Billie Holiday Lady Sings The Blues LP

Lady Sings the Blues is the name of the Billie Holiday album presented here, as well as the record s title track. It was even used as the title of the singer s autobiography, which she presented shortly before the making of this amazing LP. The album placed Lady Day in the company of celebrated jazz stars, such as Charlie Shavers, Harry Sweets Edison, Paul Quinichette, Wynton Kelly, Barney Kessel, and Kenny Burrell, and received a five-star rating in Down Beat. Lady Sings the Blues, I understand, was a rather stormy session in its first eight tracks , wrote Nat Hentoff, but to a listener who wasn t there, it comes through as a characteristic, satisfyingly troubling, indelible Billie monologue. Tempos are generally slow with some walking-medium. No other singer now in jazz gets so fully into the bloodstream as Billie still does. Billie still has the best vocal game in town when she s playing for keeps.