Billie Holiday – Body and Soul (Verve Vital Vinyl Series)

Small jazz groups brought out the best in Billie Holiday, especially groups as good as the one heard on the classic 1957 recording, Body and Soul. Ben Webster, Harry “Sweets” Edison, and Co. were not just gifted soloists but sensitive accompanists as well. Lady Day was rarely more ably supported than she was on this program of popular evergreens from the era of swing. More importantly, she rarely sounded more luminous. Her husky voice fits each of these tunes like a glove…and a velvet one at that. From well-known tunes like Johnny Green’s “Body and Soul” or “Embraceable You” from the pens of the talented Brothers Gershwin to perhaps the more basic emotions of Don Redman and Andy Razaf’s “Gee, Baby Ain’t I Good To You,” Lady Day sings as though the tune had been written just for her. Her wonderful phrasing plus that indefinable quality that is hers alone, elevate these tunes into the ranks of the memorable.

Tracklist:

1. Body and Soul
2. They Can’t Take That Away from Me
3. Darn That Dream
4. Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off
5. Comes Love
6. Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You
7. Embraceable You
8. Moonlight in Vermont