#eddie heywood and his orchestra

[bluejeansoul]

I'm Yours - Eddie Heywood and His Orchestra with Billie Holiday

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[juliopison]

DISCOTECA (Jazz) Plataforma ivoox Jazz Party LP Colección del Café 2019-08 Vol 1

Para escuchar el Disco pulsa el Link: https://go.ivoox.com/rf/83413603

01- Woody Herman and His Orchestra - At the Woodchopper’s Ball 02- Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra feat. Lester Young – Travelling All Alone 03- Eddie Condon & His Windy City Seven – Love Is Just Around the Corner 04- Will Bradley Orchestra – Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar 05- Benny Goodman Sextet feat. Charlie Christian – Rose Room 06- Fats Waller and His Rhythm – Us on a Bus 08- Jimmy Rushing acc. by Count Basie and His Orchestra – Boogie Woogie (I May Be Wrong) 09- Fats Waller and His Rhythm – There’s Honey on the Moon Tonight 10- Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra – St. Louis Blues 11- Bud Freeman and His Summa Cum Laude Orchestra – Tia Juana 12- Lester Young and Billie Holiday – Back In Your Own Backyard 13- Fats Waller and His Rhythm – Sweet Sue, Just You 14- Billie Holiday acc. by Eddie Heywood (piano), John Simmons (bass), Sidney Catlett (drums)– On the Sunny Side of the Street 15- Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra – Jeepers Creepers 16- Bix Beiderbecke (solo) – Clementine 17- Artie Shaw and His Orchestra – Blues in the Night 18- Count Basie's Kansas City Seven feat. Lester Young – Dickie’s Dream 19- Cab Calloway and His Orchestra – The Jumpin’ Jive 20- Artie Shaw and His Orchestra – This Can't Be Love 21- Earl Hines (solo) – A Monday Date 22- Fats Waller and His Rhythm – There'll Be Some Changes Made 23- Cab Calloway and His Orchestra – Are You Here to Help the Jive 24- Benny Goodman Sextet feat. Charlie Christian – Flying Home 25- Ella Fitzgerald – A-Tisket, A-Tasket 26- Cab Calloway and His Orchestra – At the Clambake Carnival 27- Ella Fitzgerald's V-Disc Jumpers – I’ll See You In My Dreams

Café Mientras Tanto jcp

[odk-2]

Billie Holiday - God Bless the Child (1941) Billie Holiday / Arthur Herzog, Jr. from: "God Bless the Child " / "Solitude"           (10", 78 RPM Shellac)

Personnel: Billie Holiday: Vocals

Eddie Heywood and His Orchestra: Roy Eldridge: Trumpet Jimmy Powell: Alto Saxophone Lester Boone: Alto Saxophone Ernie Powell: Trumpet Eddie Heywood: Piano Johan Robins: Guitar Paul Chapman: Guitar Grachan Moncur II: Bass Herbert Cowans: Drums

Produced by Edward B. Marks Music

Recorded in New York City on May 9th, 1941

Billie Holiday - 1941 Closeup of Billie Holiday singing "Fine & Mellow". Photograph by Gjon Mili for Life magazine.

[fernandfog]

tagged by @awakingasterism and @cardenvondraken

rules: you can usually tell a lot about a person by the music they listen to! put your music on shuffle and list the first 10 songs, then tag 10 people.

1. Dream A Little Dream Of Me - Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong 2. Broken Bones - KALEO 3. my boy - Billie Eilish 4. Baby Outlaw - Elle King 5. Autumn In New York - Billie Holiday 6. Someone New - Hozier 7. All Of Me (with Eddie Heywood and His Orchestra) - Billie Holiday 8. A Kiss To Build A Dream On - Louis Armstrong 9. xanny - Billie Eilish 10. Fine and Mellow - Billie Holiday

@therainshallmakeadoor @tea-in-twoworlds @stsathyre @chaotic-archaeologist @3ofsw0rds and idk, anyone else who wants to? Do it, don’t do it, have fun.

