Audio of the Week--cELLAbration: A Tribute to Ella Jenkins
RSSFrom SLJ April 2005
Beverly Bixler, San Antonio (TX) Public Library, TX -- School Library Journal, 03/28/2005
1 CD. approx. 44 min. Prod. by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. 2004. #SFW CD45059. $11.98.
K-Gr 4–The year 2004 marked two major milestones for Ella Jenkins: she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and she celebrated her 80th birthday. This album pays tribute to her music and achievements. Already the recipient of numerous awards, this album has also been nominated for a 2005 Grammy in the Best Musical Album for Children category. Thirteen of today’s finest folk and children’s performers (Tom Chapin, Cathy Fink, Marcy Marxer, Red Grammer, Bill Harley, Mariachi Los Camperos, John McCutcheon, Tom Paxton, Riders in the Sky, Pete Seeger, Mike Stein, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and Michele Valeri) offer new and outstanding arrangements of 18 songs and chants that Ella previously recorded. They feature several musical styles, including folk, salsa, country-western, Dixieland, ragtime, mariachi, and African rhythms. The songs and chants selected for the album are “You’ll Sing a Song,” “Did You Feed My Cow,” “Dulce, Dulce,” “I Know a Tom,” “Please Is a Pleasant Expression,” “Let’s All Sing a Yodeling Song,” “The World of Whickham Whackham,” “Jambo,” “The Union Team,” “Turkey in the Straw” (instrumental), “The World Is Big, the World Is Small,” “Rushing Around Russia,” “The Hukilau Song,” “Go Miss Mary Mack,” “Toom-Bah-Ee-Lero,” “La Raspa Medley,” “Circle of Friends,” and “Sing Me a Song Again, Ella.” A priority purchase for library music collections.
