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Music for Torching with Billie Holiday (1955)

Where the lyrics of Music for Torching with Billie Holiday take you, and where it was really made.

The Clef album was recorded in two Los Angeles sessions two days apart, and those same sessions also produced all the material for her next album, Velvet Mood.

Key places

Two sessions in Los Angeles (1955)

Recording site Los Angeles — The album was recorded over two sessions in Los Angeles, two days apart. The point is placed at the city centre because no studio building is named in the sources. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Music for Torching with Billie Holiday: fourth studio album by jazz singer Billie Holiday
• A collection of torch songs, released in 1955 by Clef Records
• Her first 12-inch LP for the label, after four 10-inch LPs
• Eight tracks: four on Side A (It Had to Be You, Come Rain or Come Shine, I Don't Want to Cry Anymore, I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You), four on Side B (A Fine Romance, Gone with the Wind, I Get a Kick Out of You, Isn't This a Lovely Day?)

Background

• The album title refers to the American tradition of the torch song
• Released on Clef, the label of Norman Granz, according to the German article
• The German article credits Norman Granz with the recording

Recording

• Recorded in Los Angeles over two sessions, two days apart
• German article gives the session dates as 23 and 25 August 1955
• The same sessions also produced all the material for the follow-up album Velvet Mood (MG C-713)
• Musicians: Billie Holiday (vocals), Harry 'Sweets' Edison (trumpet), Benny Carter (alto and tenor saxophone), Jimmy Rowles (piano), Barney Kessel (guitar), John Simmons (bass), Larry Bunker (drums)
• Edison, Carter and the rhythm section were the backing band the German article describes as assembled by Granz for this session

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

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

Reappraisal

• Biographer Donald Clarke described the song selection as one of the best she ever had
• Clarke wrote that Simmons' bass is especially beautiful on this session
• Clarke noted that her voice was rough at the rehearsal session the day before, had intonation problems on 23 August, and was better, even better, two days later
• Clarke concluded that all the recordings are fantastic and that the result depends very much on the band
• The programme, freely translated as 'music by candlelight', set the tempos and the soloists' tone
• As the LP title suggests, both sides keep an even, balladic tempo throughout
• The German article describes the sequence as slow songs followed by faster ones, with Carter and Edison staying behind the singer rather than pushing forward
• No separate sales or chart records appear in the sources for this album

Sources: de.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The Clef LP was the label's first 12-inch album, following four 10-inch LPs.
• After Clef merged into the Verve label founded in 1956, a 10-inch LP (Verve MGV 8026) appeared.
• The later CD edition added tracks that had been released on the album Velvet Mood (Verve MGV 8096).
• The Verve edition The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve contains the full session, including alternate takes of A Fine Romance and When Your Lover Has Gone.
• Pianist Jimmy Rowles, saxophonist Benny Carter and trumpeter Harry 'Sweets' Edison all played in the same band that recorded the album.

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

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