BILLIE HOLIDAY — Solitude (1952-1993) RM | Serie Billie Holiday Verve Story – Volume 2 | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Billie Holiday's first recordings for Norman Granz' Clef Records present a vocalist truly at the top of her craft, although she would begin a rapid decline soon thereafter. This 1952 recording (originally issued as a 10" LP, Billie Holiday Sings) places Holiday in front of small piano and tenor saxophone-led groups including jazz luminaries such as Oscar Peterson and Charlie Shavers, where her gentle phrasing sets the tone for the sessions, evoking lazy evenings and dreamy afternoons. The alcoholism and heroin use that would be her downfall by the end of this decade seems to be almost unfathomable during these recordings since Holiday is in as fine a voice as her work in the '30s, and the musical environment seems ideal for these slow torch songs. Solitude runs as the common theme throughout these 16 tracks; the idle breathiness of "These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)" finds the vocalist casually reminiscing, and Barney Kessel's warm guitar lines frame the title track beautifully. Several of Holiday's best-known recordings came from this session, including outstanding versions of "I Only Have Eyes for You" and a darkly emotional "Love for Sale," making this album far and away the best work of her later years, and certainly a noteworthy moment of her entire career. Zac Johnson
Tracklist :
1. East of the Sun (And West of the Moon) (Bowman) - 2:56
2. Blue Moon (Rodgers-Hart) - 3:31
3. You Go to My Head (Coots-Gillespie) - 2:57
4. You Turned the Tables on Me (Alter-Mitchell) - 3:28
5. Easy to Love (Porter) - 3:02
6. These Foolish Things (Link-Strachey-Maschwitz) - 3:35
7. I Only Have Eyes for You (Warren-Dubin) - 2:54
8. Solitude (Ellington-DeLange-Mills) - 3:32
9. Everything I Have Is Yours (Lane-Adamson) - 3:45
10. Love for Sale (Porter) - 2:59
11. Moonglow (DeLange-Hudson-Mills) - 3:00
12. Tenderly (Gross-Lawrence) - 3:25
13. If the Moon Turns Green (Coates-Hanighen) - 2:47
14. Remember (Berlin) - 2:37
15. Autumn in New York (LP take) (Duke) - 3:43
16. Autumn in New York (78 rpm take) (Duke) - 3:52
Credits :
Billie Holiday - Vocals
Charlie Shavers - Trumpet
Flip Phillips - Tenor Saxophone
Oscar Peterson - Piano
Barney Kessel - Guitar
Alvin Stoller - Drums

CHARLIE PARKER – 1952-1954 | The Chronogical Classics – 1408 (2005) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Sadly, this is the sixth and last volume in the Classics Charlie Parker chronology. It assembles all of his studio recordings made between March 25, 1952 and December 10, 1954, only three months before his death at the age of 35. On the session that opens the compilation, producer Norman Granz placed Bird in front of a brassy big band, using punchy arrangements by Joe Lippman. The quartet session of December 30, 1952 resulted in four beautiful tracks that are greatly enhanced by the rhythm section of Hank Jones, Teddy Kotick and Max Roach. Bird's highly evolved musicality, coupled with the fact that he was beginning to come up with titles like "Cosmic Rays" might invite speculation as to where he would have been at had he lived through the late '50s and into the '60s. Jazz purists have been bitching about the Gil Evans-arranged "chamber jazz" session of May 22, 1953 ever since the records first came out on Granz's Clef label. But Charlie Parker sounded marvelous in any company. He transformed everything he came into contact with, even these stylized vocals by Dave Lambert & His Singers, a carefully collared mini-choir that included Lambert's future partner in crime Annie Ross. Having Charles Mingus and Max Roach in the band didn't hurt, either. Roach was also on hand for a superb quartet date on August 4, 1953 with Al Haig and Percy Heath. (For a good time, chase Bird's rendition of "I Remember You" with all five takes of the same piece recorded in 1961 by Lee Konitz. Finish with the version presented live at Yoshi's in 1994 by the Anthony Braxton Piano Quartet, rinse, and repeat.) Charlie Parker's final two studio recording sessions took place in the early spring and winter of 1954 with quintets featuring Walter Bishop, Jr. at the piano, and first Roy Haynes then Art Taylor behind the drums. The material was entirely derived from the Cole Porter songbook; Bird's studio swan song, "I Love Paris" has an ominous quality that haunts the listener long after the five-minute record has ended. arwulf arwulf      Tracklist + Credits :

