Solitude [1956]

by Billie Holiday

Overview

Billie Holiday's first recordings for Norman Granz' Clef Records present a vocalist truly at the top of her craft, although she would begin a rapid decline soon thereafter. This 1952 recording (originally issued as a 10" LP, Billie Holiday Sings) places Holiday in front of small piano and tenor saxophone-led groups including jazz luminaries such as Oscar Peterson and Charlie Shavers, where her gentle phrasing sets the tone for the sessions, evoking lazy evenings and dreamy afternoons. The alcoholism and heroin use that would be her downfall by the end of this decade seems to be almost unfathomable during these recordings since Holiday is in as fine a voice as her work in the '30s, and the musical environment seems ideal for these slow torch songs. Solitude runs as the common theme throughout these 16 tracks; the idle breathiness of "These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)" finds the vocalist casually reminiscing, and Barney Kessel's warm guitar lines frame the title track beautifully. Several of Holiday's best-known recordings came from this session, including outstanding versions of "I Only Have Eyes for You" and a darkly emotional "Love for Sale," making this album far and away the best work of her later years, and certainly a noteworthy moment of her entire career. ~ Zac Johnson

Product Details

Release Date:	04/08/2022
Label:	Wax Time / Waxtime In Color
UPC:	8436559468947
Rank:	3343

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Billie Holiday   Primary Artist
Charlie Shavers   Guest Artist
Ray Brown   Guest Artist
Barney Kessel   Guest Artist
Oscar Peterson   Guest Artist
Flip Phillips   Guest Artist

Technical Credits

Burton Lane   Composer
Sidney Mitchell   Composer
Bernie Hanighen   Composer
Eddie DeLange   Composer
Irving Mills   Composer
Vernon Duke   Composer
J. Fred Coots   Composer
Jack Lawrence   Composer
Irving Berlin   Composer
Jack Strachey   Composer
Cole Porter   Composer
Duke Ellington   Composer
Dizzy Gillespie   Composer
Lorenz Hart   Composer
Walter Gross   Composer
Brooks Bowman   Composer
George Cates   Composer
Harry Link   Composer
Harold Adamson   Composer
Haven Gillespie   Composer
Will Hudson   Composer
Sidney D. Mitchell   Composer
Al Dubin   Composer
Richard Rodgers   Composer
Holt Marvell   Composer
Louis Alter   Composer
Harry Warren   Composer
Paul Coates   Composer