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    • Billie Holiday

    Rare Live Recordings 1934-1959

    12/04/2007 | Esp Disk Ltd. 

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      RARE LIVE RECORDINGS 1935-1959 (RMST)

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    All Music Guide Review

    48 years after her passing, Billie Holiday was honored with a five-CD set of Rare Live Recordings that includes film soundtracks, concert and club performances, radio and television broadcasts, rehearsal tapes, and even a private home recording where Lady Day sings "My Yiddishe Mama" and "God Bless the Child" to a child! If you think you know this singer, tap into this collection and see how much more there was to her than at first meets the ear. The more or less chronological presentation maps her personal and artistic transformation between the years 1934 and 1959. Out of approximately 60 titles, seven are rendered no less than four times apiece, and three -- "Them There Eyes," "God Bless the Child" and "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" -- appear in five different versions. For this reason, those who seek a nice all-purpose, easy-to-use sampler of her career should probably consult her studio recordings first. ESP's Rare Live Recordings set is for people who have been smitten for life and cannot possibly get enough Billie Holiday. The intertwined discography, biographical chronology, and extensive liner notes spread out over two booklets, are at once informative, insightful and (unfortunately) sprinkled with typographic, editorial, and even factual errors. The worst of these is a glaringly incorrect statement in reference to the CBS Sound of Jazz television broadcast of December 8, 1957, whereby the producer makes the statement that "...this would also prove to be one of the last performances for baritone saxophonist Harry Carney." The reference was actually to tenor saxophonist Lester Young, who would die almost exactly four months before the passing of Lady Day in 1959. (Carney, of course, lived for another 17 years as the bass clef backbone of the Duke Ellington Orchestra.) Furthermore, the amazing rehearsal tapes are only partially represented here; they were reissued in their entirety on CD in 2006 as Songs & Conversations: The Lost Billie Holiday Session (SRI 510021). Why ESP-Disk omitted several tracks from this soul-baring workshop (taped in bassist Artie Bernstein's living room with a rather outspoken Jimmy Rowles at the piano) is puzzling and maybe even frustrating. But let's not allow these flaws to detract too much from the magnificence of this extended tribute to a great artist. ESP-Disk, one of the world's great independent record labels, is to be commended for having Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Bud Powell in the same catalog with Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Marion Brown, Frank Wright, Pharoah Sanders, Patty Waters, Pearls Before Swine and Yma Sumac. Given the relatively easy availability of Lady Day's Vocalion/Columbia, Decca, and Verve studio recordings, this fascinating anthology of her uncommon works can and will act as a richly rewarding appendix to the more familiar portions of her legacy. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide

    Track Listing

  • Track#
  • Title
  • time
  • 1
  • Lost My Man Blues
  • 1:55

  • 2
  • Moten Swing (Theme)
  • 0:21

  • 3
  • Announcer Introduction
  • 0:27

  • 4
  • Swing Brother Swing
  • 1:49

  • 5
  • Announcer Introduction
  • 0:13

  • 6
  • They Can't Take That Away from Me
  • 3:23

  • 7
  • I Cried for You
  • 2:26

  • 8
  • Fine and Mellow
  • 3:30

  • 9
  • Announcer Introduction
  • 2:01

  • 10
  • I'll Get By
  • 1:44

  • 11
  • Billie's Blues
  • 4:13

  • 12
  • Do Nothin' 'Til You Hear from Me
  • 3:31

  • 13
  • Danny Kaye Introduces Jerome Kern, Who Presents Billie with Her Award
  • 1:18

