Ella Fitzgerald has been described as “perhaps the quintessential jazz singer.” This live performance of “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love)” is one of the countless examples of Ella Fitzgerald thrilling an audience with her talents.
In 1955 LIFE’s Eliot Elisofon photographed Fitzgerald for a story on the top jazz stars of the day, and she was the only woman included in the group. LIFE wrote of her, “Ella Fitzgerald, who sings love ballads daintily, can roar on like a trombone through a jazz classic. Her most famous number is “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” but it is her many hotter songs that keep her the first lady of jazz year after year.”
In 1958 LIFE staff photographer Yale Joel took his turn shooting Fitzgerald. He caught her performing at Mister Kelly’s, a renowned jazz club in Chicago. The photo places the viewer in a front row seat. Fitzgerald, elegantly dressed, sings with her eyes closed and hand to heart on a low stage that has her nearly at level with the audience. That photo is one of the most popular images in LIFE’s print store, which is a tribute to both Joel’s skill and Fitzgerald’s enduring popularity—several of her songs have more than 100 million plays on Spotify.
Included here are several other of Joel’s shots from Mister Kelly’s, and also other instances in which LIFE’s photographers documented this great artist.
Singer Ella Fitzgerald holding a basket of flowers as she sings A-Tisket, A-Tasket in front of backdrop, 1946.
Eliot Eilsofon/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald performed at Mister Kelly’s nightclub in Chicago, 1958.
Yale Joel/Life PIcture Collection/Shutterstock
Bathed in red light, American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald performed her eyes closed, at Mister Kelly’s nightclub, Chicago, 1958.
Yale Joel/Life PIcture Collection/Shutterstock
Ella Fitzgerald performed at Mister Kelly’s nightclub in Chicago, 1958.
Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Ella Fitzgerald performing at Mister Kelly’s nightclub in Chicago, 1958.
Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Ella Fitzgerald mingled with people who had come to hear her perform at the opening night of the Bop City nightclub in New York City, April 1949.
.Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Songbird Ella Fitzgerald sang at opening at the Bop City nightclub in New York City, 1949.
Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Ella Fitzgerald sang during opening night of Bop City nightclub in New York City, April 1949.
Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Ella Fitzgerald at the old Madison Square Garden in New York on the night Marilyn sang to John F. Kennedy, May 1962.
Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Ella Fitzgerald, the Queen of Jazz, 1954.
Eliot Elisofon/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
