Billie Holiday - The Chronological Classics: 1949-1951 '2002

Artist	Billie Holiday Related artists
Album name	The Chronological Classics: 1949-1951
Country
Date	2002
Genre	Jazz
Play time	58:49
Format / Bitrate	Stereo 1420 Kbps / 44.1 kHz MP3 320 Kbps
Media	CD
Size	153 MB(+3\%)
Price	Download $1.95

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Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Taint Nobodys Business If I Do (3:22)
02. Baby Get Lost (3:17)
03. Keeps on Rainin (3:17)
04. Them There Eyes (2:52)
05. Do Your Duty (3:18)
06. Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer (2:46)
07. You Cant Lose a Broken Heart (3:16)
08. My Sweet Hunk OTrash (3:22)
09. Now or Never (3:19)
10. Youre My Thrill (3:26)
11. Crazy He Calls Me (3:06)
12. Please Tell Me Now (3:16)
13. Somebodys on My Mind (2:59)
14. God Bless the Child (3:12)
15. This Is Heaven to Me (2:54)
16. Be Fair to Me (2:43)
17. Rocky Mountain Blues (3:12)
18. Blue Turning Grey over You (2:06)
19. Detour Ahead (3:06) 

Lady Days Decca recordings of 1949 and 1950 find her working in front of loud,
rather pushy big bands under the direction of Buster Harding and Sy Oliver, and
ultimately performing in weird collusion with white-bread pop entity Gordon
Jenkins. Porter Graingers Taint Nobodys Bizness if I Do has been closely
associated with Fats Waller since he recorded it in 1940. Lady Day sings it
sweet and spicy, with showy brass accenting her every phrase. Everyone who has
ever sung this number puts a personal spin on the lyrics. Tellingly, Billie
Holiday insists that even if she finds herself being battered by her male
companion, she will never seek help from the police and thats a personal matter
of her own. This has a grim aftertaste if you reflect upon her story up close,
but Billie was not alone in taking this sort of a stand -- Victoria Spiveys Let
Him Beat Me comes to mind, and theres nothing for the listener to do but reflect
upon human nature, which is what music -- especially blues and jazz -- is all
about. The folks at Decca seem to have had in mind an entire Holiday album of
songs associated with Bessie Smith, but unfortunately only three such numbers
made it to completion. Just think how nice it would be to have on hand Billies
renditions of Me and My Gin, Youve Got to Give Me Some, Backwater Blues, Wasted
Life Blues, Put It Right Here, and Send Me to the Lectric Chair! Thank goodness
she completed the three Bessie Smith covers heard here. Lady Days handling of
Keeps On A-Rainin is exquisite. Do Your Duty seems almost like a burlesque
because of the brassy arrangement, and this singer substitutes buck for Smiths
copulative term used on the original recording. Billie sounds delighted to be
singing Gimme a Pigfoot even if the prevailing social atmosphere did not permit
her to echo Bessies inclusion of the word reefer, however accurate that might
have been coming from the marijuana-reliant Holiday. The players in the bands
backing her in August and September of 1949 form a strong contingent from the
swing scene of the previous decade, with a couple of Young Lions -- George
Duvivier and Shadow Wilson -- thrown in for good measure. On September 30th of
that year Billie Holiday recorded two duets with her idol, Louis Armstrong,
their two voices mingling more on My Sweet Hunk o Trash than on the flip side.
In a way these performances resemble Armstrongs humorous collaborations with
Jack Teagarden. Four selections from October 1949 find our Lady backed with a
small band augmented with strings under the direction of Gordon Jenkins. While
some may regard these sides as too schmaltzy, anyone truly in love with this
singers voice will be able to relax and enjoy the ride. The Gordon Jenkins
Singers, on the other hand, are so square-sounding that most jazz fans will
struggle with the incongruity of it all. Billie herself manages to sound
wonderful even under these circumstances. Finally, four titles recorded in April
of 1951 for the Aladdin label provide a much-needed antidote after all that
fluff. Here the singer is backed by the Tiny Grimes Sextette, the only
identified members being gutsy saxophonist Haywood Henry, pianist Bobby Tucker,
and Grimes himself. Two tasty blues are followed by a magnificent version of
Fats Wallers Blue Turning Grey Over You and the wistful Detour Ahead.