Sunday, June 22, 2008

Lady Day - Fine and Mellow (1957)



SO FINE. So mellow. What supreme musicianship. A performance for the ages. Watch the whole thing.

2 comments:

muriel may campbell said...

Thank you for bringing Billy Holiday into our sun room, Craig. We enjoyed listening to all of the songs. I especially appreciated the last recording you posted.
All is good :-)


"The opera "Strange Fruit" was inspired by the novel by Lillian Smith. A commissioned work, it premiered on June 15, 2007 at the Long Leaf Opera Festival [2]in Chapel Hill. Chandler Carter was the composer and Joan Ross Sorkin was the librettist."

We looked up "Strange Fruit" in Wikipedia to refresh our memories about this song and discovered that the Opera (just) premiered a year ago!
Wouldn't it be something to get to hear this Opera live?
Steve remembered that his Dad shared with him the History of this song,"Strange Fruit" and the impact it had on so many, including his Dad and family.
Before going into the Ministry, Dad played his accordion on the radio, in a band, also in local pubs, in the Cambridge area. His repertoire included many popular songs spanning his life and before.

Craig Hickman said...

I used to perform "Strange Fruit" in a solo stage piece.