Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday

Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday
Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday
Studio album by Etta James
Released	March 15, 1994
Label	RCA Victor
Producer	John Snyder
Etta James chronology

Last updated September 01, 2025

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Robert Christgau	A−^[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B+^[3]

Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday is the eighteenth studio album by Etta James, released in 1994. The album reached a peak position of number two on Billboard 's Top Jazz Albums chart and won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album.^[4]

Track listing

All the songs on this album are covers of songs originally performed by or covered by Billie Holiday during her lifetime.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Don't Explain"	Arthur Herzog, Jr., Billie Holiday	5:15
2.	"You've Changed"	Bill Carey, Carl Fischer	4:35
3.	"The Man I Love"	George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin	4:26
4.	"I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance (With You)"	Victor Young, Ned Washington, Bing Crosby	4:16
5.	"Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)"	Jimmy Davis, Jimmy Sherman, Roger Ramirez	5:24
6.	"Embraceable You"	George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin	3:55
7.	"How Deep Is the Ocean"	Irving Berlin	4:18
8.	"(I'm Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over"	Herb Magidson, Allie Wrubel	5:45
9.	"Body and Soul"	Johnny Green, Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton	4:16
10.	"The Very Thought of You"	Ray Noble	4:30
11.	"I'll Be Seeing You"	Irving Kahal, Sammy Fain	4:43

References

↑ Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday at AllMusic
↑ "Robert Christgau: Album: Etta James: Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday". www.robertchristgau.com.
↑ "Mystery Lady". EW.com. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
↑ "Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday - Etta James | Awards". AllMusic. March 1, 1994. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2017.

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[1] Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday at AllMusic

[2] "Robert Christgau: Album: Etta James: Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday". www.robertchristgau.com.

[3] "Mystery Lady". EW.com. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2019.

[4] "Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday - Etta James | Awards". AllMusic. March 1, 1994. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2017.

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v t e Etta James
Discography
Studio albums	At Last! The Second Time Around Etta James Etta James Sings for Lovers Queen of Soul Call My Name Tell Mama Etta James Sings Funk Losers Weepers Etta James Come a Little Closer Etta Is Betta Than Evvah! Deep in the Night Changes Seven Year Itch Stickin' to My Guns The Right Time Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday Time After Time Love's Been Rough on Me Life, Love & the Blues 12 Songs of Christmas Heart of a Woman Matriarch of the Blues Blue Gardenia Let's Roll Blues to the Bone All the Way The Dreamer
Live albums	Etta James Rocks the House Red-Hot & Live Jazzvisions: Jump The Blues Away Burnin' Down the House: Live at the House of Blues
Compilation albums	Etta James Top Ten My Greatest Songs Miss Etta James: The Complete Modern and Kent Recordings Gold
Singles	"The Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry)" "Spoonful" "All I Could Do Was Cry" "At Last" "Trust in Me" "Seven Day Fool" "Something's Got a Hold on Me" "Baby What You Want Me to Do" "I Got You Babe" "Almost Persuaded" "Sound of Love" "Piece of My Heart" "I Just Want to Make Love to You"

