Once a year, for three years in a row, Patti Austin sang a benefit concert on the night before the Oscars, along with Ella Fitzgerald.

“I never really got to know her that well, but I was a babbling idiot of a fan every time I saw her, because I was in such awe,” Austin said from Minneapolis earlier this week, where she was performing Fitzgerald standards with a trio.

Austin, a Grammy-winning jazz singer, will join the Omaha Symphony in three weekend pops concerts featuring the Ella Fitzgerald Songbook.

Fitzgerald, whose vocal range spanned three octaves and whose recording career lasted 59 years (1934-92), won 13 Grammys. Her pure, smooth tone, impeccable phrasing and diction, and peerless ability as a scat singer made her an American great. She died in 1996 at age 79.

She was known particularly for her interpretations of Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, and Duke Ellington.

Austin recorded a Grammy-nominated tribute album, “For Ella,” in 2002. With those songs, she has been doing symphony gigs all over the world ever since.

“I always say certain things are undeniable,” Austin said. “They are that good. They cross every boundary. That's why Ella was so successful.”

Austin scored 20 charted R&B hits from 1969 to 1991. She recorded extensively with Quincy Jones, and one of her biggest hits was a duet with James Ingram, “Baby, Come to Me.”

She also sang in hundreds of commercials, with Paul Simon, Cat Stevens, Joe Cocker, Bette Midler, Roberta Flack and Diana Ross, among others.

But Austin waited to record the salute to Ella, featuring works from the Great American Songbook.

“That material requires a certain level of maturity to do it justice,” Austin said. “A lot of it comes from Broadway. The songs tell a story. To lend any kind of grit to what those lyrics are about, you have to have lived a bit.”

Austin discovered ways to tell Ella's story by weaving the songs together in a certain order, talking about where she came from, how she got into the business, how it affected her personal life.

“It's not just a night of me singing,” Austin said. “It's a bit of storytelling, and great, great music.”

Fitzgerald hits that will be part of the Omaha Symphony pops concert include “A Tisket, a Tasket,” “Miss Otis Regrets,” “Our Love Is Here to Stay,” “Satin Doll” and “The Man I Love.”

Contact the writer:

402-444-1269, bob.fischbach@owh.com