BUCK CLAYTON – 1945-1947 | The Chronogical Classics – 968 (1997) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Buck Clayton played smooth trumpet, warm and precise every step of the way. The first session included here appeared under the nominal leadership of Count Basie's rhythm guitarist, Freddie Green. After Lucky Thompson introduces "I'm in the Mood for Love," Sylvia Sims sings the lyric in attractive, easygoing tones. The flip side, an uncredited original called "Sugar Hips," is a typical mid-1945 exercise in what was at the time called both "rebop" and "bebop." Swing was now ready to morph into music of greater rhythmic and harmonic complexity. This track provides a fine example of Shadow Wilson's superb handling of hi-hat and drums. Sammy Benskin demonstrates a fine, muscular pianism. Dicky Wells seems to enjoy riding along on a tide of what were at the time decisively modern changes. Recorded exactly one month later for the small-time Melrose label, the Buck Clayton Quintet session introduces tenor man Flip Phillips, with Teddy Wilson appearing as "Theodocius," roundly supported by Slam Stewart and Danny Alvin. After a snappy romp through "Diga Diga Doo," "Love Me or Leave Me" is taken at a much more relaxed tempo than usual. This gives everyone a chance to savor the melody rather than chasing about. "We're in the Money" bounces along in an updated groove, much hipper than the Busby Berkeley original. Flip is exceptionally helpful here. The date closes with a stunningly solid piece of blues bearing Buck Clayton's initials. Slam bows his bass in an uncharacteristically low register, and the combination of horns and piano during the out chorus is really amazing. The only thing that could top it is the J.C. Heard Quintet session recorded for Keynote on August 17, 1945. Buck and Flip are now backed by three of the best rhythm section mates in all of early modern jazz: Johnny Guarnieri, Milt Hinton, and the immaculate J.C. Heard. The quintet's approach to Jerome Kern's "Why Do I Love You" is refreshingly brisk and inventive. "All My Life" is still sometimes associated with Fats Waller; in 1945 a lot of people probably thought that he had written it. What you get here is a magnificent sensitive rendering, beautifully phrased. "Groovin' With J.C." begins with jaunty walking bass and eases into a steady lope, very groovy as the title implies. "What's the Use" further demonstrates the perfect balance of this little band, wherein the rhythm section is so strong that the horns fit in uncommonly well. Nobody ever gets stepped on or overshadowed. As for the Hot Record Society sessions, there was always a lot of "original" material on these dates, and some of the melodies sound like attempts at modernity without a whole lot of innovation. This is not to imply that the music is inferior. It's just a bit short on genuine melodic substance. The Big Four session is mostly memorable for Tiny Grimes and his electrified guitar, while the Big Eight date is notable for the combined presence of trombonists Dicky Wells and Trummy Young. Funny thing: "Sentimental Summer" has a bridge identical to that of "I Don't Want to Set the World On Fire." A fascinating addition to this CD is a children's record narrated by the actor Canada Lee. This 1947 recording traces the root system of jazz back to Africa (with authentic African drumming and chanting!) describing abduction, enslavement, emancipation, and the development of jazz in the 20th century. During part two of the story, Buck Clayton, Ed Hall, Teddy Wilson, and Jimmy Crawford provide a blues and a hot stomp. This is an uncommonly hip kiddie record, infinitely more accurate and intelligent than anything else on the market in its day. How thoughtful of the producers to include it on Buck Clayton's CD. arwulf arwulf  
Tracklist + Credits :

NAT "KING" COLE – 1947-1949 | The Chronogical Classics – 1155 (2000) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