[panicinthestudio]

Billie Holiday with Eddie Heywood and his Orchestra - “I’ll Be Seeing You”, 1944

Composed by Eddie Fain

Lyrics by Irvine Kahal

[onejazztrackaday]

God Bless the Child – Billie Holiday

Written by by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr. in 1939, God Bless the Child was first recorded in 1941 and released in 1942. The song was inspired, according to Holiday’s autobiography, by an argument over money with her mother who refused to give her a small loan. During the argument her mother said "God bless the child that's got his own." 

As Tony Bennett once said of Lady Day, 

When you listen to her, it’s almost like an audio tape of her autobiography. She didn’t sing anything unless she lived it.

I believe this to be from the original 1941 recording session, which would mean you are hearing Eddie Heywood and his Orchestra, with Roy Eldridge (trumpet), Jimmy Powell and Lester Boone (alto saxophone), Ernie Powell (trumpet), Eddie Heywood (piano), Johan Robins (guitar), Paul Chapman (guitar), Grachan Moncur II (bass), Herbert Cowans (drums), and of course Billie Holiday (vocal).

– Bozzie 🎷

[sweetheartofsecondlife]

Wednesday Double: 9/23

Let me share some of my creative process with you: I usually make up my playlists about a week ahead. I come up with a “rough-draft” of what I want to play, then I’ll let it sit for a while, usually listening to it while doing other things. Then closer to the date, I’ll revisit it; putting it into a pleasing order, and sometimes changing tracks. Once in a while, I’m just not happy with how a set is turning out. That was the case with my set for Nat’s Jazz tonight, so last night I changed plans and created a whole new big-band set. The first-draft playlist got kicked to next week to give my DJ muse more time to play with it and make me happy, and the Big Band set was very popular. 

Nat’s Jazz, Big Band:

Stan Kenton - Artistry in Rhythm Glenn Miller - Give a Little Whistle - Remastered Ella Fitzgerald - Basin Street Blues Jimmy Dorsey - Bali Hai Stan Kenton - But Beautiful - Remastered Ella Fitzgerald - Give Me the Simple Life Les Baxter - Tropicando Les Brown - Cherokee Glenn Miller - Danny Boy Benny Goodman - Chicago Glenn Miller - In the Mood Duke Ellington - Mood Indigo Ray Charles - Greenbacks Les Baxter - Mr. Robot Ella Fitzgerald - Flying Home Pérez Prado - Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White James Brown - The Boss Benny Goodman - Sing, Sing, Sing Jimmy Dorsey - Brazil (Aquarela do Brasil) - Remastered Duke Ellington - Take the "A" Train Pérez Prado - Mambo No 5 Gene Krupa & His Orchestra - St. Louis Blues Cab Calloway - Boo-Wah Boo-Wah Stan Kenton - Time After Time - Remastered Glenn Miller - American Patrol Artie Shaw - Frenesi Gene Krupa & His Orchestra - Drum Boogie Glenn Miller - Blue Moon Buddy Rich - Nuttville Les Brown - Dansero Benny Goodman - Let's Dance Eddie Heywood - Canadian Sunset - Single Version Gene Krupa & His Orchestra - Tuxedo Junction Harry James - Ciribiribin Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra - Skyliner - Live Woody Herman - Woodchopper's Ball Count Basie - Taxi War Dance (78rpm Version)

Sphynx Jazz: Through the Looking Glass

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - A Walk In The Black Forest Willy Chirino - Helter Skelter George White Group - Nothing Compares 2 U Count Basie - Oh Pretty Woman The Puppini Sisters - Panic Scubba - Paradise City - Vibes Edition Tony Face Big Roll Band - Hey Bulldog The Sex-O-Rama Band - Pearl Necklace Robyn Adele Anderson - Personal Jesus Laurence Juber - Pink Panther Theme Richard Cheese - Rock The Casbah Massimo Faraò - Los Angelenos Lucky Chops - My Girl Marco Pigolotti - Shout, Sowing the seeds of love, Mad world, Everybody wants to rule... Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox - Somewhere Only We Know Ramsey Lewis - Summer Breeze Scary Pockets - Footloose Amazonics - Fever

