Maps of Music

An Evening with Billie Holiday (1953)

Where the lyrics of An Evening with Billie Holiday take you, and where it was really made.

The same album returned in 1956 under a new title, A Recital by Billie Holiday, with a different track list.

Place unknown

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An Evening with Billie Holiday: second studio album by jazz singer Billie Holiday
Released by Clef Records in 1953 as a 10-inch LP
Catalogue number MG C-144
Eight tracks on the original release, four per side
Side A: "Stormy Weather", "Lover Come Back to Me", "My Man", "He's Funny That Way"
Side B: "Yesterdays", "Tenderly", "I Can't Face the Music", "Remember"

In 1956 the 10-inch format was phased out, and Clef reissued the album
The reissue kept the same artwork and seven of the eight original tracks
The reissue was a 12-inch LP titled A Recital by Billie Holiday (MG C-686)
Five more tracks from her third 10-inch LP, titled Billie Holiday, were added to the reissue

The personnel of the original 10-inch LP come from two different recording dates with different musicians
April 1952 session (exact date unknown): Charlie Shavers on trumpet, Flip Phillips on tenor saxophone, Oscar Peterson on piano, Barney Kessel on guitar, Alvin Stoller on drums, Ray Brown on bass
July 27, 1952 session: Joe Newman on trumpet, Paul Quinichette on tenor saxophone, Oscar Peterson on piano, Freddie Green on guitar, Gus Johnson on drums, Ray Brown on bass
Oscar Peterson played organ on "Yesterdays" in the July 1952 session
The April 1952 session supplied the original B3-4 tracks, "I Can't Face the Music" and "Remember"
The 12-inch reissue added three tracks from an April 14, 1954 session with Charlie Shavers, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ed Shaughnessy and Ray Brown

Born Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915, in Philadelphia; grew up in Baltimore.
Began singing in Harlem nightclubs as a young teenager, taking her stage name from actress Billie Dove and her father Clarence Halliday.
Discovered by producer John Hammond, who arranged her recording debut in November 1933 with Benny Goodman.

Solo artist; frequent collaborators included pianist Teddy Wilson and tenor saxophonist Lester Young, who nicknamed her "Lady Day".

Signed to Brunswick in 1935; recorded many sessions with Teddy Wilson, including "What a Little Moonlight Can Do".
Toured with Count Basie and Artie Shaw in 1937–1938, among the first Black women to work with a white orchestra.
Recorded "Strange Fruit" for Commodore in 1939, which became her best-selling record.
Had hits on Decca in the 1940s, including "Lover Man" and "God Bless the Child".
Arrested for narcotics in 1947 and sentenced to prison; returned to perform a sold-out Carnegie Hall concert in 1948.
Recorded for Verve and Columbia in the 1950s, including the album Lady in Satin (1958).
Died on July 17, 1959, at age 44 from cirrhosis and heart failure.
Won four posthumous Grammy Awards; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

Released by Clef Records in 1953 as a 10-inch LP
Eight tracks, with four songs on each side
Standards such as "Stormy Weather", "Yesterdays" and "Remember" are on the original tracklist

In 1956 Clef reissued the album as a 12-inch LP, A Recital by Billie Holiday (MG C-686)
The reissue kept the same artwork and seven of the eight original tracks
"Tenderly" was moved to another 12-inch compilation called Solitude
Five tracks from the 10-inch LP Billie Holiday were added to the reissue
Three of the reissue's tracks came from an April 14, 1954 session
The reissue track list runs to twelve songs, including "Autumn in New York", "How Deep Is the Ocean?", "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" and "I Cried for You"

The 1956 reissue was titled A Recital by Billie Holiday, a different title from the 1953 original
"Tenderly" was dropped from the reissue and placed on the 12-inch compilation Solitude
The original 10-inch LP mixed two recording sessions from 1952 with different musicians
Oscar Peterson played piano on both 1952 sessions and organ on "Yesterdays" in the July session
The 12-inch reissue added three tracks from a 1954 session, the only session in the album's history that falls after 1952