 Nat King Cole could charm most listeners by simply singing a few lines from the phone book. His delivery is so intoxicating that even less-than-stellar material doesn't cause so much as a blink of the eye. This is true with Classics' collection of some of his 1947-1949 cuts, where hardly a classic standard or hit is in sight. What one does get, though, is a generous dose of Nat Cole and the trio's slow-riffin' best . While ranging from the ballad perfection of "How Lonely Can You Get" and "Lost April" to svelte blues sides like "My Mother Told Me," Cole, guitarist Irving Ashby, and bassist Johnny Miller show how they perfected the piano trio template forged by the singer's first group with guitarist Oscar Moore and bassist Wesley Prince. The disc also includes two boppish instrumentals: "Leap Here" and "Metronome Riff," featuring Cole with large combos stuffed with likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy DeFranco, Bob Cooper, Art Pepper, Bill Harris, and Shelly Manne. Also included are two takes of "Portrait of Jennie," an early strings affair that nicely foreshadows Cole's symphonic run of hits in the '50s. This disc might not work too well as a prime introduction to the the Nat Cole Trio's '40s material -- check out Capitol's Vocal Classics titles for that -- but it certainly will please fans wanting to delve beyond the more popular tracks. And for those keen on getting a good share of Cole's instrumental and jazz-centric sides, check out Capitol's Instrumental Classics and Jazz Encounters collections. Stephen Cook
Tracklist + Credits :

ROY ELDRIDGE – 1945-1947 | The Classics Chronological Series – 983 (1998) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

As far as Roy Eldridge's big bands go, this was the peak. With arrangements by Buster Harding and a stable of powerful young players, the Roy Eldridge Orchestra must have been formidable in live performance. Most of the recordings they made for the Decca label represent the ultimate in extroverted big-band swing. The explosive "Little Jazz Boogie" is one of the hottest records Roy Eldridge ever made. The flip side, "Embraceable You," bears witness to his profound abilities as an interpreter of ballads. Three sides by the Roy Eldridge Little Jazz Band recorded for V-Disc on November 14, 1945, allow for more intimate interplay. "Roy Meets Horn" -- the title is a takeoff on "Boy Meets Horn," Ellington's feature for Rex Stewart -- and "Old Rob Roy" are late-period swing or "prebop" numbers, anticipating stylistic changes that were in the wind at the time. With Nick Caiazza blowing tenor sax, Ernie Caceres wielding a clarinet, and Trigger Alpert and Specs Powell in the rhythm section, this was one exciting little jam band. "I've Found a New Baby" is a full-blown stomp employing traditional swing polyphony. Contrary to what the discography claims, there is no spoken introduction by Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. Back in the Decca studios on January 31, 1946, the big band generated huge gusts of sound, employing lots of in-your-face brass. "Ain't That a Shame" is a fine cool blues graced with one of Eldridge's hippest vocals. The session of May 7, 1946, opened with the rowdy "Hi Ho Trailus Boot Whip" and eased into "Tippin' Out" -- the apparent obverse of "Tippin' In," a big hit for Erskine Hawkins. During his solo on "Yard Dog," tenor saxophonist Tom Archia quotes from Fats Waller's hit record "There's Honey on the Moon Tonight." On the other hand, "Les Bounce" is not a very inventive melody. The band compensates by blowing hard and Eldridge tries using a portion of the melodic line from his famous "Little Jazz." The material recorded on September 24, 1946, signals a return to dependable jazz standards of the day. This band had alto saxophonists Sahib Shihab and Joe Eldridge, Cecil Payne on baritone, and pianist Duke Jordan. The disc closes with the WNEW Saturday Night Swing Session broadcast live on May 31, 1947. "Honeysuckle Rose" is played by just the rhythm section of Al Casey, Eddie Safranski, and Specs Powell. "Flip and Jazz" is nearly nine minutes of hot jamming in the company of tenor saxophonist Flip Phillips. "How High the Moon" is, well, a visit to bop city as Eldridge brings in the melody known as "Ornithology." "Lover" is played bright and fast with lots of block chords hammered out by pianist Mike Coluchio's right hand. "Buck Still Jumps," played once again just by the rhythm section, is Al Casey's sequel to "Buck Jumpin'," his famous feature number from Fats Waller days. arwulf arwulf
Tracklist + Credits :

