| Date: | Saturday, January 1, 2000 |
|---|---|
| Location: | Unknown location |
| Band: | (none) |
| Type: | FAK |
| Remarks: | These tracks are coming from a 78rpm record found by J.J. Becciolini from Switserland. The label of this record is hand-written and say's 'Billie Holliday with Billie Stewart'. |
| Note: | Personally I think that these recording are not performed by Billie Holiday. Reason for my disbelief is the use of slow but strong vibrato and a lack of 'energy' in the lower registers of the voice. I also hear a kind of tension in the performance and a strange timing - as if these musicians are trying very hard to sound like Billie Holiday: it just sounds not naturally, not relaxed. Some information about these tracks can be found on the internet: excerpt from http://www.lewrockwell.com/jarvis/jarvis36.html: Adding to the legend surrounding Gloomy Sunday is the recent discovery of a 1947 Savoy recording by an unknown vocalist identified as "Billie Stewart." On the flip side is In My Solitude, and the record label also identifies the singer as Billie Stewart. The singer’s voice bears a vague resemblance to Billie Holiday’s and some have theorized that Billie simply re-recorded the tune using an alias because of a studio strike that occurred in the 1940s. But research by musicologists has identified vocal patterns and style differences that appear to rule out Holiday. This unusual recording is still being researched. excerpt from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/78-c/message/5690: There is also a 1949 recording by Billie Stewart with some of the same musicians from the 1947 date. So much has been written about Billie Holiday including interviews with former associates and yet there has been no mention of her using an alias on any of her recordings. But musicologists have yet to identify this mysterious "Billie Stewart." According to Jepsen, volume 7, page 268 Billy Stewart (not Billie Stewart) recorded for Savoy in 1947 and 1949. Your two titles on the Savoy 647 are recorded in NYC in January of 1947. excerpt from http://www.lady-day.org/savoy.html: I contacted several specialists of Billie and/or of recordings labels such as Ian Clayton, Christian Bonnet, Tom Lord, Peter Pullman, Serge Colson, and IAJRC specialists in order to find if anyone had ever heard of Billie Stewart as a professional singer? Many inquiries were conducted through web sites (such as lady-day.org) or via correspondents of Peter Pullman of a jazz musicians association. Although Billie Stewart is listed on Tom Lord disco, among 115000 names and 108 "Stewart"! no one was able to provide information on this singer…real or virtual. THE SAVOY 647 RECORDING. - "Gloomy Sunday" 2'57'' is very close to OKEH 6451 of 7/8/41 3'07". Lyrics are identical except when Holiday sings "gloomy is sunday" when Stewart sings "sunday is gloomy".Structure of the melody is identical... "In my solitude" 2'49" is slightly different and shorter than OKEH 6270 of 9/5/41 3'10" all three takes and DECCA 73795 of 13/2/47 3'14". When comparing both Billies some specialist find slight differences between the two singers. I quote: - slight nasal quality to the voice different. - Tendency to hold the last syllable - Some tremolos that do not exist with Lady - Differences in the low register. But there are as many specialists who find no difference or have many difficulties to find who are the two Billie in a blind test. |
| No: | Songtitle | Type | Matrix: | Label | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gloomy sunday | FAK | - | Savoy 647A | 3'03" |
| 2 | Solitude | FAK | - | Savoy 647B | 2'54" |
| No: | Type | Coverage | Albumtitle (albumcode) | SongNo# | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | ||||
| 1 | 100 | Masters Of Jazz - Vol. 18 Sep.1949 - Sep.1950 (KBF 1318) | 22 | 23 | |
| 2 | 100 | Rare Tracks From The BHD, Vol.9 (1958) (BHD CD-09) | 19 | 20 | |
| Instrument | Musician Name: |
|---|---|
| The musicians for this session are unknown. | |
