Jazz / Vocal, Vocal Jazz
Billie Holiday (vocals)
Benny Carter, Willie Smith (alto saxophone); Flip Phillips, Paul Quinchette, Ben Webster, Budd Johnson, Al Cohn (tenor saxophone); Danny Bank (baritone saxophone); Charlie Shavers, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Joe Newman, Joe Wilder (trumpet); Billy Byers (trombone); Tony Scott (clarinet); Jimmy Rowles, Billy Taylor, Bobby Tucker, Wynton Kelly, Hank Jones (piano); Oscar Peterson (piano, organ); Freddie Green, Barney Kessel, Billy Bauer, Kenny Burrell, Barry Galbraith (guitar); Ray Brown, John Simmons, Red Mitchell, Leonard Gaskin, Red Callender, Joe Mondragon, Aaron Bell, Milt Hinton (bass); Cozy Cole, Larry Bunker, Alvin Stoller, Gus Johnson, Chico Hamilton, Ed Shaughnessy, Osie Johnson (drums)
Part of Verve's "Postage Stamp" collection, FIRST ISSUE culls two discs worth of some of Billie's finer recordings madebetween 1952 and 1959 on the Verve and later-to-be Verve Clef labels. As on Ella's songbook series, all of the selectedmaterial is written by eight of America's finest popular composers ever--Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and other obvious choices. While Billie's voice does at times betray the wear-and-tear of a stormy life, she makes these classics come alive and swing buoyantly nonetheless.
"Blue Moon" is airily sweet, while "Nice Worka" has tasteful sass and complimentary blowing by Harry "Sweets" Edison. "Stormy Weather" and "Trav'lin' Light" prove that Billie could still sing a lovely ballad, the latter including some perfectly moody background guitar lines by a young Kenny Burrell (though unfortunately recorded as if he was standing out in the hall). These sessions should be an ear-opener to early-years purists.
Yes, her sound had changed by the Fifties but one quickly grew accustomed to the changes, because Billie never deceived her audience. In an age of shallow big-band chirping, she sang from the gut, and even when the words were not her own, as in this compilation, she made us believe that they were. Here the words come from the pens of eight of America's greatest songwriters. This compilation deliberately includes the same composers to whom Ella Fitzgerald devoted her celebrated Verve songbook series.
Includes liner notes by Chris Albertson |