RED NORVO AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1939-1943 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1232 (2002) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The first ten tracks of this fifth volume of Red Norvo's complete recordings document the gradual demise of Norvo's big band, a unit he'd fronted since January of 1936. Only one of these -- a jumpin' arrangement of "Some Like It Hot" -- is instrumental. Seven tracks are burdened with the vapid vocalizing of Terry Allen. Mildred Bailey sings "There'll Never Be Another You," not to be confused with the more famous song with a similar title, introduced in 1942 by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon. She also performs the weirdly infantile "Three Little Fishes," a goofy number that gooses her into sounding almost as silly as Mae Questal. Norvo disbanded the group in June of 1939, and briefly reassembled a different 15-piece ensemble to record four sides for Columbia in March of 1942. Mildred Bailey, who had recorded with Harry Sosnik's orchestra one month earlier, sat in to sing on what would number among the last records she would ever make with her ex-husband Red Norvo. "I'll Be Around" is gorgeous, not as stylized as Cab Calloway's marvelously polished version, but beautifully rendered with dramatic tenderness. The lively, humorous "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry" is one of her very best performances on record, fortified with a snappy infusion of rhumba rhythm and full-blown big-band swing. The next leg of Norvo's journey involved concentrated work for the war effort. He was one of the first to make lightweight 12" 78-rpm records for V-Disc, providing musical entertainment for armed forces personnel during the Second World War. As usual, spoken introductions were grafted onto some of the selections, first by vocalist Carol Bruce and even Norvo himself, who greets the troops before launching into what is apparently the first recording ever made of "1-2-3-4 Jump." This kickin' jam tune, which would serve him well in the years to come, is followed by three similarly exciting instrumentals, including an expanded five-minute treatment of Duke Ellington's "In a Mellow Tone." With these magnificent performances, Red Norvo attained artistic maturity as he prepared to accelerate his own stylistic evolution in a manner commensurate with the progressive jazz scene of the 1940s. arwulf arwulf    Tracklist + Credits :

RED NORVO AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1943-1944 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1306 (2003) FLAC (tracks), lossless

With chronological precision, this delightful disc covers eight months in the life of Red Norvo, who by November of 1943 had permanently switched from playing xylophone to the smoother, cooler, more modern vibraphone. Five V-Disc sides feature two attractive vocals by Helen Ward and excellent solos from rising tenor sax star Flip Phillips, clarinetist Aaron Sachs (who appears on four of the five sessions reissued here), trumpeter Dale Pearce, and trombonist Dick Taylor. A rhythm section of Ralph Burns, Clyde Lombardi, and Johnny Blowers rounds off this outstanding, up-to-date octet. Jazz-wise, the music recorded at this blowing session is strikingly superior to the stuff Norvo had produced only 18 months earlier, and vastly different from his big-band output during the late '30s. Norvo's next recording date took place in Chicago on April 5, 1944. Four exciting sides, originally issued on the Steiner Davis label, are distinguished by the easygoing interplay between Norvo, Lombardi, guitarist Remo Palmieri, and the great jazz violinist Stuff Smith. "Rehearsal" is exactly that -- three and a half minutes of impromptu jamming laced with laughter, discussion, and even a little scat singing. "Red's Stuff" is probably the creative apex of this incredible date, a rare treat for connoisseurs of vintage mid-20th century jazz. An authentically modern-sounding series of bop ideas, tonalities, and phrasing verify the radically progressive direction being pursued by the Red Norvo Sextet as they recorded for Brunswick in May of 1944. Their absorption of contemporary musical modes is evident in an amazing rendition of Denzil de Costa Best's "Dee Dee's Dance," a brand new approach to "Blue Skies," and especially the busy Benny Goodman/Charlie Christian jam vehicle "Seven Come Eleven." Three similarly advanced V-Discs from May of 1944 -- clocking in at nearly five minutes per side -- lead listeners to the threshold of Norvo's tenure as a Keynote recording artist. On July 27, 1944, at his first session for Harry Lim's ambitious modern jazz label, the vibraphonist and a small contingent from the previous date were joined by Teddy Wilson and Slam Stewart. The other half of the material from this session may be found on Classics 1356, the 1944-1945 volume in the label's Red Norvo chronology. arwulf arwulf  
Tracklist + Credits :

