Keeping the swing alive: Symphony SuperPops performs Ella Fitzgerald’s greatest hits

It’s been nearly 20 years since the death of legendary jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, but her artistic influence still looms large in the world of music.

This weekend’s Symphony SuperPops concert, conducted by Jorge Luis Utzcátegui, will serve as a tribute to Fitzgerald’s legacy and career. Singer Patti Austin will take the stage alongside the orchestra to perform a program of Fitzgerald’s greatest hits.

Fitzgerald’s decades-long career yielded hundreds of singles, and she became known for using her powerful voice to duplicate the sounds she heard from swing and jazz bands in the ’30s and ’40s. Much of Fitzgerald’s recorded output consists of American standards, and she produced definitive versions of “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” “Cheek to Cheek” and “A-Tisket, A-Tasket.”

Austin is well-versed in the works of Fitzgerald, having recorded a tribute album titled “For Ella” in 2002. She began her career at a young age, inking a recording contract with RCA with the help of her godfather Quincy Jones. She worked as a session vocalist and advertising jingle performer for years, eventually receiving mainstream recognition after appearing on the duet “It’s the Falling in Love” from Michael Jackson’s 1979 album “Off the Wall.”

Austin has also found plenty of success as a solo artist, regularly releasing studio albums since the mid-1970s. She won a Grammy for best jazz vocal album for another tribute record, 2007’s “Avant Gershwin.”