Taking the stage

[unicornery]

For my own amusement, I started tracking how the songs from the Billboard Hot 100 from this week in 1974 have been used in movie soundtracks. Feature Films only people! As you read, you will see the “gimmes” that made me think of the idea, but I’m putting this behind a cut because there ended up being so many which had a soundtrack match. As a reminder, you can follow along as I do the Hot 100 each week corresponding to which classic AT40 and VJ Big 40 get played on SiriusXM ‘70s on 7 and ‘80s on 8 respectively with my ever-changing Spotify playlist. 

100. “Beyond the Blue Horizon” - Lou Christie. This one is a cheat because when I looked it up on Spotify it showed up on the Rain Man soundtrack. The only song I could have told you off the top of my head was in Rain Main is the Belle Stars’ version of “Iko Iko.” Rain Man marked the first soundtrack appearance for Christie’s version. 

98. “The Air That I Breathe” - The Hollies. Very memorable appearance in The Virgin Suicides, which had the score done by, wait for it, French electronica duo Air. The song would go on to be heard in other movies. 

90. “Billy Don’t Be a Hero” - Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods. The Paper Lace version appears in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Both acts topped the charts with the song on opposite sides of the pond: Paper Lace in the UK and Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods in the US. [Update: the BD&H version may be in "To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday"] 

87. “Hollywood Swinging” - Kool & the Gang. This oft-sampled track first appeared in a feature film in the 2005 Get Shorty sequel Be Cool. 

84. “La Grange” - ZZ Top. Armageddon first, followed by others. 

68. “Band on the Run” - Paul McCartney and Wings.  I didn’t search for this at first because I didn’t think there would be anything, but then Jet was on the chart at #27, so I did a twofer search on imdb. Jet has not been in any films (save “One Hand Clapping, a rockumentary on Paul, which I don’t count for purposes of this discussion) but “Band on the Run” appears in The Killing Fields, in a shocking scene that contrasts the light tone of the pop song with the horrors of the Khmer Rouge’s executions of Cambodian citizens. 

66. “For the Love of Money” - The O’Jays. Has been used many times, according to IMDb the first feature film use was the Richard Pryor roman a clef (if I’m using that right, I only know it from Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man) Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling. 

59. “Rock Around the Clock” - Bill Haley and his Comets. Notably used in Blackboard Jungle, the song is on this 1974 chart for its appearance in American Graffiti. 

55. “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” - Rick Derringer. First one that comes to mind is Dazed and Confused bc I had that soundtrack, but it has been in others.

49. “Love’s Theme” - the Love Unlimited Orchestra. The swirling strings of this song indicate that someone is indeed falling in love. That’s my way of saying, if you think you haven’t heard this, you have. Imdb has it in Mean Girls, among others. 

47. “The Way We Were” - Barbra Streisand. The titular song of the 1973 film The Way We Were, starring Barbra and Robert Redford. A little long, but worth a watch bc Barbra is amazing in it. At the 1974 Academy Awards, Marvin Hamslich won Best Original Song honors for this tune, and was awarded Best Original Dramatic Score for his other musical work on the film. I always think of Lisa Loopner’s big crush on him.  

44. “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” - Stevie Wonder. First feature film usage was the 1998 Eddie Murphy flop Holy Man, which surprised me as it’s such a good song, you’d think it would have been in something earlier. Notable given Eddie’s impression of Stevie Wonder he performed on SNL! 

42. “Rock On” - David Essex. Michael Damian’s cover (or remix as described by Patton Oswalt) was recorded for the 1989 2 Coreys classic Dream a Little Dream, and per imdb, David Essex’s original appears in the alternate-history comedy Dick, from 1999. 