  • 14
  • I Cover the Waterfront
  • 3:09

  • 15
  • Fine and Mello
  • 3:15

  • 16
  • All of Me
  • 2:03

  • 17
  • Endy Gets Caught Playing Piano
  • 2:03

  • 18
  • Endy Goes to Storyville
  • 1:45

  • 19
  • Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans
  • 1:53

  • 20
  • Satchmo Talks
  • 0:47

  • 21
  • Farewell to Storyville
  • 4:11

  • 22
  • Farewell to Storyville (Studio Version)
  • 3:18

  • 23
  • The Blues Are Brewin' (Studio Version)
  • 3:46

  • 24
  • The Man I Love
  • 2:26

  • 25
  • Miss Brown to You
  • 2:00

  • 26
  • Lover Man
  • 2:44

  • 27
  • I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone
  • 3:54

  • 28
  • Billie's Blues
  • 3:36

  • 29
  • No More
  • 3:05

  • 30
  • Good Morning Heartache
  • 3:28

  • 31 (2)
  • You're Driving Me Crazy
  • 1:34

  • 32 (2)
  • Maybe You'll Be There
  • 3:30

  • 33 (2)
  • Introduction by Donald Wood
  • 0:34

  • 34 (2)
  • You'd Better Go Now
  • 3:15

  • 35 (2)
  • Them There Eyes
  • 1:56

  • 36 (2)
  • Lady Day and Eddie Condon Speak
  • 0:38

  • 37 (2)
  • Keeps on Rainin'
  • 2:45

  • 38 (2)
  • Lady Day and Eddie Condon Speak
  • 0:35

  • 39 (2)
  • Lover Man (Incomplete)
  • 2:17

  • 40 (2)
  • I Cover the Waterfront
  • 3:03

  • 41 (2)
  • All of Me
  • 1:59

  • 42 (2)
  • Narration/Early History
  • 0:28

  • 43 (2)
  • Fine and Mellow
  • 2:57

  • 44 (2)
  • Porgy
  • 2:58

  • 45 (2)
  • Jam Session Introduction
  • 0:09

  • 46 (2)
  • All of Me
  • 5:07

  • 47 (2)
  • You're My Thrill
  • 3:37

  • 48 (2)
  • Lover Come Back to Me
  • 2:22

  • 49 (2)
  • Ain't Nobody's Business
  • 2:21

  • 50 (2)
  • You're Driving Me Crazy
  • 1:16

  • 51 (2)
  • He's Funny That Way
  • 3:04

  • 52 (2)
  • Miss Brown to You
  • 2:05

  • 53 (2)
  • Lover Man
  • 2:17

  • 54 (2)
  • Them There Eyes
  • 1:42

  • 55 (2)
  • My Man
  • 3:20

  • 56 (2)
  • I Cover the Waterfront
  • 3:25

  • 57 (2)
  • Crazy He Calls Me
  • 2:09

  • 58 (2)
  • Detour Ahead
  • 2:23

  • 59 (2)
  • Strange Fruit
  • 3:18

  • 60 (2)
  • Ain't Nobody's Business
  • 2:57

  • 61 (2)
  • All of Me
  • 1:42

  • 62 (3)
  • Porgy
  • 3:06

  • 63 (3)
  • My Man
  • 2:59

  • 64 (3)
  • Tenderly
  • 3:02

  • 65 (3)
  • God Bless the Child
  • 2:34

  • 66 (3)
  • My Man
  • 3:01

  • 67 (3)
  • The There Eyes
  • 1:57

  • 68 (3)
  • Lover Man
  • 2:36

  • 69 (3)
  • Willow Weep for Me
  • 3:33

  • 70 (3)
  • I Only Have Eyes for You
  • 1:52

  • 71 (3)
  • My Man
  • 2:53

  • 72 (3)
  • Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
  • 2:02

  • 73 (3)
  • Jon McCloughland (Introduction)
  • 1:17

  • 74 (3)
  • I Cover the Waterfront
  • 3:29

  • 75 (3)
  • Too Marvelous for Words
  • 2:16

  • 76 (3)
  • Porgy
  • 3:08

  • 77 (3)
  • Them There Eyes
  • 1:46

  • 78 (3)
  • Willow Weep for Me
  • 3:52

  • 79 (3)
  • I Only Have Eyes for You
  • 2:46

  • 80 (3)
  • You Go to My Head
  • 3:29

  • 81 (3)
  • Stormy Weather
  • 3:36

  • 82 (3)
  • Ghost of a Chance
  • 3:43

  • 83 (3)
  • Nice Work If You Can Get It
  • 2:37

  • 84 (3)
  • God Bless the Child
  • 2:53

  • 85 (3)
  • Please, Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
  • 1:55

  • 86 (3)
  • Don't Explain
  • 2:44

  • 87 (3)
  • Porgy
  • 2:31

  • 88 (4)
  • Fine and Mellow
  • 8:48

  • 89 (4)
  • What a Little Moonlight Can Do
  • 2:29

  • 90 (4)
  • Foolin' Myself
  • 2:30

  • 91 (4)
  • Easy to Remember
  • 3:31

  • 92 (4)
  • Moanin' Low
  • 1:57

  • 93 (4)
  • Don't Explain
  • 2:50

  • 94 (4)
  • When Your Lover Has Gone
  • 2:01

  • 95 (4)
  • Mort Saul (Introduction)
  • 0:23

  • 96 (4)
  • Ain't Nobody's Business
  • 3:25

  • 97 (4)
  • Willow Weep for Me
  • 2:55

  • 98 (4)
  • When Your Lover Has Gone
  • 2:21

  • 99 (4)
  • God Bless the Child
  • 3:21

  • 100 (4)
  • I Only Have Eyes for You
  • 2:00

  • 101 (4)
  • Good Morning Heartache
  • 3:51

  • 102 (4)
  • Them There Eyes
  • 2:18

  • 103 (4)
  • Billie's Blues
  • 3:31

  • 104 (4)
  • What a Little Moonlight Can Do
  • 3:25

  • 105 (4)
  • Travelin' Light
  • 3:21

  • 106 (4)
  • Lover Come Back to Me
  • 2:06

  • 107 (5)
  • I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good
  • 5:51

  • 108 (5)
  • Lady Day Speaks: Early History
  • 2:09

  • 109 (5)
  • Just Friends
  • 1:01

  • 110 (5)
  • Lady Day Speaks: The Number 13
  • 0:43

  • 111 (5)
  • Ghost of a Chance
  • 1:14

  • 112 (5)
  • Please, Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone, 1
  • 1:59

  • 113 (5)
  • Everything Happens to Me
  • 3:30

  • 114 (5)
  • Please, Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone, 2
  • 3:00

  • 115 (5)
  • I Don't Want to Cry Anymore
  • 1:30

  • 116 (5)
  • Prelude to a Kiss
  • 2:48

  • 117 (5)
  • Jeepers Creepers
  • 1:41

  • 118 (5)
  • My Yiddishe Mama
  • 2:42

  • 119 (5)
  • Hey! Lady's Here
  • 3:17

  • 120 (5)
  • God Bless the Child
  • 3:04

  • 121 (5)
  • Introduction
  • 0:42

  • 122 (5)
  • Nice Work If You Can Get It
  • 2:21

  • 123 (5)
  • Willow Weep for Me
  • 2:29

  • 124 (5)
  • When Your Lover Has Gone
  • 1:58

  • 125 (5)
  • Billie's Blues
  • 3:10

  • 126 (5)
  • Please, Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
  • 2:11

  • 127 (5)
  • God Bless the Child
  • 2:42

  • 128 (5)
  • Now or Never
  • 2:18

  • 129 (5)
  • Ray Charles Comment
  • 0:23

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