Billie Holiday Discography   The Composers 

George Gershwin   Cole Porter   Irving Berlin   Harold Arlen   Jerome Kern   Vernon Duke   Richard Rodgers   Duke Ellington   Rube Bloom  
John Green   Richard Whiting   Burton Lane   Walter Donaldson   Jimmy McHugh   Harry Warren   Van Heusen   Arthur Freed Billie Holiday  

The men behind the songs

This section is dedicated to the great songwriters  Billie Holiday served as interpreter. All the songs BH recorded from each particular composer are listed after his name. The numbers in blue between brackets (eg MT 71) refer to the recordings' original order in "STUDIO SONGS" (Master Takes) while the ones in green (eg LR 59) refer to "LIVE RECORDINGS" sequence. The stars ÅÅ represent their evaluation in the respective section.

George Gershwin  (1898-1937)   Ira Gershwin

Gershwin was the composer with the largest number of tunes sung by Billie Holiday in this collection. All the commented songs below have their lyrics by his brother Ira Gershwin. Reading these lyrics is like an online university education in song craftsmanship.

 

Cole Porter  (1891-1964)

Cole Porter is probably my favorite composer. However, there seems to be no good match between Porter and Billie – a clear example is Night and Day. Probably, two different styles. Porter is famous by his lyrics, worked to perfection – a characteristic of those composers that made both music and lyrics.

 

Irving Berlin  (1888-1989)  

Berlin , unlike Cole Porter, seems to be a perfect match for Billie. Almost all the songs she recorded got high evaluation, as you can see below. He is probably the most known name in the American popular music. Berlin is also known to write complete songs, music and words. Berlin is also one of the most prolific composers, having written almost 900 songs; however, the three I selected are from the early thirties.

Harold Arlen   (1905-1986)        Johnny Mercer  

How to select any of these wonderful songs? All of them got high standards. I decided to included the two that have lyrics by Johnny Mercer. I also want to point out that the unforgettable “Over the Rainbow” from the film The Wizard of Oz (1939) with Judy Garland is another masterpiece from Arlen (lyrics from Harburg).

Jerome Kern  (1885-1945)  Oscar Hammerstein II

Kern was one of the greatest, having influence in a generation of composers.

Vernon Duke  (1903-1969)

Three wonderful songs by Duke, born in Russia as Vladimir Dukelsky.

Richard Rodgers  (1902-1979) here with Lorenz Hart

Rodgers was one of the most prolific American composers but his partnership with Billie did not render that many tracks. All of the songs listed below have lyrics by Lorenz Hart.

Duke Ellington   (1899-1974)  

Ellington was a musician in the broad sense of the word. Through his orchestra passed some of the biggest names in jazz. He was also a composer, despite the fact they were not actually composed as songs, but as instrumental pieces. A legend.

Ellington was the closest contact Billie had with the greatest composers. To focus in the recorded tracks, she made a short film with his band, “Symphony in Black” in 1935 (s. 3a). Then, in 1945, she had a radio broadcast with Duke’s Orchestra in the California Philarmonic Auditorium during the Esquire Magazine Second Annual Jazz Concert. In 1952 she took part in the Duke’s 25th Anniversary Concert in Carnegie Hall.

Rube Bloom  (1902-1976)

Rube Bloom was a very good pianist and also a bandleader. Billie selected a couple of his best works.

John Green  (1908-1989)

Green was a musical director and wrote not that many songs, but he has four tunes included in Billie’s repertoire. And among them is Body and Soul, an all-time jazz standard classic.

Richard Whiting  (1891-1938)

Burton Lane  (1912-1997)

Walter Donaldson  (1893-1947) 

A famous songwriter, Donaldson lived long time in Hollywood and composed and arranged music for many motion pictures.

Jimmy McHugh  (1894-1969)    Dorothy Fields

Dorothy Fields was one of the great lyricists ever. In here, we found three wonderful McHugh works with her lyrics.

Harry Warren  (1893-1981)

His real name was Salvatore Guaragna, a son of Italian immigrants.

Jimmy Van Heusen  (1913-1990)  

Arthur Freed     (1894-1973)

Billie Holiday  (1915-1959)

Many people don’t realize Billie was also a composer, or sometimes a lyricist with other composers as partners (their names in between brackets). These songs represent her style and are generally included in records in her homage. Billie frequently sang ‘em in her live presentations.

I’m forced to mention here another Billie favorite, just to compare the lyrics. Those four songs are a tribute to love and to be loved. A recurrent theme for Billie.

My Man (Mon Homme) originally a French tune, it was also one of the public favorites in her live presentations. Here’s how the lyrics goes: It cost me a lot/ But there's one thing that I've got/ It's my man/ It's my man/ Cold or wet/ Tired, you bet/ All of this I'll soon forget/ With my man/ He's not much on looks/ He's no hero out of books/ But I love him/ Yes, I love him.

© 2011 Billie Holiday Songs

version 16.6 December 2011

 

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