Customer Reviews

Billie Ella Lena Sarah

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This collection was first issued in the mid '50s as "Ella, Lena and Billie" - Sarah was added later - and if you don't know these great vocalists by their first names, you must be from the Moon. The sessions by Billie and Ella are from the '30s, and Lena's sessions are from 1941. Most of these numbers were recorded with a Teddy Wilson-led band which included several of Basie's sidemen. The Sarah Vaughn numbers were recorded in 1950 with a lineup that included Miles Davis on trumpet. It's wonderful to hear these singers in the early stages of their careers. The sound quality is better than one might expect.

Billie, Ella, Lena, Sarah is an excellent sampler album that also lets us compare the vocal qualities of four great songbirds: Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne and Sarah Vaughan. The sound quality is excellent and I love that artwork! This is one CD that many people will want for their collections.

The track sets opens with the immortal Billie Holiday singing her heart out on "The Man I Love." Billie never misses a note and she sings with all the heart and soul of an accomplished chanteuse. The music that goes with her vocals is very well done as well. "My Melancholy Baby" is an early recording by the great Ella Fitzgerald; she sings this so well you'll instantly know she was born to sing songs like this! Ella's voice is clear as a bell; and I really like that. Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra play perfectly, too--listen for that brass--the horn solo is also gorgeous! Great!

"Prisoner Of Love" features Lena Horne front and center--and that's quite all right by me! Lena sings this with panache and I love every minute of it. The horn solo is again rather strikingly beautiful and it goes with Lena's vocals very well. Listen also for the great Sarah Vaughan on "It's Nice Work If You Get It;" Sarah delivers this with style, grace and all her heart. We again get a fantastic horn solo that embellishes the number considerably and Sarah never sings a superfluous note.

"I'll Never Be The Same" is another early Billie Holiday recording that is absolutely marvelous when Billie gives this her all; and there's also Billie on "What A Little Moonlight Can Do." Excellent! Billie sings like the great songbird she was and still remains.

"Ain't Misbehavin'" is a tune I always loved; and when Sarah Vaughan delivers this with a slightly slower tempo she takes it to new heights! Sarah makes this number take flight so beautifully; it's easily a major highlight of this album. You'll enjoy it! "All My Life" takes us back to Ella Fitzgerald again and there's a fantastic, elegant piano arrangement that simply can't be beat on "All My Life."

"I'm Gonna Lock My Heart (And Throw Away The Key)" gives another nod to Billie Holiday who sings this with panache; and the album ends very strong with Sarah Vaughan performing "Goodnight My Love." "Goodnight My Love" sparkles when Sarah Vaughan sings it. It's terrific.

Overall, this is a wonderful sampler CD and fans of these songbirds will want this album in their collections. I highly recommend this album for people who appreciate classic pop vocals and bluesy takes on some of the best songs of all time.

This album introduced me to jazz a couple of years ago. Now, I'm a big fan. I know the work of Amstrong, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Nina Simone and others. Still, this is the best I have.The lyrics, instrumental richness and even the imperfect recording quality makes it really charming and beautiful. Horne's emotion in "Prisioner of Love" and all Sarah's performances give it an extra star.

Five Tremendous Stars!! Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, and Sarah Vaughan!! Four of the best singers "there ever was" sing truly classic songs from early in their careers. This sampler 'freeze-frames' the careers of these tremendous singers at a crucial time when they were the rage of the jazz world, in a jazz constellation that included many other fabulous singers like Anita O'Day and Carmen McRae.

From the Ella Fitzgerald sessions with Teddy Wilson's orchestra in 1936 to Sarah Vaughan fronting George Treadwell's All Stars with Miles Davis, Benny Green, Tony Scott, and guitarist Mundell Lowe on piano of all things in 1950, these classic pieces are dated in sound and arrangement, BUT not in performance. These are truly timeless classics that can be enjoyed over and over by the 21st Century music fan. Indeed, any jazz singer of today would give anything to be able to duplicate these stellar performances.

In between the Fitzgerald and Vaughan "bookend" sessions, we find the inimitable Billie Holiday with her very own orchestra in the late 1930's, including Lester Young, Buck Clayton, Sweets Edison, and Jo Jones, and Lena Horne with another version of the Teddy Wilson Orchestra from 1936 featuring Emmet Berry and Jimmy Hamilton. Ms Horne only gets two tracks ("Prisoner of Love" and "Out of Nowhere"), but she uses them to telling effect as a jazz vocalist who would later become best known as a pop singer who never forgot her jazz roots. Ms Fitzgerald likewise gets two tracks within which to weave her vocal magic and she does just that with sizzling, memorable renditions of "My Melancholy Baby" and "All of My Life".

I usually pick out "Pieces De Resistance", the best of the best, from each CD, but this is an impossible task with this compendium. Indeed each singer could have performed each other's songs with equal aplomb. Each performance is a diamond of music, in and of itself, by each of these legendary vocalists who were honing their craft 'on the fly', as it were, in their early years. From Billie Holiday's "The Man I Love" to Sarah Vaughan's "East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)", this is an essential CD for the serious jazz collector who wants a "quick, but deep" sample of the magnificence of these "Queens" in their youth. Highly Recommended! Five HUGE Stars!!

There are not enough adjectives for the tremendous impact of this recording - all it takes is one play - one memory - cascades! These ladies are to "Die For".

This cd is a nice introduction to the earlier years of these Great Ladies of Song! Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan.

This is a wonderful opportunity to compare the art and craft of four great song stylists--Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, and Lena Horne. The songs were recorded over the period from 1935 to 1950. The CD works not so much as a seamless piece of art, but it works as a means of introducing people to four great singers, while--at the same time--allowing those listeners to make their own comparisons of their respective talents.

Overall, I think that this works pretty well. One can wish that other selections had been used on this CD, but with so few cuts available, this works about as well as one could expect.

Some samples:

Billie Holiday begins the CD with her "The Man I Love." This Gershwin song is done justice by her wonderful voice, as she imagines a love to come and considers how she "can make him stay." Evocative singing. There is the hope of coming love. On Monday? Or Tuesday? This cut also features some nice backing orchestral work.

Ella Fitzgerald follows with "My Melancholy Baby." This is an up tempo rendering of this song. Teddy Wilson's Orchestra backs Fitzgerald most ably. Her voice is in fine form and she provides us an estimable rendition of the work.

Lena Horne, "Prisoner of Love." Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra provide terrific backing. Her smooth voice serves this song well; the voice almost caresses the words as she sings lines such as:

"I need no shackles to remind me

I'm just a prisoner of love."

Sarah Vaughan, "Nice Work if You Can Get It." Another Gershwin song and another great voice to sing it. Once more, superb orchestral support for the singer. And what lines!

"Nice work if you can get it,

And you can get it if you try."

....

Where two hearts become one

Who could ask for anything more?"

There are other fine songs on this CD (such as "Ain't' Misbehavin'" and "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)." All in all, this is a fine CD that allows listeners to compare four talented singers and four rich voices.

I was born in the 1950s, and my mother played this album frequently during my childhood. What a wonderful gift to find this all shiny and new again. The sound quality is better than I remember. This will always be a favorite.

This record was my introduction to these ladies and, little by little, it was playing more and more until I barely could turn it off. Are there any women like Ella and Billie with orchestras like these, anymore?

This is a great CD. It has an awesome blend of four lovely ladies' voices. I really enjoy it.