Music for Torching (album)

Music for Torching
Studio album by Billie Holiday
Released	October 1955
Recorded	August 23 & August 25, 1955
Studio	Los Angeles, CA
Genre	Jazz, swing
Length	33:48
Label	Clef (Verve) MG C-669
Producer	Norman Granz
Billie Holiday chronology
Billie Holiday at JATP (1954) Music for Torching (1955) Velvet Mood (1956)

Music for Torching is a studio album by jazz singer Billie Holiday. ^[1] A collection of torch songs, it was released in 1955 by Clef Records. ^[2] It is her first 12-inch LP for the label, after four 10 inch LPs.

The music was recorded over the course of two sessions in Los Angeles, two days apart, which also resulted in all the material for her follow-up album Velvet Mood (MG C-713). ^[3]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
DownBeat	[5]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[6]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	[7]

Track listing

A side

1. "It Had to Be You" (Isham Jones, Gus Kahn) - 4:02
2. "Come Rain or Come Shine" (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) - 4:23
3. "I Don't Want to Cry Anymore" (Victor Schertzinger) - 3:55
4. "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You" (Victor Young, Ned Washington, Bing Crosby) - 4:29

B side

1. "A Fine Romance" (Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields) - 3:35
2. "Gone with the Wind" (Allie Wrubel, Herb Magidson) - 3:26
3. "I Get a Kick Out of You" (Cole Porter) - 5:42
4. "Isn't This a Lovely Day?" (Irving Berlin) - 4:16

Personnel

• Billie Holiday - Vocals
• Harry "Sweets" Edison - Trumpet
• Benny Carter - Alto saxophone
• Jimmy Rowles - Piano
• Barney Kessel - Guitar
• John Simmons - Bass
• Larry Bunker - Drums

References

1. "Billie Holiday: Billie Holiday: Four Classic Albums Plus". All About Jazz. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
2. Music for Torching at the Jazz Discography Project, accessed Mar 24, 2020
3. Sessions of August 1955 in session index for Billie Holiday at the Jazz Discography Project, accessed Mar 24, 2020
4. Music for Torching at AllMusic
5. Hentoff, Nat (December 14, 1955). "Billie Holiday". DownBeat . Vol. 22, no. 25. p. 22.
6. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
7. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 716. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.