Album Notes

About The Musical
It’s been more than ten years ago that Bobby Melatti, then Director of Beach Events in Virginia Beach, took me on a walk down the newly christened Virginia Legends Walk and asked me to write a show that could serve as a promotional vehicle for the new tourist attraction. I was immediately drawn to Ella Fitzgerald, The First Lady of Song, and an original inductee into the Legends Walk. The arc of her story from homelessness and reluctant singer to an international superstar was as compelling to me as a writer as was her music to me as a musician. A few short months later we premiered the original half-hour combo version of the show and from there it has grown into a full-length big-band songstravanza. It’s been an amazing evolution – one that I sense isn’t nearly yet complete.

About the Singer

Born in Augusta, GA, one of ten children, Norma Bass’s journey to the title role of “Ella” has been almost as unlikely as Ella’s own. With almost no formal musical training, she reluctantly agreed to attend an audition for the show and walked out, terrified, twice. Fortunately, she found the courage to go through with the audition and discovered a remarkable connection with a musician she had at that point never even heard. That afternoon catapulted Norma from the church choir loft to center stage and, now, into the recording studio. Now at last we have captured in this recording the vocal production that has been captivating audiences for over ten years.