lady in satin

Billie Holiday poured her ravaged soul into the lushly orchestrated tortured torch songs of this devastating document of her decline.  She worked with the Ray Ellis Orchestra to record 'Lady in Satin' for Columbia Records.  The sessions featured songs that she had not recorded before; and took place late in the evenings, as that was the time that she functioned best.  

A.B. Spellman from the National Endowment for the Arts reveals:    "She chose the repertoire on the basis of the lyrics. She wanted to do songs she had not done before and so she and Ray Ellis, the arranger on this record, and her lawyer, went down to the Colony Record Store and thumbed through the sheet music. And Billie read the lyrics — she never did learn to read music — and picked out the lyrics she enjoyed the most, the ones she thought she could do the best job with. And that's how the record was chosen."

The recordings included:  concertmaster George Ockner on violin; David Soyer on cello; Janet Putnam on harp; and Danny Bank, Phil Bodner, and Romeo Penque on flute; as well as Mel Davis on trumpet; J.J. Johnson on trombone; Urbie Green and Tom Mitchell on trombone; Mal Waldron on piano; Barry Galbraith on guitar; Milt Hinton on bass; Osie Johnson on drums; and Elise Bretton and Miriam Workman on backing vocals.  

Arranger and conductor Ellis would later recall:    "I would say that the most emotional moment was her listening to the playback of 'I’m a Fool to Want You'.  There were tears in her eyes… After we finished the album I went into the control room and listened to all the takes.  I must admit I was unhappy with her performance, but I was just listening musically instead of emotionally.  It wasn’t until I heard the final mix a few weeks later that I realized how great her performance really was.”

The years of alcohol and drug abuse had taken their toll on her voice; but "Our Lady of Perpetual Suffering" somehow manages to inhabit these songs, bringing her life experience into them and giving them greater depth with her aching vulnerability and knowing phrasing.  








http://www.billieholiday.com/









"The End of a Love Affair" 







'Lady in Satin'
full album:



LP Side One

"I'm a Fool to Want You" (Frank Sinatra, Joel Herron, Jack Wolf)  – 3:23
"For Heaven's Sake" (Elise Bretton, Sherman Edwards, Donald Meyer)  – 3:26
"You Don't Know What Love Is" (Gene DePaul, Don Raye)  – 3:48
"I Get Along Without You Very Well" (Hoagy Carmichael)  – 2:59
"For All We Know" (J. Fred Coots, Sam M. Lewis)  – 2:53
"Violets for Your Furs" (Tom Adair, Matt Dennis)  – 3:24

LP Side Two

"You've Changed" (Bill Carey, Carl T. Fischer)  – 3:17
"It's Easy to Remember" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers)  – 4:01
"But Beautiful" (w. Johnny Burke, m. Jimmy Van Heusen)  – 4:29
"Glad to Be Unhappy" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers)  – 4:07
"I'll Be Around" (Alec Wilder)  – 3:23

"The End of a Love Affair" (Edward Redding)  – 4:46