Music on My Mind

Ella Fitzgerald, "The Old Rugged Cross". The First Lady of Song was born on April 25, 1917. This version of an old classic is from her underappreciated later body of work, when she had been dropped by MGM and was experimenting beyond the bounds that made her famous. I think it, solemn yet almost bursting with joy, shows one of her truly great talents: to capture just the right mood for a song.