Pure Love – The Voice of Ella Fitzgerald review by Jim Byrne
In ‘Pure Love – The Voice of Ella Fitzgerald’, filmmaker Katja Duregger celebrates the voice and musicality of Ella Fitzgerald – charting her rise, from the low of working as a lookout at a bordello (1930’s), to the high of receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom (highest civilian awards of the United States) in 1992.
The film is a treat. It was a joy to hear the development of her style – and an education to learn of her intelligence as a musician. Ella Fitzgerald was not just a woman with an unrivalled three-octave voice – she was a hugely talented and distinctive musician. No band leaders’ puppet – she took charge and knew how to put her instrument (her voice) to best use, no matter the musical genre.
The film was packed with previously unseen film footage, photographs and interviews with friends and musical collaborators – Dianne Reeves, jazz drummer, producer Terri Lyne Carrington and jazz violinist Regina Carter among many others. From her friends we learned of the contrast between her professional and personal life; one confident and successful; the other reserved, shy and wary of being taken advantage of.
The film charts Ella’s career path and that of her many musical collaborators, – but for me (apart from the knowledge we gained of her musicality) for the first time I felt I got an insight into her personality and character. By the close of the film, I was saying goodbye to a friend. An emotional farewell to one of the greats.
Pure Love – The Voice of Ella Fitzgerald was screened in Glasgow’s CCA as part of ‘Doc ‘n’ Roll’ festival. The festival packed six critically heralded films into the long weekend of 27th thru 30th June, 2019.
Jim Byrne, July, 2019
This section: Book and Event Reviews, Cinema
Filed under: Book and Event Reviews, Cinema
Related Pages
- Take 2: Wonderstruck
- That They May Face The Rising Sun
- Youth Screening: Grey Gardens at GFT
- If Only I Could Hibernate
- Fantastic Machine at GFT
- Bleeding Love at GFT
- Sometimes I Think About Dying at GFT
- Special Screenings to Mark Anniversary Year at Glasgow Film Theatre
- The Lives of Others – 35mm, Special 50 Anniversary Screening GFT
- Cinema Paradiso – Special 50th Anniversary Screening GFT
- Jean de Florette + Manon des Sources (Double-bill) – 50th Anniversary Screening GFT
- Late Night: Escape from New York
- Fellini’s Roma + Introduction
- Take 2: Kids Animations: Why’s the Sky Blue?
- Billy Connolly’s Big Banana Feet at GFT
- At the Volta with James Joyce, GFT
- Ashlyn’s 18th at Topolabamba, Glasgow
- B Movie.Lust and Sound in West Berlin
- One Night In Millstreet
- The Teacher’s Lounge