v t e Cedar Walton
Year(s) indicated are for the recording(s), not first release.
As leader or co-leader	Cedar! (1967) Spectrum (1968) The Electric Boogaloo Song (1969) Soul Cycle (1969) Breakthrough! (1972) A Night at Boomers, Vol. 1 (1973) A Night at Boomers, Vol. 2 (1973) Firm Roots (1974) Pit Inn (1974) Mobius (1975) Eastern Rebellion (1976) The Pentagon (1975) Beyond Mobius (1976) Eastern Rebellion 2 (1977) First Set (1977) Second Set (1977) Third Set (1977) Animation (1978) Eastern Rebellion 3 (1979) Soundscapes (1980) The Maestro (1981) Piano Solos (1981) Heart & Soul (1982) Among Friends (1982) The All American Trio (1983) Eastern Rebellion 4 (1983) Cedar's Blues (1985) The Trio 1 (1985) The Trio 2 (1985) The Trio 3 (1985) Cedar Walton (1985) Bluesville Time (1985) Blues for Myself (1986) Cedar Walton Plays (1986) Duo (1990) Cedar Walton at Maybeck (1992) Manhattan Afternoon (1992) Composer (1996) Roots (1997) The Promise Land (2001) Latin Tinge (2002) Underground Memoirs (2005) Midnight Waltz (2005) One Flight Down (2006) Seasoned Wood (2008) Voices Deep Within (2009) The Bouncer (2011)
As sideman with Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers	Three Blind Mice (1961) Mosaic (1961) Buhaina's Delight (1961) Caravan (1962) Ugetsu (1963) Free for All (1964) Kyoto (1964) Indestructible (1964) Golden Boy (1964) Buhaina (1973) Anthenagin (1973)
With Art Farmer (or where stated), Benny Golson & The Jazztet	Take a Number from 1 to 10 (Golson, 1960–61) The Jazztet and John Lewis (The Jazztet, 1960–61) Big City Sounds (The Jazztet, 1961) The Jazztet at Birdhouse (The Jazztet, 1961) The Time and the Place (1967) The Art Farmer Quintet Plays the Great Jazz Hits (1967) Homecoming (1971) Yesterday's Thoughts (1975) To Duke with Love (1975) The Summer Knows (1976) Art Farmer Quintet at Boomers (1976) Voices All (The Jazztet, 1982)
With Eddie Harris	Cool Sax from Hollywood to Broadway (1964) The In Sound (1965) Mean Greens (1966) The Tender Storm (1966) Excursions (1966) How Can You Live Like That? (1976)
With Billy Higgins	Soweto (1979) The Soldier (1979) Once More (1980) Bridgework (1980–86) Billy Higgins Quintet (1993)
With Milt Jackson	Milt Jackson at the Museum of Modern Art (1965) Born Free (1966) Milt Jackson and the Hip String Quartet (1968) Goodbye (1972–73) Olinga (1974)
With Etta James	Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday (1994) Time After Time (1995) 12 Songs of Christmas (1998) Blue Gardenia (2000–1)
With Clifford Jordan	Spellbound (1960) Starting Time (1961) Bearcat (1962) These are My Roots: Clifford Jordan Plays Leadbelly (1965) Glass Bead Games (1973) Half Note (1974) Night of the Mark VII (aka, The Highest Mountain, Muse, 1975) On Stage Vol. 1 (1975) On Stage Vol. 2 (1975) On Stage Vol. 3 (1975) Firm Roots (1975) The Highest Mountain (SteepleChase, 1975)
With Blue Mitchell	The Cup Bearers (1962) Boss Horn (1966) Stratosonic Nuances (1975) Summer Soft (1977)
With Houston Person	Chocomotive (1967) Trust in Me (1967) Blue Odyssey (1968) Broken Windows, Empty Hallways (1972) The Big Horn (1976) Very Personal (1980) Naturally (2012)
With others	God Bless Jug and Sonny (Gene Ammons & Sonny Stitt, 1973) Left Bank Encores (Gene Ammons & Sonny Stitt, 1973) Something for Lester (Ray Brown, 1977) Slow Drag (Donald Byrd, 1967) The Almoravid (Joe Chambers, 1971–73) Somethin's Cookin' (Junior Cook, 1981) Broken Shadows (Ornette Coleman, 1971–72) Katumbo (Dance) (Johnny Coles, 1971) Giant Steps (John Coltrane, 1959) Up, Up and Away (Sonny Criss, 1967) The Beat Goes On! (Sonny Criss, 1968) This Is the Moment! (Kenny Dorham, 1958) Blue Spring (Kenny Dorham & Cannonball Adderley, 1959) It's All Right! (Teddy Edwards, 1967) Soul Trombone (Curtis Fuller, 1961) Smokin' (Curtis Fuller, 1972) Tangerine (Dexter Gordon, 1972) Generation (Dexter Gordon, 1972) Bush Dance (Johnny Griffin, 1978) Roots (Slide Hampton, 1985) The Quota (Jimmy Heath, 1961) Triple Threat (Jimmy Heath, 1962) Mode for Joe (Joe Henderson, 1966) Hub Cap (Freddie Hubbard, 1961) Here to Stay (Freddie Hubbard, 1962) The Body & the Soul (Freddie Hubbard,1963) Bolivia (Freddie Hubbard, 1991) Highway One (Bobby Hutcherson, 1978) Farewell Keystone (Bobby Hutcherson, 1982) Really Livin' (J.J. Johnson, 1959) J.J. Inc. (J.J. Johnson, 1960) Save Your Love for Me (Etta Jones, 1986) Advance! (Philly Joe Jones, 1978) Drum Song (Philly Joe Jones, 1978) Seven Minds (Sam Jones, 1974) Something in Common (Sam Jones, 1974–77) First Class Kloss! (Eric Kloss, 1967) Abbey Is Blue (Abbey Lincoln, 1959) Strings! (Pat Martino, 1967) From This Moment On! (Charles McPherson, 1968) Horizons (Charles McPherson, 1968) Caramba! (Lee Morgan, 1968) The Sixth Sense (Lee Morgan, 1968) The Mode (Sonny Red, 1961) Sonny Red (1971) Setting Standards (Woody Shaw, 1983) For Losers (Archie Shepp, 1968–69) Kwanza (Archie Shepp, 1968–69) Now Is the Time (Idrees Sulieman, 1976) Goodbye Yesterday (Lucky Thompson, 1972) Concert: Friday the 13th – Cook County Jail (Lucky Thompson, 1972) I Offer You (Lucky Thompson, 1973) Another Story (Stanley Turrentine, 1969) Up Front (David Williams, 1986)