitzgerald, who went on to become the Queen of Jazz, winning 14 Grammys and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, before her death in 1996, aged 79.
“It would have been amazing to see Ella perform with Chick Webb Orchestra,” adds King. “They say she was rarely still – always dancing on stage. You know that was her passion: dance. Singing was a very surprising ‘Plan B’ for her. I suppose when God points a finger at you, you better do as called, right? Ha! The pointing of his finger was her stage fright at the Apollo and changing her plan to dance that evening. Having had the childhood she did, Ella definitely had her own inner demons and singing became her lifeblood. She gave everything to it.”
King says that among her favourite Fitzgerald songs are ‘Moon Ray’ and ‘My Heart Belongs to Daddy’. “That is the sexiest I have ever heard her sing,” explains King. “It’s sizzling! People didn’t think of her as a hot, red-blooded woman because of the way she looked and she didn’t overly emote in her songs. They just saw her as the ‘Scatting Goddess’ – but Ella had boyfriends and was passionate and had her love struggles. She’s a Taurus (as am I); how could she not be passionate? If you truly listen, you will hear her passion and pain on some tunes. When I’m selecting a set list, I realise that all the songs pertain directly to what I’m going through in my life at the time. Ella didn’t have the luxury of choosing many of the songs on her albums, nor in her live performances much of the time, but when she did you can see that she’s truly connected to that tune.”
King, who has been hailed by The New York Times as one of the nightclub world’s “exceptional rising talents”, is coming to London with her pianist Jon Weber – who was the successor to Marian McPartland as the host of NPR’s Piano Jazz – in a concert that will also feature English bass player Joe Pettitt and Dutch drummer Sebastiaan de Krom.
Her previous cabaret shows, including celebrations of the music of Cole Porter and her own one-woman show ‘It’s About Damn Time!’, came after early experiences in the acting world, including becoming one of the youngest apprentices at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. I ask whether her stage experiences have helped with her music presentation. “Most definitely,” King replies. “It helps me find the story of the song easily and create a ‘flow’ to the order of the songs in my shows. I walk that line between jazz and cabaret, but when you go back to the beginning of American popular music/standards and jazz – it was all a big melting pot and every genre was borrowing or mixing. There was a beauty to American music in the 20s and 30s that will not ever happen again. It was truly born out of people making their place, not finding it. I find it my calling to carry on the tradition that was created. It shouldn’t be lost.”
King conveys genuine warmth and humour in the interview and says that she is “a naturally outgoing person with a big personality”. She has been “toying” with the idea of getting back into acting. “It comes very naturally to me. I lived in Los Angeles a while ago but didn’t stay. I got lost in self-doubt. I wasn’t strong enough for it. Now I am,” she adds.
The singer also has a body of recorded work under her belt. After her 2008 album ‘Chanteuse, recorded at the famous Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California, she released a holiday EP in 2018 called ‘It’s Christmas! with Amanda King’, co-produced by Barry Manilow’s musical director Joey Melotti. Her most recent studio work was on the chart success ‘Standards Deluxe’, an album by the Rob Dixon/Steve Allee Quintet featuring King on vocals and Derrick Gardner on trumpet, alongside saxophonist Dixon and pianist Allee. Her version of Duke Ellington’s ‘Caravan’ is hugely impressive, particularly when you consider that she had not met the musicians for more than a day before the recordings. By mid-March, the album had reached No 22 on JazzWeek’s Top 50 chart. When I ask how gratifying that is, she replies in appropriately Mary Poppins style English: “It’s SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!”
London icons are very much on King’s mind as she looks forward to journeying over the pond. “I’m coming over with my son and it’s our first time there and we can’t wait.” She makes a neat joke about visiting “the requisite ‘Ted Lasso’ filming spots,” (in reference to the hit Apple TV+ football show set in the capital) and says she and her son want to see Buckingham Palace, the changing of the guard, the Museum of Brands and Camden Market.
Further ahead in 2024, King says she is fund-raising for her sophomore CD and focussing on her health. “Sadly, like Ella, I have T2 diabetes,” she says. “It pains me that so many African-American singers have had it as well. What is the crazy connection between food and music? I guess both pacify the lonely soul? So many singers haven’t had great lasting love so instead we have great food? I don’t know.”
She ends with a joke about making sure that instead of music being the food of love, it’s best to have “food be the love of music”. For music lovers, especially of the wonderful sounds of the young Ella Fitzgerald, there will be good fare and great music at The Pheasantry, one of Pizza Express Live’s supper venues.
As well as the Ella classic ‘A-Tisket, A-Tasket,’ King promises she will sing her versions of ‘You Showed Me the Way’ and her son’s favourite Ella track, ‘Bei Mir Bist du Schoen’, a song, as Ella herself knew, which has the power to make anyone’s heart grow light.
Amanda King’s ‘Ella The Early Years’ is at The Pheasantry, Kings Road, Chelsea, London on Friday 22 March and Saturday 23 March.
Standards Deluxe by Rob Dixon / Steve Allee ft. Amanda King And Derrick Gardner is out on Owl Records and available to hear on all top streaming sites.
