Maps of Music

Body and Soul (1957)

Where the lyrics of Body and Soul take you, and where it was really made.

Billie Holiday's seventh studio album was recorded at a Hollywood studio, and its 1957 review said her singing had moved closer to recitative.

Key places

Recording site: Capitol Studios, Hollywood (1957)

Recording site Capitol Studios — The album's recording location is listed as Capitol Studios in Hollywood. The source gives this place as the recording site, without a date. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Body and Soul is the seventh studio album by jazz singer Billie Holiday
• Released in 1957
• The original LP has eight tracks, four on side A and four on side B
• Norman Granz is credited as producer of the original recordings
• Tracks 1 to 8 come from the original LP issue on Verve MGV-8197
• The album is one of the studio records in Billie Holiday's catalogue

Background

• The album is credited to Billie Holiday as its lead singer
• Side A includes the title track Body and Soul, They Can't Take That Away From Me, Darn That Dream and Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
• Side B includes Comes Love, Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You, Embraceable You and Moonlight in Vermont
• Several songs were written by well-known songwriting teams, among them George and Ira Gershwin
• The 2002 Verve Master Edition CD added three bonus tracks; those tracks belong to that reissue and not to the original album

Recording

• The album's recording location is listed as Capitol Studios in Hollywood
• The credited lineup has Billie Holiday on vocals
• Ben Webster plays tenor sax
• Barney Kessel plays guitar
• Harry "Sweets" Edison plays trumpet
• Jimmy Rowles plays piano
• Red Mitchell plays bass
• Alvin Stoller plays drums on tracks 1, 3, 5 and 8
• Larry Bunker plays drums on tracks 2, 4, 6 and 7
• The two drummers split the eight tracks between them

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.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

• Saturday Review reviewed the album in 1957, the year of its release
• The review said her voice had changed in a way that brought her singing closer to recitative
• It noted that she was occasionally timid about altering a melody, where earlier she had been bold
• The reviewer still placed her among the best jazz singers
• The reason given was her unique sound and attack
• The review also credited her straightforward, honest musical communication
• Read together, the review praised her delivery while pointing out the changes in her singing
• The album was her seventh studio album, so the review judged a mature stage of her recorded work

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The Saturday Review notice is the critical reception cited for this album in the source
• Alvin Stoller and Larry Bunker split the drum parts, each playing on four of the eight tracks
• The original LP issue is catalogued as Verve MGV-8197
• Ben Webster appears on tenor sax, and Harry "Sweets" Edison on trumpet
• The 2002 Verve Master Edition CD adds three bonus tracks, which are separate from the original LP

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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