1. Trav'lin' Light
2. I Must Have That Man!
3. Some Other Spring
4. Lady Sings the Blues
5. Strange Fruit
6. God Bless the Child
7. Good Morning, Heartache
8. No Good Man
9. Love Me or Leave Me
10. Too Marvellous for Words
11. Willow Weep for Me
12. I Thought about You
13. P.S. I Love You
14. Softly
15. Stormy Blues
16. Say It Isn't So
17. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
18. I Wished on the Moon
19. Always
20. Everything Happens to Me
21. Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me
Billie Holiday - Vocals, with:
Tracks 1-8
Charlie Shavers - Trumpet
Tony Scott - Clarinet
Paul Quinichette - Tenor sax
Wynton Kelly - Piano
Kenny Burrell - Guitar
Aaron Bell - Bass
Lennie McBrowne - Drums
Tracks 9-11, 13-15
Harry "Sweets" Edison - Trumpet
Willie Smith - Alto sax
Bobby Tucker - Piano
Barney Kessel - Guitar
Red Callender - Bass
Chico Hamilton - Drums
Track 12
Bobby Tucker - Piano
Tracks 16-21
Charlie Shavers - Trumpet
Tony Scott - Clarinet
Budd Johnson - Tenor sax
Billy Taylor - Piano
Billy Bauer - Guitar
Leonard Gaskin - Bass
Cozy Cole - Drums
Billie Holiday was a singer with a "lived-in" voice which
poignantly reflected her years of love lost and found. This bargain
package illustrates the fact very well, with two complete studio sessions
recorded respectively in 1956 and 1954. As an added attraction, the
last six tracks are a bonus from a 1955 session.
Drink and drugs, as well as unhappy relationships, had contributed
to weakening Billie's vocal range by the mid-fifties (she died in
1959), yet she could still touch the heart with plaintive but brave
expressions of emotion. She had an eloquent vibrato and was happy
to straddle the bar-lines, emphasising the messages in even the most
conventional songs. And she was unmatched in such touching songs as
Strange Fruit and Good Morning, Heartache. Billie's
voice was unique - Madeleine Peyroux managed to create a passable
imitation of it, but she could never equal Holiday's depth of feeling.
Billie is backed on these recordings by a starry line-up of musicians,
although the focus is generally on her vocals, allowing little space
for instrumental solos. On the 1956 tracks, Tony Scott's high-pitched
clarinet is not as suitable for accompaniment as Charlie Shavers'
muted trumpet or Paul Quinichette's Lesterian tenor sax. Shavers even
adds some Harry James-style flourishes to some songs, such as the
title-track, which was recorded for the first time on this album.
The album title comes from the autobiography which Billie co-wrote
with William Duffy. This title then became a song, with lyrics by
Billie and music by Herbie Nichols, and it was used much later for
the film (starring Diana Ross) about Billie's life.
Besides the songs already mentioned, the highlights of this compilation
include I Thought about You, a touching duet with pianist Bobby
Tucker; the unfamiliar Softly (introduced by echoing guitar
and trumpet); and Stormy Blues (with a swooping solo from altoist
Willie Smith).
The last six tracks give the musicians more opportunities for solos,
as well as some deft ensemble passages arranged by Leroy Lovett. I've
Got My Love to Keep Me Warm includes nice punctuations and a classy
solo from Charlie Shavers, plus a warm solo from tenorist Budd Johnson.
Tony Scott's clarinet is more mellow than previously in Always,
and Billy Taylor adds a refined solo to Everything Happens to Me.
The sleeve-note points out that Billie Holiday hated suggestions
that her voice in the fifties was not what it had been earlier: "Always
comebacks, but nobody says where I've been". In fact this album
proves that her voice was just as moving as it ever was.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Poll Winners Records PWR 27203
