Billie Holiday

INCLUDES 4 BONUS TRACKs

This album contains recordings taken from her 1952 and 1954 sessions, and is an excellent sampler of her skills and charms. While the disc may appear to be just another throw-together of Holiday hits, with nothing in particular to distinguish it from the others, the arrangements, the performances and the recordings themselves are all wonderful. Backed by tight, laid-back session musicians (Oscar Peterson plays piano on all of the tracks and is her only accompanist on “Love for Sale”), Holiday here enjoys the last full flush of her talents before health and substance abuse problems claimed her voice in the late ‘50s. On some tracks, her raspy voice plays over melodies, caressing them, trailing off the end of phrases for emotional punctuation. Her tone is at once rich and wispy, managing .simultaneously to convey vulnerability, despair, strength and sexuality.

PERSONNEL:

BILLIE HOLIDAY, vocals on all tracks, plus:

A1: OSCAR PETERSON, piano. Los Angeles, May 1952.

A2-A6 & B1: CHARLIE SHAVERS, trumpet, FLIP PHILLIPS, tenor sax
OSACR PETERSON, piano, BARNEY KESSEL, guitar, RAY BROWN, bass
ALVIN STOLLER or J.C. HEARD, drums
Los Angeles, May 1952.

B2-B4: CHAELIE SHAVERS, trumpet, OSCAR PETERSON, piano, HERB ELLIS, guitar, RAY BROWN, bass, ED SHAUGHNESSY, drums
Fine Sound Studios, New York, April 14, 1954.

B5-B6: JOE NEWMAN, trumpet, PAUL QUNICHETTE, tenor sax OSCAR PETERSON, piano,
FREDDIE GREEN, guitar, RAY BROWN, bass, GUS JOHNSON, drums
New York, July 27, 1952.

SIDE A:

1 LOVE FOR SALE
2 MOONGLOW
3 EVERYTHING I HAVE IS YOURS
4 IF THE MOON TURNS GREEN
5 TENDERLY (*)
6 REMEMBER (*)

SIDE B:

1 AUTUMN IN NEW YORK
2 HOW DEEP IS THE OCEAN?
3 WHAT A LITTLE MOONLIGHT CAN DO
4 I CRIED FOR YOU
5 MY MAN (*)
6 LOVER COME BACK TO ME (*)

(*) Bonus tracks. Not included on the original LP configuration.