Lady in Satin

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Work

Lady in Satin · After twelve albums with small jazz combos for Norman Granz, Billie Holiday moved to Columbia in 1957. She wanted a beautiful, tender album with an orchestra as a cushion beneath her voice, not a wild jam session. Producer Irving Townsend arranged the recordings in February 1958 with the arranger Ray Ellis, who used an orchestra of forty, with strings, brass, reeds and a small choir. It became her most expensive production.

The songs come from the Great American Songbook. After years of drink and drugs her voice had become fragile and hoarse, but her own phrasing and the sharp edge had remained. The reactions were mixed. The Penguin Guide to Jazz spoke of a voyeuristic look at a broken woman, whereas the trumpeter Buck Clayton actually preferred the later singer to the younger one. Ellis remembered her tears on listening back to I'm a Fool to Want You. In 2000 the album entered the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Listening

Track list

1. 1I'm a Foll to Want You3:23Apple Music ↗
2. 2For Heaven's Sake3:26Apple Music ↗
3. 3You Who Do Not Know Love3:47Apple Music ↗
4. 4I Get Along Without You Very Well2:59Apple Music ↗
5. 5For All We Know2:53Apple Music ↗
6. 6Violets for Your Furs3:24Apple Music ↗
7. 7You've Changed3:18Apple Music ↗
8. 8It's Easy to Remember3:00Apple Music ↗
9. 9But Beautiful4:29Apple Music ↗
10. 10Glad to Be Unhappy4:08Apple Music ↗
11. 11I'll Be Around3:23Apple Music ↗

30-second previews via Apple Music. Listen to the whole album on Apple Music ↗