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Billie Holiday at Jazz at the Philharmonic (1954)

Where the lyrics of Billie Holiday at Jazz at the Philharmonic take you, and where it was really made.

The earliest tracks on this album were recorded in February 1945, but the album was not released until 1954.

Key places

Jazz at the Philharmonic at the Shrine (1954)

Recording site Shrine Auditorium — Tracks for this album were recorded at a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The sessions are dated February 1945 and October 1946. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Carnegie Hall session, June 1946 (1946)

Recording site Carnegie Hall — Part of the album was recorded at Carnegie Hall in New York on June 3, 1946. Those tracks share the personnel of the February 1945 session. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Billie Holiday at Jazz at the Philharmonic: debut live album by jazz singer Billie Holiday
• Recorded at the Jazz at the Philharmonic concert at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, on February 12, 1945 and in October 1946
• A June 3, 1946 recording was made at Carnegie Hall, New York
• Released in 1954 by Clef Records
• Originally issued as a 10-inch LP, her fourth LP for Norman Granz's Clef label
• Eight tracks in total, four on each side

Background

• Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP): series of jazz concerts, tours and recordings produced by Norman Granz from 1944 through 1983
• Holiday performed at JATP concerts many times
• She joined the troupe in 1954, the year the album came out
• February 1945 session: Holiday with Lester Young, Illinois Jacquet, George Auld, Buck Clayton, Tiny Grimes, JC Heard, Al McKibbon and Ken Kersey
• October 1946 session: Holiday with Illinois Jacquet, Trummy Young, Howard McGhee, Ken Kersey, Barney Kessel, Jack Mills and Charlie Drayton

Recording

• Tracks: Body and Soul, Strange Fruit, Trav'lin' Light, He's Funny That Way, The Man I Love, Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You, All of Me, Billie's Blues
• The June 3, 1946 Carnegie Hall tracks use the same personnel as the February 1945 session
• Side one holds four tracks and side two holds four tracks

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · de.wikipedia.org

Artist

Formation

• 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.

Members

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

Career

• 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.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Jack Tracy, editor of DownBeat, praised the album in a contemporary review
• Tracy wrote that these tracks were recorded at a JATP concert in Los Angeles in 1946
• He said the years since had taken their toll on the singer, but that on that night she had everything
• He called the album one of the outstanding records in years
• The original LP's liner notes cited a 1954 DownBeat review that gave the album five out of five stars

Records

• Eight tracks were later reissued as parts of various compilations after the 10-inch form was discontinued
• They were included in the 10-CD box set The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve 1945–1959

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · de.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Clef was Norman Granz's label, and this was Holiday's fourth LP for it.
• After the 10-inch format was discontinued, the eight tracks were reissued across several compilations.
• The June 3, 1946 Carnegie Hall tracks share the personnel of the February 1945 session.
• Holiday joined the Jazz at the Philharmonic troupe in 1954, the same year the album was released.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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