A Musical Romance (CD)

Details

Romeo and Juliet...Eloise and Abelard...Tracy and Hepburn. These are among history's great romantic relationships, but perhaps the deepest of all romances - in all of American music, at any rate - was the one that was carried on in the recording studio between Billie Holiday (1915-1959) and Lester Young (1910-1959). "Lady Day" and "The President" (they gave one another their nicknames) made a series of "sides," as they were called in those days, that to this day absolutely define love in tune. She was - and is - the greatest of all jazz vocalists. His tenor saxophone style delivered the real Birth of the Cool.

Together, they sang and played with an unparalleled sense of intimacy, warmth, and sensuous, behind-the-beat swing, whether the melody was pure gold (like "The Man I Love," "Time On My Hands") or closer to brass ("When You're Smiling," "Back In Your Own Backyard"). Originally produced by the redoubtable John Hammond, and intended first and foremost for jukeboxes, these sixteen seminal performances have been culled from the GRAMMY®-winning 10-CD boxed set Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia, 1933-1944.

They also feature vital contributions from, among others, pianist-arranger Teddy Wilson, who served as leader on many of Holiday's record dates, Swing era superstar clarinetist Benny Goodman, ace trumpeter Buck Clayton (Young's cohort from Count Basie's definitive swing band), the sublime Ellington-ian alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges, and Roy Eldridge, little giant of the trumpet. But Lady Day and Pres, forever dancing in the dark, make this a musical romance that will never die.

Tracklist

1. Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra - The Man I Love
2. Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra - This Year's Kisses
3. Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra - Mean To Me
4. Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra - Back In Your Own Backyard
5. Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra - I'll Never Be The Same
6. Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra - Me, Myself And I
7. Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra - Time On My Hands (You In My Arms)
8. Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra - Who Wants Love?
9. Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra - I Must Have That Man
10. Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra - Foolin' Myself
11. Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra - When You're Smiling
12. Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra - A Sailboat In The Moonlight
13. Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra - He's Funny That Way
14. Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra - Laughing At Life
15. Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra - Without Your Love
16. Billie Holiday With The Mal Waldron All-Stars - Fine And Mellow