Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit (2007)

Recorded between 1950 and 1958, this collection of performances focuses on the twilight years of the legendary jazz and blues singer who, along with Louis Armstrong, redefined the art of interpreting popular song in the first half of the twentieth century. Performance footage of Billie Holiday may admittedly be scant, but this issue compiles into a single release song cuts from some of Holiday's live filmed performances that are still extant. Billie Holiday: Strange Fruit video Concerts from which the compilation draws include: an August 19, 1950 gig with Count Basie and his orchestra, an August 13, 1956 set with pianist Corky Hale and his trio; a July 10, 1958 set, filmed in Newark, in which Holiday is backed up by tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld, bassist Vinnie Burke, pianist Mal Waldron and others; and a November 1958 Parisian set where Holiday is accompanied by Waldron and bassist Michel Gaudry. Billie Holiday: Strange Fruit film The program wraps with two selections from a February 1959 set featuring Mal Waldron and Peter Knight's orchestra, and then jumps back to Manhattan in December 1957 for one track performed with such artists as Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and others.

Tracklist:
01. God Bless The Child (Herzog-Holiday) 2:36
02. Now Baby, Or Never (Holiday-Lewis) 2:14
03. My Man (Charles-Pollack-Yvain) 3:21
04. Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone (Clare-Palmer-Stept) 1:55
05. Billie's Blues (Billie Holiday) 1:30
06. Easy To remember (Rodgers-Hart) 2:56
07. What A Little Moonlight Can Do (Woods) 2:27
08. Foolin' Myself (Lawrence-Tintutin) 2:24
09. I Only Have Eyes For You (Dubli-Warren) 1:50
10. Travelin' Light (Mercer-Young) 3:11
11. Strange Fruit (Allan-Marks) 2:23
12. I Love You Porgy (George & Ira Gershwin) 3:24
13. Fine And Mellow (Billie Holiday) 8:50

Billie Holiday (vocal) with:
1-2: Count Basie (p) and his orchestra. August 19,1950.
3-5: Corky Hale (p) and his trio. Los Angeles, August 13, 1956.
6-8: Georgie Auld (ts), Tyree Glenn (tb), Mal Waldron (p), Mary Osborne (g), Vinnie Burke (b), Osie Johnson (d). Newark, New Jersey, July 10, 1958.
9-10: Mal Waldron (p), Michel Gaudry (b). Paris, France, Novemver 18, 1958
11-12: Mal Waldron (p), orchetra conduced by Peter Knight. London, February 24, 1959.
13: Roy Eldridge, Doc Cheatham (tp), Vic Dickenson (tb), Lester Young, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins (s), Gerry Mulligan (bar), Mal Waldron (p), Danny Barker (g), Milt Hinton (b), Osie Johnson (d). New York, December 8, 1957.



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