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BILLIE HOLIDAY Moanin’ Low 50 original mono recordings 1933- 46 Living Era – 2CD Set – CD AJS282

CD No. 1

1	Your Mother’s Son In Law	14	You Go To My Head
2	Miss Brown To You	15	Long Gone Blues
3	What A Little Moonlight Can Do	16	Fine And Mellow
4	Did I Remember	17	Some Other Spring
5	I Can’t Give You Anything But Love	18	Them There Eyes
6	I Must Have That Man	19	Ghost Of Yesterday
7	My Last Affair	20	I’ll Get By
8	Moanin’ Low	21	Love My Man (Billie’s Blues)
9	Easy Living	22	He’s Funny That Way
10	I’ll Never Be The Same	23	That Ole Devil Called Love
11	Swing, Brother, Swing	24	No More
12	They Can’t Take That Away From Me	25	Strange Fruit
13	Back In Your Own Back Yard

CD No. 2

1	I Wished On The Moon	14	Mean To Me
2	Twenty Four Hours A Day	15	A Sailboat In The Moonlight
3	These Foolish Things	16	Nice Work If You Can Get It
4	I Cried For You	17	My Man (Mon Homme)
5	No Regrets	18	I’m Gonna Lock My Heart
6	A Fine Romance	19	All Of Me
7	The Way You Look Tonight	20	God Bless The Child
8	Who Loves You?	21	I Cover The Waterfront
9	Pennies From Heaven	22	Lover Come Back To Me
10	I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm	23	Lover man
11	This Year’s Kisses	24	Don’t Explain
12	The Mood That I’m In	25	Good Morning, Heartache
13	Carelessly

‘Moanin’ Low’ covers the important years of Billie Holiday’s colourful yet mostly tragic career. The range runs from her first recording with Benny Goodman, ‘Your Mother’s Son In Law,’ made in 1933 up to ‘Good Morning, Heartache,’ cut in 1946 with Bill Stegmeyer and his Orchestra. Most of the material originates from the 1930s and includes many of Holiday’s ‘classics.’ Of the fifty tracks twenty-one feature her with the Teddy Wilson Orchestra and on another thirteen she is accompanied by her own orchestra. Both bands include famous jazz artists such as Lester Young, Benny Goodman, Ben Webster, Walter Page, Freddy Green and Claude Thornhill to name but a few.

Whether Billie Holiday was ‘jazz’s greatest female vocalist’ is debatable and in any case doesn’t matter – she was unique and nobody has successfully managed to copy her. Having said that she was undoubtedly a major influence on many of the memorable female jazz singers. Although the 1972 film ‘Lady Sings The Blues’ implied that she was predominantly a blues singer this is misleading and a glance down the titles of ‘Moanin’ Low’ shows that she could confidently tackle anything asked of her. As Digby Fairweather commented "she ecstatically recreated her songs’ melodies in a small, worldly voice that, in Barney Josephson’s words," "rang like a bell and went a mile."

The two tracks recorded live with the Count Basie Orchestra at the Savoy Ballroom in 1937 sum up the complete format of ‘Moanin’ Low’ – fine arrangements and Holiday’s inimitable sense of timing. Another two engaging tracks are ‘You Go To My Head’ which also features Babe Russin on tenor, and ‘Carelessly’ with Harry Carney and Cootie Williams in the line-up.

This is an interesting and well thought out compilation. Currently there is a revised interest in Billie Holiday and the album is sure to be well received even though all the tracks are in mono. It has an appeal that should attract not only the jazz fan but anybody with an interest in the American Songbook.

Jack Ashby

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