Billie Holiday Billie's Blues CD

Live Recording

Personnel includes: Billie Holiday (vocals); Heywood Henry (tenor & baritone saxophones); Monty Kelly, Larry Neill, Don Waddilove (trumpet); Skip Layton, Murray McEavhern (trombone); Buddy De Franco (clarinet); Alvy West, Dan D'Andre, Lennie Hartman (reeds); Red Norvo (vibraphone); Carl Drinkard, Sonny Clark, Beryl Booker, Bobby Tucker, Buddy Weed (piano); Jimmy Raney, Tiny Grimes, Mike Pingitore (guitar); Red Mitchell, Artie Shapiro (bass); Elaine Leighton, Willie Rodriquez (drums); Paul Whiteman.
Recorded in New York, New York on April 29, 1951; live in Koln, Germany on January 5, 1954; Los Angeles, California on June 12, 1942. Includes liner notes by Leonard Feather.
Most of this excellent CD features one of Billie Holiday's finest concert recordings of the 1950s. Recorded in Europe before an admiring audience, this enjoyable set finds Lady Day performing seven of her standards with her trio and joining in for jam session versions of "Billie's Blues" and "Lover Come Back to Me" with an all-star group starring clarinetist Buddy DeFranco, vibraphonist Red Norvo and guitarist Jimmy Raney. These performances (which find Holiday in stronger voice than on her studio recordings of the period) have also been included in Verve's massive CD box set. This program concludes with Holiday's four rare sides for Aladdin in 1951 (between her Decca and Verve periods) which are highlighted by two blues and "Detour Ahead," and her 1942 studio recording of "Trav'lin' Light" with Paul Whiteman's Orchestra. ~ Scott Yanow
Holiday's later work is often criticized for being weaker than her recordings from the '30s and early '40s. Such comments should be qualified with the additional fact that, at every point in her career, Holiday was never less than the consummate stylist. The tracks on BILLIE'S BLUES are culled from 1951 and 1954-one set from a concert in Germany, the other from studio sessions in New York.
Though the much-publicized difficulties of her personal life had robbed her voice of its elasticity and lightness, Lady Day still displays an amazing command of phrasing and emotional expression. Many of Holiday's best-loved songs are here, including "What A Little Moonlight Can Do" and "Lover Come Back To Me." Though somewhat incongruous, the 1942 recording of "Trav'lin Light" rounds out the collection, making BILLIE'S BLUES a varied and wonderful sampling of jazz's greatest vocalist.