In celebration of the legendary Ella Fitzgerald’s 104th birthday, one of her most enduring and beloved duets with Louis Armstrong, “Cheek To Cheek,” has received a whimsical new animated video. Directed by Brooklyn-based artist Wendy Cong Zhao, the video, inspired by vintage pencil-line drawings, portrays two lovers who meet, separate, and come together again through a series of imaginative, animated dance scenes. “I captured the dancers on video in a traditional studio shoot, then rotoscoped their movements frame by frame to create the animated line art,” said Cong Zhao of her process. “Many drawings were added in that process to complement and transform the dance moves, such as objects and figures freely transitioning and morphing to the flow of the music. The black and white lines, with a few pops of color, reflect a certain sophistication and passion. The music video is a celebration of the romance depicted in this iconic love song.”
Celebrating its 65th anniversary this year, “Cheek To Cheek” was released in 1956 on Ella and Louis’ first album together, the aptly titled Ella and Louis on Verve Records. The jazz legends first recorded together in 1946 when Ella was a 29-year-old rising star of the contemporary jazz scene and Louis, at 45, was jazz’s elder statesman. While the two would meet up every few years to cut some tracks, it took a decade for them to do a full album together. A stroke of genius cooked up by Verve impresario Norman Granz, Ella and Louis were not an obvious pairing but somehow, Ella’s sweet, refined voice and Louis’ rough, gravelly growl, just worked so perfectly together. “The old adage that opposites attract couldn’t be more apt in the case of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, whose album collaborations for Verve Records, in the late ‘50s, resulted in some of jazz’s finest and most memorable duets,” said uDiscover, “adding, “the contrast in their vocal timbres resulted in a musical chemistry that made their recordings compelling and unforgettable.”