Lady Sings The Blues - Plak

ENGLISH

Although Billie Holiday’s repertoire covered barely more than a dozen pure blues numbers during the course of her long career from 1933 to 1959, music critics always referred to her as the ‘Lady [who] sings the blues’. And that hasn’t changed to this day. In truth the recordings she made for Columbia in the Thirties and those for Clef/ Verve between 1953 and 1957 were a highly varied mixture of titles from the American songbook and her own compositions. <br /><br /> Her interpretations were a benchmark against which all aspiring singers were measured. Highly expressive, almost visual ballads went hand in hand with Billie Holiday’s life and voice - and only she alone could sing them! Her voice was always embedded in the sound carpet produced by her accompanying musicians: Tony Scott and Paul Quinichette are two names who made their mark on her music in the mid-Fifties, and the rhythm group of Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell and Chico Hamilton is really first class. The trumpeter Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison, a long-time friend from the Count Basie Band, sensitively accompanies the singer’s mature voice. <br /><br /> This album in its original cover proves for first time just how great the old Clef recordings by Norman Granz can sound. And surely almost no-one will still possess a well-preserved copy (with lyrics!) of MGC-721 on their shelf …<br /><br /> Recording: September 1954 in Los Angeles and June 1956 in New York City<br /><br /> Production: Norman Granz