37. “Oh Very Young” - Cat Stevens/Yusef Islam. Surprisingly, this sweet song appears in the gross-out bowling comedy Kingpin. 

36. “Jungle Boogie” - Kool & the Gang. This song may have been used in the most films and tv shows of any I’ve researched so far, but its first appearance was in Pulp Fiction. 

34. “The Payback - Part 1” - James Brown. First feature film appearance was in 1995′s Dead Presidents. A different James Brown track appears on the soundtrack for racist-ass Melly Gibson’s Payback from 1999. 

33. “Help Me” - Joni Mitchell.  Another why’d-it-take-ya-so-long shocker, this mellow tune first appeared in the 2018 sci-fi movie Kin, narrowly beating Welcome to Marwen from 2019. 

31. “The Entertainer” - Marvin Hamlisch. The title theme from the Redford/Newman team-up The Sting. Hamlisch won a record-tying third Academy Award in 1974 for Best Original Score for The Sting.  It seems at this time Best Original Score and Best Original Dramatic Score were separate categories. Hamlisch would win Grammys for both this and “The Way We Were,” eventually becoming an EGOT winner in 1995.

30. “Eres Tú” - Mocedades. This Spanish Eurovision entry notably appears in the buddy comedy Tommy Boy when Chris Farley and David Spade’s characters sing along with the radio. 

28. “Midnight at the Oasis” - Maria Muldaur. Catherine O’Hara and Fred Willard perform their own rendition in the Christopher Guest film Waiting for Guffman. That should be all you need, but imdb has the first film appearance for the song as 1995′s Falcon and the Snowman. 

24. “Let it Ride” - Bachman-Turner Overdrive. This lesser-known but not less great BTO jam has appeared in a handful of films, the first being Ash Wednesday, starring Elijah Wood and directed by Edward Burns and not Garry Marshall. Note: it does not seem to be in the Richard Dreyfuss gambling movie Let It Ride, a classic VHS cover of my youth. 

18. “Mockingbird” - James Taylor and Carly Simon. Memorably performed by Harry and Lloyd in the dog van in Dumb and Dumber, later joined by a Latinx family on guitar and vocals.  Before that, Beverly D’Angelo and Chevy Chase’s characters also sang it on their road trip in National Lampoon’s Vacation. I couldn’t find an instance where James and Carly’s version played in a movie but I am sayin’ there’s a chance. That it could be someday. 

16. “Tubular Bells” - Mike Oldfield. This instrumental is best known for being the theme to The Exorcist, but I was surprised to learn from the Wiki entry that it was not written for the film. Tubular Bells or something that’s meant to sound like it has been in a ton of other things, generally uncredited. Of note: Mike Oldfield would go on to do the score for The Killing Fields. 

14. “Seasons in the Sun” - Terry Jacks. Now here is the type of song that ‘70s haters point to as an example of the whiny wuss rock that they feel over-dominated the era. It’s not one of my favorites but I appreciate it for how weird it is. I suppose being translated into English from a French/Belgian poem will do that to ya. Before I did my search, I imagined I would find it in a Farrelly Brothers movie or two, possibly the Anchorman sequel. However, the only feature film match I found was the 2002 indie flick Cherish, a movie I have never seen despite being confronted by the cover many times at rental places over the years. Before today, when I watched the trailer, I would have told you it starred Jennifer Love Hewitt and was about “a band trying to make it.” It turns out I am thinking of the 1999 film The Suburbans. Anyway Cherish seems aggressively indie and very of-its-time in a way that makes me want to watch it. 

13. “Dancing Machine” - The Jackson 5. The song appears in the Blaxploitation spoof I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, as well as the movie of Starsky & Hutch.

11. “Lookin’ For A Love” - Bobby Womack. This was in the movie of The Ladies Man starring Tim Meadows as his SNL character Leon Phelps. I almost skipped this one but I’m glad I didn’t because Tim Meadows rules.

