Billie Holiday was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. She was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills.
Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombone playing. His theme song was "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You". His technical skill on the trombone gave him renown among other musicians. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey. After Dorsey broke with his brother in the mid-1930s, he led an extremely successful band from the late 1930s into the 1950s. He is best remembered for standards such as "Opus One", "Song of India", "Marie", "On Treasure Island", and his biggest hit single, "I'll Never Smile Again".
"April in Paris" is a popular song composed by Vernon Duke with lyrics by Yip Harburg in 1932 for the Broadway musical Walk a Little Faster. The original 1933 hit was performed by Freddy Martin, and the 1952 remake was by the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, whose version made the Cashbox Top 50. Composer Alec Wilder writes, "There are no two ways about it: this is a perfect theater song. If that sounds too reverent, then I'll reduce the praise to 'perfectly wonderful,' or else say that if it's not perfect, show me why it isn't."
Lady in Satin is an album by the jazz singer Billie Holiday released in 1958 on Columbia Records, catalogue CL 1157 in mono and CS 8048 in stereo. It is the penultimate album completed by the singer and last released in her lifetime. The original album was produced by Irving Townsend and engineered by Fred Plaut.
The Best Is Yet to Come is a 1982 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by a studio orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle.
L.A. Is My Lady is the 57th and final solo studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released in 1984 and produced by Quincy Jones. While the album was Sinatra's last, he recorded five further songs, only four of which have been officially released.
Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday at Newport is a 1958 live album by Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, recorded at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival.
Dear Ella is a 1997 studio album by Dee Dee Bridgewater, recorded in tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, who had died the previous year.
Claus Ogerman was a German arranger, conductor, and composer best known for his work with Billie Holiday, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Frank Sinatra, Michael Brecker, and Diana Krall.
Mel Tormé, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass is a 1986 studio album by Mel Tormé, accompanied by Rob McConnell's Boss Brass Big band. Tormé and McConnell's follow up album, Velvet & Brass was released in 1995.
Something Wonderful was the second album by the American vocalist Nancy Wilson, it was released in October 1960 by Capitol Records, and arranged by Billy May.
Benny Morton was an American jazz trombonist, most associated with the swing genre.
"East of the Sun " is a popular song written by Brooks Bowman, an undergraduate member of Princeton University's Class of 1936, for the 1934 production of the Princeton Triangle Club's production of Stags at Bay. It was published in 1934 by Santly Bros. and soon became a hallmark of the Princeton Tigertones, Princeton University's signature all-male a cappella group. The standard is also sung by the Princeton Nassoons.
"But Beautiful" is a popular song with music written by Jimmy Van Heusen, the lyrics by Johnny Burke. The song was published in 1947.
Alvin Stoller was an American jazz drummer. Though he seems to have been largely forgotten, he was held in high regard in the 1940s and 1950s. He was best known for playing drums on both Mitch Miller's recording of "The Yellow Rose of Texas" and Stan Freberg's parody of Miller's recording.
Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933–1944 is a 10-CD box set compiling the complete known studio master recordings, plus alternate takes, of Billie Holiday during the time period indicated, released in 2001 on Columbia/Legacy, CXK 85470. Designed like an album of 78s, the medium in which these recordings initially appeared, the 10.5" × 12" box includes 230 tracks, a 116-page booklet with extensive photos, a song list, discography, essays by Michael Brooks, Gary Giddins, and Farah Jasmine Griffin, and an insert of appreciations for Holiday from a diversity of figures including Tony Bennett, Elvis Costello, Marianne Faithfull, B.B. King, Abbey Lincoln, Jill Scott, and Lucinda Williams. At the 44th Grammy Awards on February 27, 2002, the box set won the Grammy Award for Best Historical Album of the previous year.
Lady Sings the Blues is an album by American jazz vocalist Billie Holiday released in December 1956. It was Holiday's last album released on Clef Records; the following year, the label would be absorbed by Verve Records. Lady Sings the Blues was taken from sessions taped during 1954 and 1956. It was released simultaneously with her ghostwritten autobiography of the same name.
White Gardenia is an album by jazz saxophonist Johnny Griffin with brass and strings which was recorded in 1961 and released on the Riverside label. Intended as a tribute album to jazz singer Billie Holiday, who had died two years earlier, she had sung all of the songs, except for the title track, which is the only original composition by Griffin on the album. The white gardenia was the flower Holiday often wore in her hair. The orchestral arrangements were written by Melba Liston and Norman Simmons.
Shock Treatment is an album by trumpeter Don Ellis recorded in 1968 and released on the Columbia label.
"Your Mother's Son-In-Law" is a song written by Alberta Nichols and Mann Holiner that was recorded by Billie Holiday with a band led by Benny Goodman on 27 November 1933. It was Holiday's first recording. It was produced by John Hammond. The song was recorded in three takes, and Holiday was paid $35 for her performance.
