"
Fine and Mellow" is a
jazz standardJazz standards are musical compositions which are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be...
written by
Billie Holiday Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed Lady Day by her loyal friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing...
, who first recorded it on April 20, 1939 on the
CommodoreCommodore Records was a United States-based independent record label known for issuing many well regarded recordings of jazz and swing music.Commodore Records was founded in the spring of 1938 by Milt Gabler, owner of the Commodore Music Shop in Manhattan, New York City. The bulk of Commodore's...
label. It is a
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre created within the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
lamenting the bad treatment of a woman at the hands of "my man".
The song was famously performed by Billie Holiday in 1957 in a television special,
The Sound of Jazz"The Sound of Jazz" was a 1957 edition of the CBS television series Seven Lively Arts, and one of the first major jazz music programs to air on American network television....
.
The lineup included several
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
legends (the first six are listed in the order of their solos):
- Ben Webster
Benjamin Francis Webster , aka "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young...
– tenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, is the most common type of saxophone. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble clef,...
- Lester Young
Lester Willis Young nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He was also known to play the trumpet, violin, and drums....
– tenor saxophone
- Vic Dickenson
Vic Dickenson was an African-American jazz trombonist. Dickenson's career started out in the 1920s and led him through musical partnerships with such legends as Count Basie , Sidney Bechet and Earl Hines...
– tromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger.Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history - playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz - he was also a notable...
– baritone saxophoneThe baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the larger and lower pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax...
- Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was the first important jazz musician to use the instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
– tenor saxophone
- Roy Eldridge
Roy David Eldridge , nicknamed "Little Jazz" was an American jazz trumpet player. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos and his strong influence on Dizzy Gillespie mark him as one of the most exciting musicians of the swing era and a...
– trumpetThe trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC...
- Doc Cheatham
Adolphus Anthony Cheatham, better known as Doc Cheatham was a jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader....
– trumpetThe trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC...
- Danny Barker
Danny Barker , born Daniel Moses Barker, was a jazz banjoist, singer, guitarist, songwriter, ukelele player and author from New Orleans, founder of the locally famous Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band...
– guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
- Milt Hinton
Milt Hinton born Milton John Hilton , "the dean of jazz bass players," was an American jazz double bassist and photographer. He was nicknamed "The Judge".-Life:...
– double bassThe double bass, also called the upright bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. The name, "double bass," derives from the early use of the instrument to double—an octave lower where possible—the bass part written...
- Mal Waldron
Malcolm Earl Waldron was an American jazz and world music pianist and composer, born in New York City.Like his contemporaries, Waldron's roots lie chiefly in the hard bop and post-bop genres of the New York club scene of the 1950s; but with time, he gravitated more towards free jazz and composition...
– pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
It has been covered several times, sometimes with a change in lyrics or emphasis.
Discussion
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"
Fine and Mellow" is a
jazz standardJazz standards are musical compositions which are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be...
written by
Billie Holiday Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed Lady Day by her loyal friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing...
, who first recorded it on April 20, 1939 on the
CommodoreCommodore Records was a United States-based independent record label known for issuing many well regarded recordings of jazz and swing music.Commodore Records was founded in the spring of 1938 by Milt Gabler, owner of the Commodore Music Shop in Manhattan, New York City. The bulk of Commodore's...
label. It is a
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre created within the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
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"The Sound of Jazz" was a 1957 edition of the CBS television series Seven Lively Arts, and one of the first major jazz music programs to air on American network television....
.
The lineup included several
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
legends (the first six are listed in the order of their solos):
- Ben Webster
Benjamin Francis Webster , aka "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young...
– tenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, is the most common type of saxophone. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble clef,...
- Lester Young
Lester Willis Young nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He was also known to play the trumpet, violin, and drums....
– tenor saxophone
- Vic Dickenson
Vic Dickenson was an African-American jazz trombonist. Dickenson's career started out in the 1920s and led him through musical partnerships with such legends as Count Basie , Sidney Bechet and Earl Hines...
– tromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger.Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history - playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz - he was also a notable...
– baritone saxophoneThe baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the larger and lower pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax...
- Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was the first important jazz musician to use the instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
– tenor saxophone
- Roy Eldridge
Roy David Eldridge , nicknamed "Little Jazz" was an American jazz trumpet player. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos and his strong influence on Dizzy Gillespie mark him as one of the most exciting musicians of the swing era and a...
– trumpetThe trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC...
- Doc Cheatham
Adolphus Anthony Cheatham, better known as Doc Cheatham was a jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader....
– trumpetThe trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC...
- Danny Barker
Danny Barker , born Daniel Moses Barker, was a jazz banjoist, singer, guitarist, songwriter, ukelele player and author from New Orleans, founder of the locally famous Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band...
– guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
- Milt Hinton
Milt Hinton born Milton John Hilton , "the dean of jazz bass players," was an American jazz double bassist and photographer. He was nicknamed "The Judge".-Life:...
– double bassThe double bass, also called the upright bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. The name, "double bass," derives from the early use of the instrument to double—an octave lower where possible—the bass part written...
- Mal Waldron
Malcolm Earl Waldron was an American jazz and world music pianist and composer, born in New York City.Like his contemporaries, Waldron's roots lie chiefly in the hard bop and post-bop genres of the New York club scene of the 1950s; but with time, he gravitated more towards free jazz and composition...
– pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
It has been covered several times, sometimes with a change in lyrics or emphasis. For example
Lou RawlsLouis Allen "Lou" Rawls was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game"...
switched the gender to a girlfriend and
Eva CassidyEva Marie Cassidy was an American vocalist known for her interpretations of jazz, blues, folk, gospel, country and pop classics. In 1992 she released her first album, The Other Side, a set of duets with go-go musician Chuck Brown, followed by a live solo album, Live at Blues Alley in 1996...
sang it in a defiant tone. Notable cover versions were sung by
Nina SimoneEunice Kathleen Waymon, better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist....
(on the 1959
At Town HallNina Simone at Town Hall is an album by singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone . It was recorded live at The Town Hall on 15 September 1959 and released as her second album for Colpix Records that same year...
) and
Ella FitzgeraldElla Jane Fitzgerald , also known as "Lady Ella", and the "First Lady of Song", was an American jazz vocalist....
on her eponymous album.
External links