About

— The Analog Vault // Essential Listening —

A beautiful recording evocative of longing, eloquence, and burnished time. Recorded towards the end of Lady Day’s revered life and storied career, this sterling 1958 album consists of evergreen classics from the Great American Songbook sung by the celebrated songstress. Although some claimed that Billie Holiday’s pipes were largely compromised by this point, the cherished crooner proved her critics wrong with her inimitable performance on Songs for Distingué Lovers.

Accompanied by a small, six-piece jazz band, Holiday utilised her coarser, huskier voice to passioned and expressive effects - grafting hard-earned poignancy and lived-in vulnerability onto numbers such as "A Foggy Day", "One for My Baby", "Just One of Those Things", and "I Didn't Know What Time It Was".  — The Analog Vault

Songs for Distingué Lovers forms part of the last series of extensive small-group recordings that Lady Day would make in the studio. Although her voice was largely shot at this point, she puts so much feeling into the lyrics that it's easy to overlook her dark sound. The band is a major asset, and made up of all-stars: trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison, tenor saxophonist Ben Webster, pianist Jimmie Rowles, guitarist Barney Kessel, bassist Red Mitchell, and Alvin Stoller or Larry Bunker on drums. There are plenty of short solos for Edison, Webster, and Kessel. Holiday does her best on such numbers as "A Foggy Day," "One for My Baby," "Just One of Those Things," and "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," and there are plenty of haunting moments, even if one could tell (even at the time) that the end was probably drawing near for the singer. — (via AllMusic)

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Label: Verve
Series: Acoustic Sounds Series
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Gatefold, Stereo, 180 Gram
Reissued: 2023 / Originally released: 1958
Genre:     Jazz
Style:     Swing, Ballads, Female Vocals
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