Music For Torching - Plak

ENGLISH

"Lady Sings the Blues" is the title of Billie Holiday’s autobiography and that despite the fact that she didn’t sing more than three blues titles in her entire life. A more appropriate title would have been “Lady who Sings Songs”. Like no other singer, she revived the most famous songs of the American 30s and 40s show business era. <br /><br /> The composers of these recordings in 1955 Los Angeles for the Norman Granz CLEF label are from the second rank of musical and songwriters apart from Duke Ellington. The musicians came from the West Coast or made it their home and they are excellent soloists. Benny Carter probably provided the arrangements and all of the eight titles became top interpretations, on which singers orient themselves to this day. <br /><br /> "Music For Torching" is the title of the program, the tempos and the soloists are a perfect match for this title. Everything combines to make a pleasant atmosphere, by no means schmaltzy, but emphasizing that voice, which is characterized by alcohol and drugs. The whole never becomes a tearjerker, but a feature of 'Lady Day’s' life excesses. Like the LP title indicates, both LP sides have a balanced balladic tempo.<br /><br /> Today’s fast-paced stressful life of ultra-short video and audio clips may just prove to be a contributing factor to the sales success of this LP. Today, Billy Holiday’s popularity can alone be judged by how often her voice is heard on the Internet’s jazz outlets. There must thus be a great many people, who are interested in listening to an entire LP.<br /><br /> Recording: August 1955 in Los Angeles<br /><br /> Production: Norman Granz