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CD Review: Billie Holiday  & Lester Young-  Billie & Lester (Jazz Story)

Label: SME Records, SRCS 8905

When the brilliant contemporary saxophonist, Branford Marsalis, averred on the Ken Burns JAZZ PBS TV series, that his greatest wish was "to have been a sax player in the 1930's backing Billie Holiday", he was referring to the magnificent recordings in this reissue collection.

Though the 16 titles are only a few of the dozens Billie made for Columbia under the deft musical direction of pianist, Teddy Wilson, the recordings all have Lester Young's exquisite support and some of his most beautiful melodic improvisations. They should quicken anyone's desire for the many others available in the Columbia reissue series entitled The Quintessential Billie Holiday.

While the essence of this historic music is the unity of spirit spontaneously achieved by “Prez” and Billie, there is not a single essential in jazz missing in the entire series, and most are masterpieces of their kind. All the musicians sparkle and their mixture of styles and conception are like the spices in a fine rechauffe, served with elegance and flair.

The record producer, John Hammond (who later "discovered" singer Bob Dylan) was the guiding force behind these sessions, and his choice of Teddy Wilson as musical director turned the results into sheer elegance.

Although many have complained about the songs given Billie to sing, most are delightful vehicles for her and the musicians, and many of them are classics. My favorite here is A Sailboat In The Moonlight , in which Billie takes a romantic picture and infuses it with an intensity that is only matched by Lester's perfect counterpoint to her vocal. There is a line of the lyric "sail away to sweetheart's bay" in which the meaning of the last two words is forever transformed having once heard Billie sing them.

Billie's timbre, articulation, and intonation shape the transformations of words so beautifully, that we are mesmerized by them, even after repeated hearings. Listen to her give the words "the songbirds that sing" on I'll Never Be The Same, track 7, a new sky in which to soar, with Lester's spring-like breeze floating beneath her voice. These are the kinds of images that the youth and innocence of those years allowed them, free of illusion, filled with honest poetry. Sadly, it was not to remain so.

Both Billie's and Lester's work darkened with time, for personal and musical reasons. Societal, too, of course, which is why this music can never be duplicated. And why it is such a treasure. This CD is a good place to start if not familiar with the recordings of Billie Holiday and Lester Young. But do give a listen to the Columbia reissues. You will be amply rewarded with the ultimate musical experience. And for aspiring young jazz musicians, it is the place to "go to school". 

- Bob Sparkman  May 30, 2001  

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