Billie Holiday (album)


Billie Holiday is the third 10 inch LP album of original material by jazz singer Billie Holiday, released on Clef Records in 1954. The recordings took place in 1952 and 1954. Holiday never entered the recording studio in 1953.

Content

In a 1954 review, Down Beat magazine praises the album, saying:
"The set is an experience in mounting pleasure that can do anything but increase still further no matter how often the LP is replayed. As for comparing it with earlier Teddy Wilson-Billie sessions, what's the point? Count your blessings in having both. Speaking of time, Billie's beat and variations thereon never cease to be among the seven wonders of jazz."

Two recordings, "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" and "I Cried for You" were also recorded by Holiday in the 1930s with Teddy Wilson's band, at the beginning of her career.
In 1956, when the 10inch format was phased out, Clef reissued the contents of this album on two different newly released 12inch compilation LPs. Five songs were added to A Recital By Billie Holiday, and the other three were added to Solitude.

Track listing

;A side
  1. "Love for Sale" – 2:56
  2. "Moonglow" – 2:58
  3. "Everything I Have Is Yours" – 3:43
  4. "If the Moon Turns Green" – 2:46
;B side
  1. "Autumn in New York" – 3:43
  2. "How Deep Is the Ocean?" – 3:00
  3. "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" – 3:14
  4. "I Cried for You" – 2:27

    Personnel

April, 1952 Recordings

The exact date of this session is not known. Norman Granz signed Holiday to his record label after returning from Europe April 21, 1952, so the session presumably occurred sometime after that.