![]() The title tune, inspired by Holiday’s autobiography of the same name, is notable for its ringing intro by trumpeter Charlie Shavers. Holiday adds startling new shades of meaning, turning phrases that might have seemed like ordinary rehash on anyone else’s record into a demand for new reflection. While it can be argued whether these are definitive, I’ve grown to cherish them more. Elsewhere, Holiday updates earlier versions of Irene Kitchens’ “Some Other Spring,” as well as “God Bless The Child” and the devastating protest song “Strange Fruit” (embedded below). ![]() That starts with a new take on “I Must Have That Man!” - one of her more famous and joyous 1930s hits with Lester Young, now transformed into a grieving cry for someone who’s gone. Few singers in the autumn of their years would chance reinterpreting their own masterworks fewer still would have such resounding success at it. This record, dotted with tunes she’d once owned two decades before as a bubbly bird in front of big bands, makes the argument for her.īy the mid-1950s, the hard-living Holiday had lost some dexterity, but none of her gumption. ![]() Billie Holiday’s voice, fragile and thin at the end, belied the strong-willed fighter she always was. ![]()
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