RED NORVO AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1944-1945 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1356 (2004) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Anyone who listens through the previous six volumes of Red Norvo on Classics will likely experience a visceral sense of excitement from 1943 onward as Norvo switches from xylophone to vibraphone and adopts a noticeably modern attitude toward the music. Norvo underwent a profound artistic transformation in 1944-1945, his many years of experience enabling him to settle into a new role as established recording artist and bandleader with an open-minded respect for young artists bearing new ideas. Norvo's remarkable skills as an improviser coupled with a willingness to participate in what music critics call the bop revolution often placed him squarely within the eye of the rapidly evolving cultural hurricane of modern music. This seventh album in the Norvo chronology delivers an unprecedented dosage of top-notch jazz, documenting the historical swing-to-bop phenomenon in 16 wonderful tracks. With five Keynote sides, two V-Discs, and an epochal meeting with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, topped off by Norvo's Nonet/Quintet set at the fabulous 1945 Town Hall Jazz Concert, this is by far the best volume in the Classics chronology of his recorded works, and might very well be the greatest all-purpose Red Norvo album ever released to the public. arwulf arwulf  
Tracklist + Credits :

LENNIE TRISTANO ALL STARS - Live at the Café Bohemia (2008) FLAC (tracks), lossless

This exciting compilation (which might more accurately have been called "Live at the Pied Piper and the Half Note") should come as a pleasant surprise to early modern jazz lovers, especially those who admire the work of pianist and philosopher Lennie Tristano. Tracks 1-5, credited to trombonist Bill Harris & His All Stars, were recorded in live performance on August 22, 1947 inside the Pied Piper at 15 Barrow Street in New York City's West Village. These tracks were released on LP in the '70s as Jazz Showcase 5001, A Knight in the Village. The Pied Piper mainly featured old-school jazz players like Wilbur De Paris and James P. Johnson, and wouldn't become the Café Bohemia until 1949 when it was purchased by one James Garofolo, who didn't adopt a rigorously progressive jazz policy until six years later. Bill Harris was a modernist associated with the bop-addled Woody Herman and Charlie Ventura bands. Tristano and tenor saxophonist Flip Phillips received feature billing, with the rest of the All-Stars, consisting of guitarist Billy Bauer, bassist Chubby Jackson, and drummer Denzil Best. On "Flip Meets Bill," Tristano was replaced by Argonne Thornton, who was on the verge of changing his name to Sadik Hakim. He is remembered for his work with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, and Lester Young, a master improviser who was one of Tristano's personal heroes.
The rest of the material presented here was recorded inside the Half Note at 289 Hudson Street on June 6, 1964 for use in a Look Up & Live television broadcast narrated by Dr. William Hamilton. Originally released on Tristano's Jazz Records label, tracks 6-8 feature saxophonists Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh with bassist Sonny Dallas and drummer Nick Stabulas. If part of this lineup rings a few bells, note that in 1961, Konitz, Dallas, and Stabulas (as well as Elvin Jones) made a bunch of studio recordings for Verve which were released in 2007 on Universal's deluxe three-CD "Elite Edition" of Motion. That package, which fairly bristles with alternate takes, is recommended as a vibrant counterpart to this double reissue of uncommon location recordings which feature the predictably unpredictable Lennie Tristano. arwulf arwulf  
Tracklist :
1     What Is This Thing Called Love? 13:48
Cole Porter
2     Just You, Just Me 10:37
Jesse Greer / Raymond Klages
3     A Knight in the Village 9:40
Bill Harris
4     Medley: Body and Soul/Sweet Lorraine 4:02
Cliff Burwell / Mitchell Parish
5     Flip Meets Bill 10:35
Bill Harris / Flip Phillips
6     Subconscious-Lee ["Look Up & Live" TV Broadcast, Half Note, NY, June 6, 1964] 6:17
Lennie Tristano
7     317 East 32nd ["Look Up & Live" TV Broadcast, Half Note, NY, June 6, 1964] 9:53
Lennie Tristano
8     Background Music ["Look Up & Live" TV Broadcast, Half Note, NY, June 6, 1964] 9:59
Lennie Tristano
Credits :    
1-5
Ensemble – Lennie Tristano Sextet
Bass – Chubby Jackson
Drums – Denzil Best
Guitar – Billy Bauer
Tenor Saxophone – Flip Phillips
Trombone – Bill Harris
Piano – Lennie Tristano (tracks: 1 to 4)
6-8
Alto Saxophone – Lee Konitz
Bass – , Sonny Dallas
Drums – Nick Stabulas
Piano – Lennie Tristano
Tenor Saxophone – Warne Marsh
Notas.
Tracks 1-5: Live at the Café Bohemia, August 22, 1947.
Bonus tracks 6-8: "Look Up & Live" TV Broadcast, live from the Half Note, New York, June 6, 1964.

