Search - Billie Holiday :: Miss Brown to You

Live Holiday from her prime

Mark Scott | Shoreline, Washington USA | 03/18/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an album of live recordings that captured the great Billie Holiday in her prime. Although the sound isn't always the best, the quality of the performances more than makes up for it. Most of the material on this record is from the 1940s when Billie was recording songs for the Decca label that often had a big band sound, sometimes including strings and backup vocal groups. By contrast most of these live performances on 'Miss Brown to You' are intimate, some with Billie only accompanied by a piano. Her vocals have a dreamy, laid-back quality, much smoother than her 50s recordngs for Verve. The rendition of 'Good Morning Heartache' that opens this collection is the best version of the song that I personally have ever heard by anybody, Billie included. 'Lover Man' is also sublime, much more intimate than any of the studio versions Billie recorded. This release includes the three radio airchecks that are the only known recordings of Billie singing with the entire Count Basie band. For some reason these three tracks sound slower than they do on some other collections that have included them over the years. Maybe it's just me but they don't seem as lively as I remember them on other records. The last cut is from a Carnegie Hall concert. Louis Armstrong is on stage with his band and he sings a chorus of 'Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?'. Apparently the audience isn't expecting to hear Lady Day because there is a burst of applause when her voice is heard singing a second chorus. It's a treat to hear these two jazz greats perform together and it makes a nice closer to a splendid collection of fine performances by a great singer at the top of her game."