8. “The Loco-Motion” - Grand Funk Railroad (the single and album it was on are credited to Grand Funk). We have our second song from the Kirsten Dunst/Michelle Williams movie Dick. Since that was satirizing Nixon and Watergate, well done to the filmmakers for including these 1974 hits!  It appeared in one earlier film, My Girl 2. 

5. “Come and Get Your Love” - Redbone. Known to modern listeners for appearing in Guardians of the Galaxy. [Sidebar: if you can find a way to listen to the With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus episode T.G.I.G.O.T.G.OST (Thank God It’s the Guardians of the Galaxy Original Soundtrack) with Sean Clements and Hayes Davenport, do it!] The song first appeared in Dance Me Outside, a Canadian film about First Nations youth, which is a cool parallel with Redbone being composed of Native American musicians. “Come and Get Your Love” is also in Dick! 

4. “Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me” - Gladys Knight & the Pips. Another SNL feature pops up on our list, 1994′s It’s Pat: The Movie. 

3. “Hooked on a Feeling” - Blue Swede. ALSO known to modern listeners as being from the GOTG, but possibly only in the trailer? I’m fuzzy. The song ALSO also appears in Dick, and its first feature film appearance was Reservoir Dogs. 

2. “Bennie and the Jets” - Elton John. You know it, you love it, you cackle at the gag in Mystery Team. IMDb has this song down as first appearing in the low budget feature Aloha, Bobby and Rose, from 1975. It is ALSO in My Girl 2, with proper credit for Sir Elton. 

1. “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)” - MFSB featuring The Three Degrees. IMDb says this appeared in the Al Pacino film Carlito’s Way, and I have no reason to doubt them because it means we are done! Thanks for readin’ and rockin’ along. 

[onmusicandliterature]

feb 23

[blackkudos]

Helen Humes

Helen Humes (June 23, 1913 – September 9, 1981) was an American jazz and blues singer.

Humes was a teenage blues singer, a vocalist with Count Basie's band, a saucy R&B diva, and a mature interpreter of the classy popular song. Along with other well-known jazz singers of the swing era, Humes helped to shape and define the sound of vocal swing music.

Early life

She was born on June 23, 1913, in Louisville, Kentucky, to Emma Johnson and John Henry Humes. She grew up as an only child. Her mother was a schoolteacher, and her father was the first black attorney in town. In an interview, Humes recalled her parents singing to each other around the house and in a church choir.

Humes was introduced to music in the church, singing in the choir and getting piano and organ lessons given at Sunday school by Bessie Allen, who taught music to any child who wanted to learn. Humes began occasionally playing the piano in a small and locally traveling dance band, the Dandies. This constant involvement in music would lead to her singing career in the mid-1920s.

Career

Early career

Her career began with her first vocal performance, at an amateur contest in 1926, singing "When You're a Long, Long Way from Home" and "I'm in Love with You, That's Why". Her talents were noticed by a guitarist in the band, Sylvester Weaver, who recorded for Okeh Records and recommended her to the talent scout and producer Tommy Rockwell. At the age of 14 Humes recorded an album in St. Louis, singing several blues songs. Two years later, a second recording session was held in New York, and this time she was accompanied by pianist J. C. Johnson. Despite this introduction to the music world, Humes did not make another record for another ten years, during which she completed her high school degree, took finance courses, and worked at a bank, as a waitress, and as a secretary for her father. She stayed home for a while, eventually leaving to visit friends in Buffalo, New York. While there, she was invited to sing a few songs at the Spider Web, a cabaret in town. This brief performance turned into an audition, which turned into a $35-a-week job. She stayed in Buffalo, singing with a small group led by Al Sears.

Cincinnati Cotton Club

While Humes was home in Louisville (she said she always returned home at least twice a year) she got a call from Sears, who was in Cincinnati. He wanted her to sing at Cincinnati's Cotton Club. The Cotton Club was an important venue in the Cincinnati music scene. It was an integrated club that booked and promoted a lot of black entertainers. Humes moved to Cincinnati in 1936 and sang with Sears's band again at the Cotton Club.

