Obituary : Ella Fitzgerald

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"Man, woman and child," said Bing Crosby, "Ella Fitzgerald is the greatest."

At the conclusion of a recital in Washington, the distinguished accompanist Gerald Moore and the German Lieder and opera singer Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau left the hall hurriedly and rushed to the airport to catch a plane to New York. They made their way to Carnegie Hall where Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington were about to give a concert. "Ella and the Duke together!" enthused Fischer-Dieskau to Moore, "One just doesn't know when there might be a chance to hear that again!"

"I never knew how good our songs were," said Ira Gershwin said, "until I heard Ella Fitzgerald sing them." No …