There is an old cliché that goes something like this, ‘If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it probably is a duck.’ That cliché may apply to some people and most certainly is applicable to ducks but it relates in no way to the life of jazz singer Elli Fordyce or the attitude with which she approaches her life. The singer who will be turning seventy years old on March 31 demonstrates no signs of slowing down and does not fit the stereotype of someone about to join the septuagenarian club. As my two conversations and several emails with this fun loving lady revealed she seems to be forever a whirlwind of activity and is continually seeking out fresh challenges.

On April 1 at Manhattan’s The Jazz Gallery located in New York City Fordyce will have a belated birthday celebration while recording a live album.  Fordyce says of the afternoon performance (2 pm – 5 pm) “Half of the songs are new for me and half of the songs are very comfortable and easy for me, they are standards. Some of them are things that I have been thinking about for a long time and I haven’t had a chance to record yet. I am going to relax and enjoy all of it.”

“I had been working on a studio recording off and on for a number of years in different formats and with different producers,” Fordyce says. It did not seem things were progressing to her satisfaction so she suggested to her producer that the next time they lay down vocal tracks they try a live recording.

“I am just not the same performer in the studio as I am live. That was the reason for the choice to do this now and to do it as a live recording,” the singer says.

Fordyce says, “There are several songs from my old repertoire in the seventies. Some of the songs are beautiful and were top forty hits at the time. We are still picking and choosing the songs and some may not end up on the record.”

“Some of the songs I just truly love and one of those is Johnny Mandel’s “Where Do You Start?”.  He wrote the music and the Bergmans (Alan and Marilyn) wrote the lyrics.”

“Another song that isn’t heard from often is “Where Am I Going?” I have three songs in this repertoire that start with “where” which is a little bit funny. “Where Am I Going?” is from the Broadway musical and movie Sweet Charity. Shirley MacLaine sang it in the movie. I fell in love with it and learned it in 1970. “Where Am I Going?” is written by Marvin Hamlisch and Dorothy Fields,” says Fordyce. 

Fordyce reflects further, upon the rather cynical lyrics for “Where Am I Going?” saying, “There is a line that says, “No matter where I run I meet myself there.” That has always rocked me because it is so much of what many people do not get (about life). They think, ‘I am not happy here so I will switch jobs, I will switch husbands or whatever and they do not realize that they are still going to be the same person. It may work for a minute but you have to get to yourself.” 

March 2007