Billie Holiday Lady Sings the Blues 180g LP

Although Billie Holiday's repertoire covered barely more than a dozen pure blues numbers during the course of her long career from 1933 to 1959, music critics always referred to her as the "Lady [who] sings the blues." And that hasn't changed to this day. In truth the recordings she made for Columbia in the thirties and those for Clef/Verve between 1953 and 1957 were a highly varied mixture of titles from the American songbook and her own compositions. Her interpretations were a benchmark against which all aspiring singers were measured. Highly expressive, almost visual ballads went hand in hand with Billie Holiday's life and voice - and only she could sing them! Her voice was always embedded in the sound carpet produced by her accompanying musicians: Tony Scott and Paul Quinichette are two names who made their mark on her music in the mid-fifties and the rhythm group of Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell and Chico Hamilton is really first class. The trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison, a longtime friend from the Count Basie Band, sensitively accompanies the singer's mature voice.