jazz blues (1937)

Billie Holiday, vocal; 
Buck Clayton, trumpet; 
Buster Bailey, clarinet;
Lester Young, tenor sax; 
Claude Thornhill, piano; 
Freddie Green, guitar;
Walter Page, bass; Jo Jones, drums.

Billie Holiday is a laid-back singer, whose style is created by singing behind the beat in a consistently relaxed manner. This laid-back style made a song sound like the blues even when it was not. Holiday modeled her singing after Bessie Smith, and although she recorded the standard songs of the Swing Era, she remains in the blues tradition. Hes Funny That Way is typical of Swing Era arrangements that were designed quickly and often right on the spot. The melody is sung, there is a solo on the first section, and the singer comes back in for the last bridge and out. There are only two choruses (AABA), each 32 measures, with a brief, improvised introduction by Lester Young on tenor saxophone. The dialogue between Young and Holiday was a magical mixture and brought out the best in both of them. Though her voice was much smaller than Bessie Smiths, Holiday had the same sense of sincerity and the same ability to communicate feeling. Holiday came along at the right time, when microphones could propel her more crooning style.