Count Basie first heard and approached Humes while she was performing at the Cotton Club in 1937. He asked her to join his touring band to replace Billie Holiday. He told her that she would be paid $35 a week, and she responded, "Oh shucks, I make that here and don't have to go no place!" Not long after this encounter, Humes moved in 1937 to New York City, where John Hammond, an influential talent scout and producer, heard her singing with Sears's band at the Renaissance Club. Through Hammond, she became a recording vocalist with Harry James's big band. Her swing recordings with James included "Jubilee", "I Can Dream, Can't I?", Jimmy Dorsey's composition "It's the Dreamer In Me", and "Song of the Wanderer". In March 1938 Hammond persuaded Humes to join Count Basie's Orchestra, where she would stay for four years.

The Count Basie Orchestra

In the Count Basie Orchestra, Humes gained acclaim as a singer of ballads and popular songs. While she was also a talented blues singer, Jimmy Rushing, another member of the orchestra at the time, held domain over the blues vocals. Her vocals with Basie's band included "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" and "Moonlight Serenade".

On December 24, 1939, Humes performed with the Count Basie Orchestra and James P. Johnson at the second From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall, produced by John Hammond. After this concert, most of her time with the Basie Orchestra was spent touring. In a 1973 oral history she described life on tour:

I used to pretend I was asleep on the Basie bus, so the boys wouldn't think I was hearing their rough talk. I'd sew buttons on and cook for them, too…in places where it was difficult to get anything to eat…down south. I wasn't interested in drinking and keeping late hours…but my kidneys couldn't stand the punishment of those long rides… then too I got tired of singing the same songs.

For these reasons, Humes left the group in 1942, as her health was not good and the stress of being on tour was too taxing.

Café Society and solo career

While home again in Louisville in 1942, Humes was called by John Hammond and invited to sing at Café Society in New York. She performed frequently there, accompanied by the pianists Teddy Wilson and Art Tatum. During that year, she also performed at the Three Deuces, at the Famous Door with Benny Carter (February), at the Village Vanguard with Eddie Heywood, and on tour with a big band led by the trombonist Ernie Fields.

In 1944, Humes moved to Los Angeles, California, where she spent a lot of time in the studio, recording solo work and movie soundtracks. Some of the soundtracks she recorded were Panic in the Streets and My Blue Heaven. She appeared in the musical film Jivin' in Be-Bop, by Dizzy Gillespie. She also performed and toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic for five seasons. In 1945, she recorded her most popular songs, two jump blues tunes, "Be-Baba-Leba" (Philo, 1945) and "Million Dollar Secret" (Modern, 1950). Despite this, her career stagnated. From the late 1940s to the mid-1950s she made a few recordings, working with different bands and vocalists, including Nat King Cole, but was not nearly as active as she had been. In 1950 she recorded Benny Carter's "Rock Me to Sleep". She bridged the gap between big-band swing jazz and rhythm and blues.

In 1956, Humes toured Australia with the vibraphonist Red Norvo. Their tour was well received, and she returned again in 1962 and 1964. She performed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1959 and the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1960 and 1962. She toured Europe with the first American Folk Blues Festival in 1962.

She returned to the United States in 1967 to take care of her ailing mother. At this point Humes viewed her singing career as a part of her past. She took a job at a local ammunition plant, sold her record player and her records and stopped singing. From 1967 to 1973, she did not work as a singer, until Stanley Dance persuaded her to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1973. This performance led to a revival of her career in music. The festival was followed with multiple European engagements and some albums made in France for Black and Blue. She sang regularly at the Cookery in New York City from 1974 to 1977.

Humes subsequently performed occasionally in America and at European venues and festivals, including the prestigious Nice Jazz Festival in the mid-1970s. She recorded her final album, Helen, for Muse Records in 1980. She received the Music Industry of France Award in 1973 and the key to the city of Louisville in 1975.

