Ella Fitzgerald: The Chick Webb Years and Beyond 1935-1948: Ken Vail’s Jazz Itineraries 2

The Jazz Itineraries series, a new format based on Ken Vail’s successful Jazz Diaries, charts the careers of famous jazz musicians, listing club and concert appearances with details of recording sessions and movie appearances. Copiously illustrated with contemporary photographs, newspaper extracts, record and performance reviews, ads and posters, the series provides fascinating insight into the lives of the greatest jazz musicians of our times.

No.2 in the series, co-authored by Ron Fritts, Ella Fitzgerald: The Chick Webb Years & Beyond 1935?1948, chronicles Ella’s life from her discovery and development by Chick Webb, the shock of Webb’s early death, her years as a bandleader, her success as a solo singer, marriage to Ray Brown and her first tour of England.

Ken Vail trained as a graphic designer and for 25 years developed his own graphic design business. The company moved from corporate work into publishing, specialising in designing highly illustrated educational books. In 1996 Ken Vail retired from the business to indulge his life-long interest in jazz. He self-published his first book, Jazz Milestones, which was critically acclaimed, leading to commissions for a series of Jazz Diaries which yielded Bird’s Diary, Lady Day’s Diary, Miles? Diary, and the two-part Duke’s Diary. Vail is now working on the new series of Jazz Itineraries and a scrapbook of the Swing Era.