Verve Records · in the Kissa Kissa racks

Lady Sings The Blues

Billie Holiday

Recorded	Sep 1954
Label	Verve Records
Released	1954
Personnel	13 credited players
Discogs	master 190219

The record

Verve pulled from both coasts for this 1954 date, setting Kessel and Burrell's guitars against Willie Smith's alto and Callender's bass under a voice grown rougher than her Columbia years. Named for the memoir but recorded well before it, this is Holiday reckoning with the distance she'd traveled.

Session personnel

Willie Smith — alto saxophone
Aaron Bell — bass
Red Callender — bass
Tony Scott — clarinet
Chico Hamilton — drums
Lenny McBrowne — drums
Barney Kessel — guitar
Kenny Burrell — guitar
Bobby Tucker — piano
Wynton Kelly — piano
Paul Quinichette — tenor saxophone
Charlie Shavers — trumpet
Harry Edison — trumpet

Contemporary reception

No period review located yet. The vintage-press pipeline searches DownBeat, Cash Box, and Billboard for this session.

Pressings

Showing the first pressing, audiophile reissues and copies carrying a collector marker, out of 152 pressings on file.

1956	Clef Records · MG C-721 — Vinyl, LP, Album earliest on file
1957	American Recording Society · G-431 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Mono · RVG stamp
1960	Verve Records · MG V-8099 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Mono · deep groove
1956	Verve Records · MG V-8099 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Mono
1956	Clef Records · MG C-721 — Vinyl, LP, Album
1956	Clef Records · MG C-721 — Vinyl, LP, Album
1956	Verve Records · MG V-8099 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Mono
1956	Clef Records · MG C-721 — Vinyl, LP, Album
1957	Columbia · 33CX 10092 — Vinyl, LP, Album
1960	MGM Records · EPF mgm 33 — Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, EP, Mono
1960	Verve Records · VL-1014 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono
1960	Verve Records · MG V-8099 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Mono
1973	Verve Records · MG V-8099 — Vinyl, LP, Compilation
1973	Imagem · 6001 — Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Reissue, Stereo