Humes said of her career, "I'm not trying to be a star! I want to work and be happy and just go along and have my friends – and that's my career."

Death

Humes died of cancer in Santa Monica, California, in 1981, at the age of 68. Her family requested donations for cancer research instead of flowers at her funeral. She is buried at the Inglewood Park Cemetery, in Inglewood, California.

Style and reviews

Humes's vocal range was from G3 to C5, as she stated in a letter to the arranger Buck Clayton in preparation for a European tour, along with a list of her preferred songs. According to many critics, her voice was versatile, suiting pop songs and ballads as well as blues. She was compared to Ethel Waters and Mildred Bailey from early in her career and was often recorded singing the blues after her association with Basie. In an interview with the jazz critic Whitney Balliett, Humes explained, "I've been called a blues singer, a jazz singer, and a ballad singer – well, I'm all three, which means I'm just a singer." A review from Downbeat Magazine of her albums Talk of the Town, Helen Comes Back, and Helen Humes with Red Norvo and His Orchestra said the following about her collaboration with Red Norvo:

Norvo's sparkling vibes are the ideal compliment to Helen's lithe, light timbered clarity…Helen is in particularly fine voice…[with] an uncanny resemblance to early Ella [Fitzgerald] in her sound and phrasing.

The review of Helen Comes Back was not as positive but did not fault the singer:

Blues dominates [the album]…[and] although her voice is delightful, the material is too simple to challenge her…Helen is a great deal more than a blues shouter.

Reviews in the Washington Post of her last performances, in Maryland in 1978 and Washington, D.C., in 1980, described her as "beaming and genial at 65" (in 1978) and gave insight into her versatile vocals: "her characteristically light voice [turning] rough as she belted out…'You Can Take My Man But You Can't Keep Him Long'." The reviews also described her use of back phrasing, reminiscent of Billie Holiday's signature style of phrasing a melody in an intimate, personal fashion.

Discography

Midnight at Minton's, Don Byas, 1941

Helen Humes, 1959

Tain't Nobody's Biz-ness if I Do, 1959

Songs I Like to Sing, 1960

Swingin' with Humes, 1961

Helen Comes Back, 1973

Let the Good Times Roll, 1973

Sneakin' Around, 1974

On the Sunny Side of the Street (live), 1974

Helen Humes, 1974

Midsummer Night's Songs (RCA, 1974) with Red Norvo and His Orchestra

Talk of the Town, 1975

Deed I Do (live), 1976

Helen Humes and the Muse All Stars, 1979

The New Year's Eve, 1980

Helen, 1981

With the Count Basie Orchestra

The Original American Decca Recordings (GRP, 1937–39), 1992

With Harry James and His Orchestra

"Jubilee" / "I Can Dream, Can't I?" (78 rpm single, Brunswick 8038, 1937)

"It's The Dreamer In Me" (78 rpm single, Brunswick 8055, 1938)

"Song Of The Wanderer (Where Shall I Go)" (78 rpm single, Brunswick 8067, 1938)

Awards

Hot Club of France Award for Best Album of 1973

Key to the City of Louisville, 1975, 1977

Wikipedia

[leopardprinttrashchild]

I am mildly* obsessed with @kinoglowworm​‘s fabulous Otayuri fic The Ghost with the Hammer in His Hand, so I made a wildly anachronistic but #aesthetic playlist. 

*more than mildly

[youtube] [spotify]  (check under the cut for the song list)

Story summary: 

The streetcars weren’t particularly crowded this time of day. There was even a seat available as Yuri got on and he debated taking it. Most days, he would have been right on it, but sitting down seemed like a losing proposition today.

Betting against gravity is always bad money. Yuri snorted under his breath as the words he’d heard his grandfather say so many times ran through his head. He used to repeat the phrase through giggles when he was younger like it was the best joke he’d ever heard. The idea seemed so obvious as to be absurd. Of course gravity always won.

The absurdity of it had worn off some with age, since Yuri had discovered too many ways that gravity could pull at him for it to be quite so funny anymore.

