cELLAbration Live!: A Tribute to Ella Jenkins

Winner of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award, St. Louis-born octogenarian children's music performer Ella Jenkins is hailed in this hour-long live tribute held at Maryland's Music Center at Strathmore. Serving as informal hosts, folk duo Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer pop up often in this 17-song compilation, which includes standouts such as the opening ensemble effort “You'll Sing a Song and I'll Sing a Song,” the Swahili call-and-response “Jambo” (featuring Red Grammer), “Go Miss Mary Mack” (by a capella female group Sweet Honey in the Rock), “This Pretty Planet” (performed by Tom Chapin and others), “The World is Big, The World is Small” (from Pete Seeger), and the mariachi band ditty “Jarocho II.” The beaming Miss Ella herself joins in on the spoken-word “Tah-boo” and “I Know a City Called Okeechobee,” and the program winningly concludes with a “Sing Me a Song Again, Ella” finale. A fine homage to the “First Lady of Children's Music,” DVD extras include backstage greetings and artist interviews, as well as the bonus song “The Hadrosaur from Hackensack.” Highly recommended. Aud: K, E, P. (J. Williams-Wood)