Lady Sings the Blues (Billie Holiday album)
Lady Sings the Blues | ||||
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Studio album by Billie Holiday | ||||
Released | December 1956 (1956-12)[1] | |||
Recorded | June 6, 7, 1956 New York City, Fine Sound Studios September 3, 1954, Los Angeles, Capitol Studios | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Length | 38:17 | |||
Label | Clef | |||
Producer | Norman Granz | |||
Billie Holiday chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
DownBeat (1956 review) | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Lady Sings the Blues is an album by American jazz vocalist Billie Holiday released in December 1956. It was Holiday's last album released on Clef Records; the following year, the label would be absorbed by Verve Records. Lady Sings the Blues was taken from sessions taped during 1954 and 1956. It was released simultaneously with her ghostwritten autobiography of the same name.
Content
Taken from sessions taped during 1954–1956, Lady Sings the Blues features Holiday backed by tenor saxophonist Paul Quinichette, trumpeter Charlie Shavers, pianist Wynton Kelly, and guitarist Kenny Burrell. Though Holiday's voice had arguably deteriorated by the 1950s, the album is well regarded – in a 1956 review, Down Beat awarded the album 5 out of 5 stars, and had this to say about the co-current book:
Lady Sings The Blues is Billie Holiday's autobiography [...] she tries to get the reader on her side of the mirror, so don't expect a three-dimensional view of the subject. The book was written with William Dufty, assistant to the editor of the New York Post [...] Seldom in the book does she talk about her singing[.]
On November 10, 1956, Holiday appeared in concert at Carnegie Hall in front of a sold-out crowd. The show was planned to commemorate the edition of her autobiography, some paragraphs being read and interspersed during the musical performance.[6]
Track listing
Side 1
- "Lady Sings the Blues" (Billie Holiday, Herbie Nichols) – 3:46
- "Trav'lin' Light" (Trummy Young, Jimmy Mundy, Johnny Mercer) – 3:08
- "I Must Have That Man" (Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh) – 3:04
- "Some Other Spring" (Irene Higginbotham, Arthur Herzog Jr.) – 3:36
- "Strange Fruit" (Lewis Allan) – 3:05
- "No Good Man" (Higginbotham, Sammy Gallop, Dan Fisher) – 3:18
Side 2
- "God Bless the Child" (Holiday, Herzog Jr.) – 4:00
- "Good Morning Heartache" (Higginbotham, Ervin Drake, Dan Fisher) – 3:28
- "Love Me or Leave Me" (Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn) – 2:38
- "Too Marvelous for Words" (Mercer, Richard Whiting) – 2:16
- "Willow Weep for Me" (Ann Ronell) – 3:08
- "I Thought About You" (Jimmy Van Heusen, Mercer) – 2:47
When issued on CD, 3 bonus tracks from the 3 September recording were added:
- "P.S. I Love You" (Gordon Jenkins, Mercer) – 3:36
- "Softly" (Eddie Beal, Joe Greene) – 2:55
- "Stormy Blues" (Holiday) – 3:27
Personnel
June 6 and 7 1956, Fine Sound Studios, New York City (Tracks 1–8)
- Billie Holiday – vocals
- Paul Quinichette – tenor saxophone
- Charlie Shavers – trumpet
- Tony Scott – clarinet
- Wynton Kelly – piano
- Kenny Burrell – guitar
- Lenny McBrowne – drums
- Aaron Bell – bass
September 3, 1954, Capitol Studios
- Billie Holiday – vocals
- Willie Smith – alto saxophone
- Harry Edison – trumpet
- Bobby Tucker – piano
- Barney Kessel – guitar
- Chico Hamilton – drums
- Red Callender – bass
References
- ^ "Lady Sings the Blues". The Billboard. The Billboard Publishing Co. 22 December 1956. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
- ^ "Lady Sings the Blues - Billie Holiday | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.
- ^ Hentoff, Nat (23 January 1957). "Billie Holiday: Lady Sings the Blues". DownBeat. Vol. 24, no. 2. p. 25.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
- ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 716. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
- ^ "Song Story Told by Billie Holiday". The New York Times. 12 Nov 1956. p. 38.
External links
- Billie Holiday LP discography
- Billie Holiday songs
- v
- t
- e
- Billie Holiday Sings/Solitude
- An Evening with Billie Holiday
- Billie Holiday
- Billie Holiday at Jazz at the Philharmonic
- Stay with Me
- Music for Torching
- Velvet Mood
- Lady Sings the Blues
- Body and Soul
- Songs for Distingué Lovers
- Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday at Newport
- All or Nothing at All
- Lady in Satin
- Last Recording
- The Essential Billie Holiday: Carnegie Hall Concert Recorded Live
- Lady in Autumn: The Best of the Verve Years
- Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933–1944
- Lady Day Swings
- Remixed and Reimagined
- "Ain't Nobody's Business"
- "As Time Goes By"
- "Billie's Blues"
- "Blue Moon"
- "Body and Soul"
- "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?"
- "Don't Explain"
- "Easy Living"
- "Embraceable You"
- "Everything Happens for the Best"
- "Everything Happens to Me"
- "Fine and Mellow"
- "Gloomy Sunday"
- "God Bless the Child"
- "Good Morning Heartache"
- "I Cover the Waterfront"
- "I Loves You, Porgy"
- "If You Were Mine"
- "I Thought About You"
- "I'll Be Seeing You"
- "I'll Get By"
- "I'll Never Be the Same"
- "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm"
- "Just One of Those Things"
- "Lady Sings the Blues"
- "Left Alone"
- "Love for Sale"
- "Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)"
- "Me, Myself, and I"
- "Miss Brown to You"
- "My Man"
- "Moonlight in Vermont"
- "Night and Day"
- "No More"
- "Now or Never"
- "Our Love Is Different"
- "P.S. I Love You"
- "Pennies from Heaven"
- "Please Don't Do It Here"
- "Preacher Boy"
- "Sophisticated Lady"
- "Stormy Blues"
- "Stormy Weather"
- "Strange Fruit"
- "Sugar"
- "Summertime"
- "That Ole Devil Called Love"
- "These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)"
- "Too Marvelous for Words"
- "Trav'lin' Light"
- "What a Little Moonlight Can Do"
- "What Is This Thing Called Love?"
- "Why Was I Born?"
- "Willow Weep for Me"
- "You Go to My Head"
- "Your Mother's Son-In-Law"
- "Angel of Harlem"
- Lady Sings the Blues
- book
- film
- soundtrack
- Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill
- Statue
- The United States vs. Billie Holiday
- soundtrack
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