John Eckman<p><strong>Billie Holiday, Songs for Distingué Lovers, 1958 on Verve</strong></p><p>Great set of recordings, with liner notes by Norman Granz. No real detail on the sessions on the record itself, but apparently recorded during <a href="https://www.billieholidaysongs.com/recording-sessions/1957-sessions/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sessions in January 1957</a> in Hollywood – the same sessions that yielded <em>All or Nothing at All</em> and <em>Body and Soul</em>. </p><p>Wonderful versions of “Stars Fell on Alabama” and “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)” in particular. </p><p>Granz writes on the liner notes:</p><blockquote><p>. . . quite possibly the best liner notes ever written about Miss Holiday singing songs would be simply to say to the listener ‘this is a fact: Miss Holiday has happened to some songs’ and to the discriminating listener that ought to suffice. </p></blockquote><p>My copy is a 2024 Barnes & Noble exclusive pressing on yellow vinyl, pressed at GZ Media. May be from a digital source (no credit for mastering – though it is a licensed recording, not a grey market one) but sounds great. </p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://goatless.org/tag/1950s" target="_blank">#1950s</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://goatless.org/tag/1958" target="_blank">#1958</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://goatless.org/tag/barnes-noble" target="_blank">#barnesNoble</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://goatless.org/tag/billie-holiday" target="_blank">#BillieHoliday</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://goatless.org/tag/jazz" target="_blank">#jazz</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://goatless.org/tag/norman-granz" target="_blank">#NormanGranz</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://goatless.org/tag/verve" target="_blank">#Verve</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://goatless.org/tag/vinyl" target="_blank">#vinyl</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://goatless.org/tag/vinylcollection" target="_blank">#vinylcollection</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://goatless.org/tag/vinylfinds" target="_blank">#vinylfinds</a></p>