April Varner

Ella

Cellar Music Group

Acclaimed jazz vocalist April Varner collaborates with two outstanding arrangers, fronting both a small combo and big band in her tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, simply titled Ella. By no means does Varner attempt to be emulative, but rather she honors the spirit of the renowned vocalist. Varner has only been singing jazz for nine years, but was inextricably drawn to the music of Fitzgerald when, in 2023, she won the International Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition.

The album features pianist and arranger Emmet Cohen, bassist Yasushi Nakamura, and drummer and producer Ulysses Owens Jr. on the small group tracks. Trumpeter Brian Lynch arranges the big band selections. The ensemble also includes pianist William Hill III (big band tracks), trumpeters Nathaniel Williford and Michael Cruse, trombonists Jeffrey Miller and Jacob Melsha, and saxophonists Cleave Guyton and Mark Gross.

The album opens with “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” Fitzgerald’s 1938 breakthrough hit, her first. Cohen’s severely up-tempo arrangement alternates between swing and Latin feels, with Owens delivering some outstanding drumming. Yes, the title stems from a nursery rhyme, but that’s barely recognizable here. Cohen shines with his simpatico, moody piano accompanied by bassist Yasushi Nakamura and Owens in the backing trio, and Varner purrs through Cole Porter’s “Night and Day.”  Cohen conjures a bluesy arrangement for “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” wherein Varner takes a sultry approach. On the Rogers and Hart “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” Varner makes room for an extended solo for Cohen, while offering a closing melodic variation that differs from Fitzgerald’s.

Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” showcases Lynch’s tight, yet expansive big band arrangement, shifting between Latin and swing sections. Varner has an instinctive sense of swing as she floats above the brassy backdrop. Lynch blasts free in a brief solo, and the full orchestra swells nicely behind Varner’s well-articulated, well-phrased vocal, highlighted by Owens’s Latin percussion stylings. The full band again backs Varner on the ballad medley “I Couldn’t Sleep a Wink Last Night” (a song Fitzgerald never recorded) and “In the Wee Small Hours.” The nuances in Varner’s vocal delivery come to the fore here, with the medley imbued by Lynch’s trumpet solo and the chorus of woodwinds.  Varner sings the first verse unaccompanied in “Fly Me to the Moon,” before the bluesy swing ensues, as the orchestra swells behind her.

Invariably, we get a nod to Fitzgerald’s husband, the heralded bassist Ray Brown, from Nakamura, as heard on Irving Berlin’s “Cheek to Cheek.” Cohen constructs a deceptively complex arrangement of “Mr. Paganini,” drawn from the multi-tempo innovations of the Boswell Sisters, early influences on Fitzgerald herself. Varner deftly navigated the labyrinthine route, displaying impressive range and sharp scatting skills along the way.  She does the same in the blazing tempo of the closing “Undecided,” where Cohen again demonstrates why he is considered the swingingest pianist on today’s scene. Owens gets his say on the eights, closing the album on a fitting high note.

Born just one year after Fitzgerald’s passing, Varner discovered the icon’s expansive recorded legacy through careful study. Ella represents both a continuation of that legacy and a statement of Varner’s own artistic voice. These tunes will likely be familiar to many, even though Varner may not be. If so, be sure to check her previous releases, including April (2024) and Winter Songs Vol. 2 (2024), both on Cellar Music Group.

• Jim Hynes

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