A Tribute To Billy Holiday

The late Billie Holiday left behind, as a reminder of her greatness, a huge body of recordings. Her singing was only a part of the legacy, however. Billie’s introduction of many new songs, and what she did with the old songs, helped to swell the storehouse of the jazz repertoire for all the singers and players who grew up with her, as well as those who came after.

From Wiki: 

“Chesney Henry “Chet” Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and singer.
Specializing in relaxed, even melancholy music, Baker rose to prominence as a leading name in cool jazz in the 1950s. Baker’s good looks and delicate singing established him as a promising name in pop music as well. But his success was badly hampered by drug addiction, particularly in the 1960s, when he was imprisoned.
He mounted a successful comeback in the ’70s, but died after falling from a hotel window.”

This is a tribute to Lady Day from one who is both a singer and a player - fluegelhornist Chet Baker. “Her style was so unique - so different,” he says of Billie. “She had a way of combining singing and talking a tune that was very intimate. One thing I really liked about her was that she never raised her voice. At least I never heard her shout. Her way of singing really reflected a lot of soul. Billie Holiday was Billie Holiday - that’s all. She was great. She always did the best tunes, tunes that really lent themselves to her style of singing. She really didn’t have a great voice, but what she did with it…”

Chet, another vocalist who doesn’t shout, began singing long before he took up the trumpet. “When I was 11 or 12, my mother used to drag me around to the amateur contests that they had in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoons. I never won but I was second once. Even at that time, I was singing the current ballads. I sang in a church choir at the same time - 1941 and 1942.

From Wiki: 

Billie Holiday (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959), born Eleanora Fagan and later nicknamed Lady Day (see “Jazz royalty” regarding similar nicknames), was an American jazz singer, a seminal influence on jazz and pop singers, and generally regarded as one of the greatest female jazz vocalists. 

On May 31, 1959, she was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York suffering from liver and heart disease. On July 12, she was placed under house arrest at the hospital for possession, despite evidence suggesting the drugs may have been planted on her. Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from cirrhosis of the liver on July 17 1959 at the age of 44. In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with only $0.70 in the bank and $750 (a tabloid fee) on her person.
Billie Holiday is interred in Saint Raymond’s Cemetery, Bronx, New York.

“My phrasing as a singer,” continues Baker, “has been influenced a lot by my playing. If I hadn’t been a trumpet player, I don’t know if I would have arrived at singing that way eventually. I probably wouldn’t have.

“The things I’m really conscious of when I sing are intonation, good diction without over-enunciating, a casual, relaxed way of phrasing, and singing in tune.”

Produced by Luchi DeJesus. Prepared for reissue by Richard Seidel and Seth Rothstein.

Chet Baker Flugelhorn
Leon Cohen Reeds
Henry Freeman Reeds
Wilford Holcombe Reeds
Seldon Powell Reeds
Alan Ross Reeds
Hank Jones Piano
Everett Barksdale Guitar
Richard Davis Bass
Connie Kay Drums

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