BILLIE HOLIDAY – BODY AND SOUL (LP PURPLE VINYL)

Bonus Track(S), High Quality, Coloured Vinyl
Surrounded by exceptional musicians, Billie Holiday expresses a contained but palpable pain which, even if we could neglect to take it seriously, reveals the inner narrative and almost biographical dimension of the words of these standards, and offers the privilege of hearing them like never before, and probably never since. Body and Soul must be a contender for that “finest album” spot. It catches her at a time when the melodic invention and rhythmic suppleness of earlier days has given way to a more deliberate, almost speech-derived style which places greater emphasis on the lyric than on the harmonies.