Following her victory at Apollo Theatre she would go on to perform with Chick Webb, the American jazz drummer whose orchestra would bring life to the sparkling evenings at the ballroom of the Savoy Hotel. Following Webb’s death, Fitzgerald led the orchestra for three years before pursuing her acclaimed solo career. In 1958, she would also become the first African-American woman to win a Grammy Award.
The relevance of Fitzgerald’s work and contribution to jazz is both profound and eternal, a fact celebrated by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery who will, this month, display her photograph (taken by William Gottlieb whose renowned for capturing the essence of the jazz era) for the very first time.
