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Format

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  653620CD  £12.00

Label

Decca

Jose James

Yesterday I Had The Blues: The Music Of Billie Holiday

Jazz Next month sees what would have been Billie Holiday's 100th birthday and this is a faithful interpretation of nine classic Holiday songs from the fine New York vocalist Jose James James calls this set a tribute to his 'musical mother' and it partners him with that most constructively supportive of jazz pianists Jason Moran and the bass drums pairing of John Patitucci and Eric Harland Without striving for big payoffs James lets the timeless materials of 'Good Morning Heartache' 'Body and Soul' and 'Strange Fruit' speak for themselves but his precisely crafted phrasing and occasional improviser's digressions reinvent this material by the lightest of touches Moran's remarkable piano solos are both dramatically independent tributes and at one with the prevailing mood James's silky purr and unsettling calmness bring a scary resignation to Good Morning Heartache Lover Man emerges over a slow bass vamp and sounds wistful until the singer unexpectedly fires off noone here to love me as an anguished yelp and Strange Fruit achingly rises over deepchoral hums and a baleful slow handclap Jose James has long sounded like the real deal and never more so than here

Tracklist

• 1. Good Morning Heartache
  2. Body and Soul
  3. Fine and Mellow
  4. I Thought About You
  5. What a Little Moonlight Can Do
  6. Tenderly
  7. Lover Man
  8. God Bless the Child
  9. Strange Fruit