It’s funny how a lot my favourite music doesn’t get much room on
the blog. Often I just don’t feel the need to write about it... or
that I can’t really express what it means to me in a way that does
it justice. The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933-1944 is one
of my all-time favourites – a desert island pick for sure.
Some of favourite
memories from my lessons with Richard and Connie is working with
recordings from this box set. Her unparalleled
phrasing and swing - she makes it sound effortless. Some critique her
tone and range. But she worked with those supposed limitations and did things that have been seldom matched before or since.
It's not just Billie though, so many greats
were assembled for these sessions - Teddy Wilson, Roy Eldridge, Freddie
Green, Chu Berry, Jo Jones, Walter Page, Lester Young, John Kirby,
Cozy Cole, Buck
Clayton, Johnny Hodges, Ben Webster, Benny Goodman and so on! - yet they never fall into the trap of
many “all-star” outings.
The concise nature of the records appeal to me and the endings always
put a smile on my face. It’s hard to play
favourites, but some standouts include “What A Little Moonlight
Can Do”, “Miss Brown to You”. How about that swinging opening ensemble work on “What a Night, What a Moon, What a Boy”? Another that stood
out this morning was “No Regrets” - I was digging the ensemble interplay and breaks, including the one
for the opening vocal line (I think the lyric hit a personal note with me this time around).
Sometimes there’s no option but to reach for the classics, and
that’s how I was feeling this morning.
Then it was onto
some post-lunch Dizzy with Dizzy Gillespie at Newport. Keeping things
upbeat and high energy, even if the exuberant big band isn’t my
favourite setting to listen to people improvise, it’s great
listening to Dizzy swinging and the band is on form. The downside to
budget reissues is they don’t contain the bonus tracks, but I’ll
survive. I’ve got a bunch of 1950s Dizzy to lend an ear to over the
coming days.
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