“Ella and Louis” by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

“Ella and Louis” was a studio album released in August 18, 1956 by famed jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald and American trumpeter and singer, Louis Armstrong. The album has a total of eleven songs, all different in their composition and intonation. They are all slow and melodic and at slow or moderate tempo,  however, from “Can’t We Be Friends?” to “April in Paris.”    The overriding theme of the album is perseverance through focusing on the good things in life, such as love, friendship, and happiness.

This album is a perfect depiction of life for African Americans during the 1950s and 60s. In the wake of Jim Crow, a common theme throughout African American culture was sticking together. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) helped to protect African Americans through pursuing lawsuits against state governments and individuals who did not uphold certain rights granted to African Americans. In fact, according to Encyclopedia.com, “the turning point came in 1954 when the Supreme Court struck down public school segregation in the case ‘Brown v. Board of Education.'” The US Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

“Ella and Louis” is an album that showcases perfectly how African Americans stuck by each other during the era of Jim Crow. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s friendship was well-documented. The two were close on both a personal and professional level and their music reflects that closeness.