Fine and Mellow (song)

Infobox Single
Name = Fine and Mellow


Artist = Billie Holiday
from Album =
A-side =
B-side = "Strange Fruit"
Released = 1939
Format = 78 rpm
Recorded = April 20, 1939
Genre = Jazz
Label = Commodore
Length =
Writer = Billie Holiday
Producer = "Fine and Mellow" is a jazz standard written by Billie Holiday, [Jacobs, Dick & Harriet. "Who Wrote That Song?," Writers Digest Books (1994), page 70 - ISBN 0898796393] who first recorded it on April 20, 1939 on the Commodore label. [ [http://www.ladyday.net/trac/a20s5.html Fine and Mellow info] ] It is a blues lamenting the bad treatment of a woman at the hands of "my man".

Notable performances and recordings

The song was famously performed by Billie Holiday in 1957 in a television special, "The Sound of Jazz". [ [http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_holiday_billie.htm PBS] ] The lineup included several jazz legends (the first six are listed in the order of their solos):
* Ben Webster – tenor saxophone
* Lester Young – tenor saxophone
* Vic Dickenson – trombone
* Gerry Mulligan – baritone saxophone
* Coleman Hawkins – tenor saxophone
* Roy Eldridge – trumpet
* Doc Cheatham
* Danny Barker
* Milt Hinton
* Mal Waldron

It has been covered several times, sometimes with a change in lyrics or emphasis. For example Lou Rawls switched the gender to a girlfriend [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EHQ82I Amazon] ] and Eva Cassidy sang it in a defiant tone. Notable cover versions were sung by Nina Simone (on the 1959 "At Town Hall") and Ella Fitzgerald on her eponymous album.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.billieholidaysongs.com/all_songs.htm#1939 Fine and Mellow recording session]
* [http://www.billieholidaysongs.com/vinyl_discography.htm Billie Holiday discography]