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audio of Billie Holiday talking about her life?


ghost of miles

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The Verve box 'The Complete Billie Holiday' has on disc 4 a long conversation between Billie and Jimmy Rowles during an August 1955 rehearsal at bass player Artie Shapiro's home. 45 minutes of the tape was originally issued on a Paramount Records LP.

That Disc 4 has much more of this. It lasts nearly 80 minutes.

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The Verve box 'The Complete Billie Holiday' has on disc 4 a long conversation between Billie and Jimmy Rowles during an August 1955 rehearsal at bass player Artie Shapiro's home. 45 minutes of the tape was originally issued on a Paramount Records LP.

That Disc 4 has much more of this. It lasts nearly 80 minutes.

Thanks for the tip, Brownie. Does she talk much about her life and/or her music on it?

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I interviewed her in 1959, during a gig at Pep's in Philly. I have been meaning to dig the tape out from my Fibber McGee closet. That is quite a task, so I procrastinate.

In the interview, she--knowing that I was a local DJ--urged me to play records by Annie Ross. I was quite impressed by that, coming from another female singer. During the interview, the door burst open and her disgusting husband, Louis McKay, announced that Billie had been booked for a rather nice European tour. She took off one of her shoes and threw it at him, shouting, "Get out of here, mother fucker, I'm talking to Chris!" He put himself in reverse and slammed the door shut.

I recall hearing another interview from the late 1950s. A colleague, Bob Laurence conducted it and played it for me. I think Bob is long gone, but I hope that tape still exists. As far as I remember, my friend, Linda Kuehl, who did a lot of research on Billie for a book, never came across an interview, but she did find a remarkable recording. It was one of those small plastic discs that one could record in coin-operated machines on 42nd Street. It is Billie, rather inebriated, singing a Christmas carol ("Come All Ye Faithful," I think) and wishing everybody a merry Christmas. Very sad, very moving.

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It would be great to hear that interview, Chris. I really like the one you did the year before with Pres (included, of course, in the Verve box set).

A bit off topic, but I often bump into my LP of "Hip Vibrations", and I like your liner notes for that, too. That's an album that's way overdue for reissue.

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I recall hearing another interview from the late 1950s. A colleague, Bob Laurence conducted it and played it for me. I think Bob is long gone, but I hope that tape still exists. As far as I remember, my friend, Linda Kuehl, who did a lot of research on Billie for a book, never came across an interview, but she did find a remarkable recording. It was one of those small plastic discs that one could record in coin-operated machines on 42nd Street. It is Billie, rather inebriated, singing a Christmas carol ("Come All Ye Faithful," I think) and wishing everybody a merry Christmas. Very sad, very moving.

sounds like the interview that albertson is sitting on will be lost just like the christmas carol and the Bob Laurence interview.

great stories though. so much better reading them from you than listening to the actual recordings.

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I have a CD-R of her that a friend burned from a reel-to-reel. She's loaded, slurring words, spittin' and cussin' and talkin' smack. I have no idea what the origins of this thing are. I haven't listened to it in awhile, but it's in the studio- lots of false starts (with a band) dissolve into drunken ramblings. Strange but nifty...

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lp said: sounds like the interview that albertson is sitting on will be lost just like the christmas carol and the Bob Laurence interview.

  • Let's hope not. I know that my tape is in the closet, Someone bought all of Linda's research material after she committed suicide. I feel certain that the disc is in one of those boxes. This guy is charging exorbitant fees for access to Linda's work, so I don't think it is being used constructively.

    Bob Laurence's tape is probably lost, but one never knows.

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Has the radio interview that she did with Mike Wallace in 1956 ever come out on LP or CD? I'll look into those ESP CDs...

BTW, working on this program has given me reason to re-visit Donald Clarke's WISHING ON THE MOON. It's a top-notch bio of Billie; Clarke was able to get access to Linda Kuehl's archive, although he encountered problems that certainly confirm Chris' post. I highly recommend WISHING, if you want to read only one Billie bio (Stuart Nicholson's book is also worthy too, if you're a real fanatic).

Edited by ghost of miles
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  • 3 weeks later...

I have a CD-R of her that a friend burned from a reel-to-reel. She's loaded, slurring words, spittin' and cussin' and talkin' smack. I have no idea what the origins of this thing are. I haven't listened to it in awhile, but it's in the studio- lots of false starts (with a band) dissolve into drunken ramblings. Strange but nifty...

do we know if this poster is talking about one of the rehearsal sessions on the verve box. those are not with band, but with piano and bass.

i'd like to find this book

Linda Kuehl "Billie Holiday remembered"

my library system tells me that there are only a couple of libraries in the u.s. that have it, and they refuse to lend it out to other library systems.

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