Artist: Billie Holiday
Album: Billie Holiday Sings Standards

Release Date : 1998.10.1

专辑及Billie Holiday简介：

Billie Holiday(1915—1959) ：

代表作：《Strange fruit》、《God bless the child》、《巴黎的四月》 《Georgia on my mind》《Gloomy Sunday》《Easy Living》

虽然贵为爵士乐坛的天后级巨星，但在billie有生的日子里，生活却是动荡不安的，鲜少安定。

出生在单亲家庭的billie holiday，因为父亲的任意妄为，母亲的不管不顾，令她从小就独自一人长大，而这在她早就勇于冒险精神的同时，也让她形成了有些自虐的倾向。十几岁在酒吧里唱歌的billie ，当时收入极为菲薄，二十岁正式开始自己的音乐事业，并录制了几张很有个人风格的爵士专辑后，开始有了名气的她因为肤色的缘故一直受着不平等的待遇，以致她吸过毒，坐过监狱、又酗酒。在经过了1939-1949这十年间的鼎盛时期，1950年，billie开始走下坡路，1959年孤独离开人世。

This collection of mostly gems from the great and influential singer who peaked in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s holds many pleasures: Holiday’s caressing, behind-the-beat swing with its great feeling of relaxation, and that quivering slide as her phrase ends; a great repertoire of songs from the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern and their lesser peers, so that the sincerity of her interpretation, usually called on to make gold from garbage, finds material worthy of it; small-band interpretations (commonly three horns and four-piece rhythm) which personalize the swing era sound, rescuing it from the anonymity of the big bands; solos and fills by some of jazz’s greatest and most distinct instrumentalists, with beautiful work by Lester Young on tenor sax and clarinet, altoists Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter, clarinetist Benny Goodman, trumpeters Roy Eldridge and Buck Clayton, and pianist Teddy Wilson, among others. Six of the tracks include three-fourths of Count Basie’s “All-American Rhythm Section,” Freddie Green on guitar, Walter Page on bass and Jo Jones on drums, mostly with Teddy Wilson on piano; but almost all of the rhythm sections are smooth and tasty.

“The Very Thought Of You,” is a medium-tempo sampler of these pleasures, with some florid and harmonically astute piano from Margaret “Countess” Johnson in counterpoint to Holiday’s golden voice, and Buck Clayton on muted trumpet and Lester Young on clarinet splitting a solo chorus in front of Freddie Green’s airy guitar chords. “More Than You Know,” with trumpeter Roy Eldridge opening and closing with arresting theme statements, Holiday’s vocal commitment lending meaning to “Oh how I sigh, how I cry”, the smooth backing chords from the horns, pianist Teddy Wilson tinkling away in the background and then alternating lovely solos with altoist Benny Carter, is another beauty.

But you could pick almost any of these tracks for the spotlight. Unfortunately, there are a few clinkers: two ill-considered tracks originally from LADY IN SATIN, recorded in 1958 with the jazz band augmented by a string orchestra and Holiday’s wrecked voice turning her earlier vocal methods into self-parodying mannerisms; a 1936 version of the bluesy “Summertime” which seems inappropriate for Holiday; and it’s jarring. at the start of the otherwise typically perfect “Until the Real Thing Comes Along,” to hear her singing, “I’d be a nigger or a knave for you”— an unwelcome piece of Americana, that. Still, there is enough gorgeous music here, eighteen tracks in all, to make this a great sampler for someone who doesn’t already have the Columbia Holidays in their collection.

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