Parov Stelar - For Rose

Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer

Ella Fitzgerald; The Delta Rhythm Boys - It's Only A Paper Moon

The Low Anthem - Ticket Taker

Billie Holiday - I'm a Fool to Want You

Das Sinfonieorchester der Robert Schumann Schule; Die Toten Hosen - Die Moritat von Mackie Messer (aus: Die Dreigroschenoper)

Cage The Elephant - Ain't No Rest for the Wicked

The Low Anthem - Cage the Songbird

Dispatch - The General

Coleman Hawkins;The Chocolate Dandies - I Surrender Dear

The Head and the Heart - Ghosts

Billie Holiday - Autumn In New York

Parov Stelar;Cleo Panther - Sally's Dance

Stromae - Alors On Danse

Marian Hill - Down

fun. - The Gambler

The Collection - The Listener

Billie Holiday; Eddie Heywood - All of Me

Jewish Folk Song - Malachei Shalom

Benny Carter;The Chocolate Dandies - Goodbye Blues

Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal

Lead Belly - Where Did You Sleep Last Night?

Jo Cooper; Elin Lloyd - Y Gŵr A'i Farch (The Man and His Steed) / If You Do Not Love Me, Go Climb a Tree

Duke Ellington - New York, New York

The Jewish Starlight Orchestra - Hava Nagila

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

Regina Spektor - Call Them Brothers - feat. Only Son [Non-Album Track]

Dizzy Gillespie - All The Things You Are

Steam Powered Giraffe - Honeybee

Bobby Darin - Dream Lover

Patsy Cline;The Jordanaires - Crazy - Single Version

Regina Spektor - Don't Leave Me [Ne Me Quitte Pas]

Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah

[detroitlib]

Edward Heywood Jr. (December 4, 1915 – January 3, 1989) 

American jazz pianist popular in the 1940s. (Wikipedia)

Portrait of Eddie Heywood performing with his orchestra. Heywood plays piano; musicians playing trombone, drums, saxophone, bass and trumpet in background. Handwritten on back: "Eddie Heywood."

Courtesy of the E. Azalia Hackley Collection of African Americans in the Performing Arts, Detroit Public Library

[sweetheartofsecondlife]

The Fern 2/4

Another set that honors Black History Month. Ella and Pops’ version of Summertime always makes me tear up.

Herbie Mann - Hi-Jack Duke Ellington - In A Sentimental Mood Count Basie - Cherry Point Jelly Roll Morton's Hot Seven - Panama James Brown - Night Train Oscar Peterson - Blue Moon Dizzy Gillespie - St. Louis Blues Quincy Jones - Harlem Nocturne Louis Armstrong - Sittin' In The Sun Miles Davis - 'Round Midnight (feat. John Coltrane) Wes Montgomery - Bumpin' On Sunset George Benson - I Want to Hold Your Hand Billie Holiday - All of Me (with Eddie Heywood & His Orchestra) Ray Charles - I've Got a Woman Ella Fitzgerald - Flying Home Oscar Peterson - Mumbles Louis Armstrong - A Kiss To Build A Dream On - Single Version Gil Scott-Heron - Lady Day and John Coltrane Count Basie - Basie Beat The Mills Brothers - Jungle Fever Dizzy Gillespie - Manteca - Live At Carnegie Hall / 1961 Duke Ellington - Take the "A" Train Ella Fitzgerald - A-Tisket, A-Tasket Nat Adderley - Work Song James Brown - Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine Sarah Vaughan - Black Coffee The Ink Spots - Java Jive - Chase & Sanborn Mix Billie Holiday - Lover, Come Back To Me - Live At The Newport Jazz Festival,1957 Louis Armstrong - Flat Foot Floogie Fats Waller - Your Feets Too Big - Remastered Betty Carter - My Favourite Things Duke Ellington - Satin Doll Louis Armstrong - Summertime Quincy Jones - Moanin' - Live