ANNE DUCROS - EITHER WAY - from Marilyn to Ella…

In 1955, year of the "Civil Rights Movement" led by Dr Martin Luther King in a very tense political climat, the Mocambo in Los Angeles is the place to be. Like all clubs at this time, no blacks and whites at the same place. Marilyn great fan of Ella decided otherwise. This is what said about it :

“I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt… She personally called the owner of the Mocambo, and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. She told him - and it was true, due to Marilyn’s superstar status - that the press would go wild. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night. The press went overboard. After that, I never had to play in a small club again. She was an unusual woman - a little ahead of her times. And she didn’t know it.”

With "EITHER WAY" and like a painter rendering his own reality, I give you a portrait in black and white and in my own way of these two American icons such as Ella and Marilyn.

The “love letter” addressed to Ella Fitzgerald, with my previous “Ella, my Dear...” was a version for full orchestra, magnificently arranged by Ivan Julien of Ella’s repertoire, my first and essential source of inspiration. Entirely re-orchestrated in jazz quartet idiom for EITHER WAY, the standards of Gershwin, Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer or Duke Ellington sound minimalist on this album in comparison to the previous one, with the exception of “But not for me” where I wanted a move, assisted by the mysterious, heartrending voice of Mamani, towards Africa. In the other volume of this diptych, devoted to Marilyn, I make a completely personal proposition of the emblematic repertoire of that fragile star, perhaps even more exposed in her , than in her acting. You know the place we are going, let me take you there my way...all roads lead to Ella & Marilyn. Ella, Norma, Black or White... EITHER WAY.

To those amazing and unusual women, with all my love and respect…

ANNE DUCROS - EITHER WAY - from Marilyn to Ella…

TRACK LIST:

1. YOU’D BE SURPRISED 3’40 2. MY HEART BELONGS TO DADDY 4’58 3. SUMMERTIME 5’26 4. SPRING CAN REALY HANG YOU UP THE MOST 7’10 5. EITHER WAY 4’05 6. BUT NOT FOR ME 4’28 7. YOU’D BE SO NICE TO COME HOME TO 3’54 8. A FINE ROMANCE 4’25 9. THOU SWELL 5’12 10. I WANNA BE LOVED BY YOU 3’56 11. I’M THROUGH WITH LOVE 5’52 12. DIAMONDS ARE THE GIRL’S BEST FRIENDS 6’08 13. LAURA 5’23 14. DINDI 7’00 15. IT DON’T MEAN A THING (if it ain’t got that swing) 3’36