A new six-part series in which Michael Freedland pays tribute to one of the finest popular singers in recorded music, known for her mastery of popular standards, jazz and scat singing. The series includes a recently discovered interview with Fitzgerald herself.

Ella Fitzgerald 7.00pm R2
Writer and broadcaster Michael Freedland presents a fascinating insight into one of the foremost singers of the last century. Ella Fitzgerald, we discover, started out as a young lady who never had anyvocal or musical training and yet, as Benny Carter puts it, "she seemed to have everything right there". She developed her voice to combine that famous velvet touch with scat singing - the musical equivalent, says Freedland, of Picasso and the Cubists. (Jane Anderson)