Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Tuesday Night Music: Billie Holiday

8 comments:

  1. There are nights I sit in my home office after writing and just let all my Billie Holiday iTunes play. Pure pleasure.

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  2. Nobody ever had a more distinctive voice.

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  3. Anonymous10:31 PM

    I loved the way they used her music in ROCKET GILBRALTAR, when the dying Burt Lancaster listened to her music in his room.

    Jeff M.

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  4. Anonymous7:53 AM

    Patti - What a lovely treat! That woman and an unforgettable voice!

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  5. Big fan here, too. I often think of how she supposedly said she never sang a song the same way twice.

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  6. I think if you feel the music as much as she seemed to, it might be possible.

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  7. She could do just about any silly old material - e.g. WHAT A LITTLE MOONLIGHT CAN DO - and make it sound as if it was important. And it was not just about her absolute mastery of timing and phrasing - there's something about that timbre of hers that just grabs you.

    I have recently fallen in love with ANY OLD TIME, recorded with Artie Shaw. She comes in at 1:22, and not that I want to speak ill of the recently dead but that first line of Billie's has more content than the entire Whitney Houston discography.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GxPpTf97VI

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  8. Fabulous. I was worried she would never come in. You forget those bands wanted you to listen to them too.

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