Billie Holiday: Romance in the Dark-Quadromania Jazz Edition

Read About This Recording

One of the greatest legends in jazz history, Billie Holiday had an unlikely career. After surviving a childhood full of turmoil, she emerged determined to make it in show business despite only having a relatively small singing voice. Influenced by Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith, her behind-the-beat phrasing met resistance from club owners and listeners at first, but in time became very influential.

Billie Holiday first recorded in 1933 and her recording career really took off in 1935 when she was teamed with pianist Teddy Wilson. During the next seven years, she was usually accompanied by some of the top swing all-stars on jazz-oriented performances. She had stints with the big bands of Count Basie and Artie Shaw and by the end of the decade was considered one of the leaders of jazz. Many of her finest recordings were made for the Decca label in the 1940s when her voice was at its strongest. Despite an often-chaotic personal life and a voice that was gradually declining, she also made some worthy records in the 1950s before her death in 1959.

The four-CD set Romance In The Dark, which is an import from Europe, starts in 1940 and has many of Lady Day's finest recordings up until the mid-1950s. The 78 selections include memorable versions of St. Louis Blues, All Of Me, God Bless The Child, Gloomy Sunday, I'll Get By, Billie's Blues, Detour Ahead, East Of The Sun and I Get A Kick Out Of You among many others. It gives listeners a strong overview of Billie Holiday's middle years and contains plenty of great jazz and timeless singing.

-Scott Yanow

Contents

Imported from Europe!

Remastered!

CD 1 (TT: 57:29): The Same Old Story; Practice Makes Perfect; St. Louis Blues; Loveless Love; Let's Do It; Georgia on My Mind; Romance in the Dark; All of Me; I'm in a Low-down Groove; God Bless the Child; Am I Blue; Solitude; Jim; I Cover the Waterfront; Love Me or Leave Me; Gloomy Sunday; Wherever You Are; Mandy is Two; It's a Sin to Tell a Lie.

CD 2 (TT: 53:59): Trav'lin' Light; Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me; How Am I to Know; My Old Flame; I'll Get By; I Cover the Waterfront; I'll Be Seeing You; I'm Yours; Embraceable You; As Time Goes By; He's Funny That Way; Lover Come Back to Me; Billie's Blues; On the Sunny Side of the Street; Lover Man; No More; That Old Devil Called Love.

CD 3 (TT: 71:42): Now or Never; Crazy He Calls Me; Gimmie a Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer); Keeps on Rainin'; My Sweet Hunk O' Trash; God Bless the Child; Blue Turning Grey Over You; Be Fair With My Baby; Rocky Mountain Blues; Detour Ahead; I Only Have Eyes for You; You Turned the Tables on Me; You Go to My Head; East of the Sun (West of the Moon); Easy to Love; These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You); Blue Moon; Solitude; Moonglow; Everything I Have is Yours; Remember; Tenderly; Autumn in New York.

CD 4 (TT: 67:25): I Can't Face the Music; Lover Come Back to Me; Yesterdays; How Deep is the Ocean; I Cried for You; What a Little Moonlight Can Do; Love Me or Leave Me; Stormy Blues; Willow Weep for Me; Too Marvelous for Words; I Thought About You; P.S. I Love You; Stormy Weather; Love for Sale; I Get a Kick Out of You; Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me; I Got a Right to Sing the Blues; It Had to Be You; Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone.

Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Vocals; Roy Eldridge, Bill Coleman, Shad Collins, Emmett Berry, Monty Kelly, Larry Neill, Don Waddilove, Doc Cheatham, Freddie Webster, Russ Casse, Charlie Shavers, Joe Newman, Sweets Edison, Trumpets; Benny Morton, Skip Layton, Trummy Young, Murray McEachern, Jack Teagarden, Vic Dickenson, Trombones; Barney Bigard, Tony Scott, Clarinets; Benny Carter, Clarinet/Alto Sax; Georgie Auld, Don Redman, Leslie Lohnakins, Eddie Barefield, Lester Boone, Jimmy Powell, Hymie Schertzer, Alvy West, Danny D'Andrea, Lem Davis, Jack Cressy, Willie Smith, Alto Saxes; Lester Young, Don Byas, Babe Russin, Lennie Hartman, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Larry Binyon, Paul Ricci, Dave Harris, Flip Phillips, Paul Quinichette, Budd Johnson, Tenor Saxes; Jimmy Hamilton, Tenor Sax/Clarinet; Henry Heywood, Tenor Sax/Baritone Sax; Teddy Wilson, Sonny White, Eddie Heywood, Buddy Weed, Art Tatum, Dave Bowman, Oscar Peterson, Bobby Tucker, Jimmy Bowles, Billy Taylor, Pianos; John Collins, Ulysses Livingston, Paul Chapman, Al Casey, Teddy Walters, Tiny Grimes, Barney Kessel, Freddie Green, Herb Ellis, Billy Bauer, Guitars; Mike Pingitore, Guitar/Banjo; Al Hall, Wilson Meyers, Ted Sturgis, Grachan Moncur, John Williams, Artie Shapiro, Oscar Pettiford, John Simmons, Haigh Stephens, Ray Brown, Red Callender, Leonard Gaskin, Basses; Kenny Clarke, Yank Porter, Herbert Cowens, J.C. Heard, Willie Rodriguez, Sid Catlett, Johnny Blowers, George Wettling, Alvin Stoller, Ed Shaughnessy, Chico Hamilton, Larry Bunker, Cozy Cole, Drums; Benny Carter All-Star Orchestra; Eddie Heywood Orchestra; Teddy Wilson Orchestra; Paul Whiteman Orchestra; Toots Camarata Orchestra; Billie Holiday Orchestra; Paul Whiteman, Conductor.