JOHNNY HODGES AN HIS ORCHESTRA - 1951-1952 {CC, 1389} (2005) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Between January 1951 and August 1955, alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges took an extended vacation from Duke Ellington and led his own ensembles in a remarkably fruitful series of recording sessions produced by Norman Granz. Volume three in the Classics Johnny Hodges chronology opens with four outstanding tracks cut on February 28, 1951. Since Hodges was still drawing a salary from Ellington during the session that took place on January 15, these are the first recordings he made as an independent artist after severing the professional umbilicus that had tethered him to Duke's orchestra since the late '20s. Johnny Hodges was one of Ellington's cardinal voices, and musically, they more or less grew up together; even when technically separated, both men continued to make music that reflected a glowing spectrum of shared sensibilities. Most of the Hodges/Granz bands were peppered with Ellingtonians, and several are in evidence here; trombonist Lawrence Brown, drummer Sonny Greer, Billy Strayhorn sitting in at the piano on "Globe Trotter" and tenor man Al Sears serving as "musical director" and booking agent. The session of March 3, 1951 opened with "Castle Rock," Searsy's gutsy self-portrait in R&B that made it onto entertainment industry charts and into jukeboxes for a little while as a "hit." The rest of these recordings were fated to exist as they do today -- as excellent music suspended in an amorphous category stamped with the word "jazz"; marginalized by a mainstream pop culture obsessed with star vocalists, specious spectacle and anything pasted over with the meaningless word "new." These recordings made by a series of septets under the leadership of Johnny Hodges in New York and San Francisco during 1951 and 1952, feature (in addition to the artists already mentioned) such able practitioners as trumpeter Emmett Berry, saxophonist Flip Phillips, bassist Red Callender, drummer J.C. Heard and Ellington vocalist Al Hibbler -- and these timeless performances still await wider recognition. arwulf arwulf
Tracklist :
1     Good Queen Bass 3:05     
Johnny Hodges
2     Jeep's Blues 2:59
Ellington, Hodges
3     Solitude 2:56
Eddie DeLange / Duke Ellington / Irving Mills
4     The Jeep Is Jumping 2:50
Ellington, Hodges    
5     Castle Rock 2:53
Al Sears    
6     Sophisticated Lady 3:11
Duke Ellington / Irving Mills / Mitchell Parish
7     Globe Trotter 3:05
Hodges
8     Gentle Breeze 3:16
Sears    
9     Sideways 3:04
Lovett    
10     A Pound of Blues 3:11
Lovett    
11     Wham 3:04
Hodges    
12     Who's Excited 3:05
Mercer / Hodges
13     Sweeping the Blues Away 3:19
Ellington, Hodges    
14     Day Dream 3:21
Ellington, Latouche, Strayhorn
15     Standing Room Only  2:50
Hodges
16     Below the Azores 3:06
Lovett
17     Tenderly 3:21
Walter Gross / Jack Lawrence
18     Sweet Georgia Brown 6:01
Ben Bernie / Kenneth Casey / Maceo Pinkard
19     Duke's Blues 6:09
Hodges    
20     Tea for Two 3:02
Irving Caesar / Vincent Youmans
21     This Is My Night to Love 3:04
Ford
22     What I'm Gotchere 3:23
The Cue
Credits :
Billy Strayhorn  Piano
Lloyd Trotman  Bass
Anatol Schenker  Liner Notes
Barney Richmond  Bass
Lawrence D. Brown  Trombone
Sonny Greer  Drums
Emmett Berry  Trumpet
Red Callender  Bass
J.C. Heard  Drums
Leroy Lovett  Piano, Celeste
Al Hibbler  Violin, Vocals
Johnny Hodges  Sax (Alto)
Flip Phillips  Sax (Tenor)
Al Sears  Sax (Tenor)

