Fine & Mellow: “Anything I do sing, it’s a part of my life.”

The blues to me is like being very sad, very sick, goin to church, being very happy. There’s twokinds of blues; there’s happy blues and there’s sad blues. I don’t think I ever sang the same way twice. I don’t think I ever sang the same tempo. One night it is a little bit slower, the next it’s a little brighter. It’s according to how I feel. I don’t know; the blues is sort of a mixed up thing, you just have to feel it. Anything I do sing, it’s a part of my life.
Billie Holliday

Imagine that life where every time you opened your heart, your feeling just poured out. It would be a blessing and a curse.

The horn players know it. Lester Young and Ben Webster had a lot to say, and the power and skill to take the lead in saying what needed to be said in song. When they play with Billie Holliday, they step back. She’s the gifted one, the gift of sound, and they are there to hold her up.