BILLIE HOLIDAY – 1952 (2003) The Classics Chronological Series – 1285 | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Billie Holiday's recording career can be viewed in three distinct phases. The singer's evolution begins with the Vocalion/OKeh/Columbia years, steadily maturing throughout the Commodore, Decca, and latter-day Columbia sessions, then ripening into music of incredible poignancy as she recorded almost exclusively with Norman Granz for his Clef and Verve labels during the 1950s. The material reissued on this disc, recorded during the spring and summer of 1952, presents Lady Day in full bloom. There is within each of these songs a powerful elegance that is both meditative and intoxicating. Here are the slow love songs, more relaxed than ever before, with magical turns of phrasing that rise above the band like smoke in the air. When the tempo picks up, as in the old Busby Berkeley number "I Only Have Eyes for You," Billie's trustworthy trumpeting pal Charlie Shavers injects a bit of mustard into the mix. But most of the material here is languid and the overall effect is that of a jazz lieder recital where songs are savored rather than being spooled out in haste. While most of the recordings conform to the three or three-and-a-half-minute range that had been dictated for years by the 10" 78-rpm record, "Everything I Have Is Yours" and "Autumn in New York" approach the four-minute mark, anticipating the emergence of the LP, a development that would allow jazz musicians to stretch out like never before. And "stretching out" is exactly what these people are doing as they carefully render these 21 songs of love and heartbreak. arwulf arwulf
Tracklist :
1 East of the Sun (And West of the Moon) 2:57
Brooks Bowman
2 Blue Moon 3:32
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers
3 You Go to My Head 2:58
J. Fred Coots / Haven Gillespie
4 You Turned the Tables On Me 3:29
Louis Alter / Sidney Mitchell
5 Easy to Love 3:02
Cole Porter
6 These Foolish Things 3:35
Harry Link / Holt Marvell / Jack Strachey
7 I Only Have Eyes for You 2:54
Al Dubin / Harry Warren 
8 Solitude 3:32
Eddie DeLange / Duke Ellington / Irving Mills
9 Everything I Have Is Yours 3:46
Harold Adamson / Burton Lane
10 Love for Sale 2:58
Cole Porter
11 Moonglow 3:01
Eddie DeLange / Will Hudson / Irving Mills
12 Tenderly 3:25
Walter Gross / Jack Lawrence
13 If the Moon Turns Green 2:47
Paul Coates / Bernie Hanighen
14 Remember 2:37
Irving Berlin
15 Autumn in New York 3:53
Vernon Duke
16 My Man 2:39
Jacques Charles / Channing Pollack / Albert Willemetz / Maurice Yvain
17 Lover, Come Back to Me 3:37
Oscar Hammerstein II / Sigmund Romberg
18 Stormy Weather 3:43
Harold Arlen / Ted Koehler
19 Yesterdays 2:50
Otto Harbach / Jerome Kern
20 He's Funny That Way 3:13 
Neil Moret (Chas. N. Daniels) / Richard A. Whiting
21 I Can't Face the Music 3:13
Rube Bloom / Ted Koehler