Michel Legrand - Lady Sings The Blues 1972 Film (33 tracks) +Album Reviews

The Essence of Lady Day is Captured by Ms Ross

M. Edwards | Buckinghamshire United Kingdom | 04/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Diana Ross certainly ruffled a few feathers among the "purists" when it was announced that she was to portray one of the greatest jazz singers of all time. One of their main gripes was that the young 28 year old Ms Ross simply had lived enough to even dare stepping on Lady Day's territory.

The movie itself came under criticism for its lack of authenticity in certain areas, and for the glossing over of Holiday's turbulent life and career. Where the movie and the music shine forth so powerfully is that it captures the essence of Holiday. Diana showcases Holiday's triumphs, vulnerability and confusion in such a poignant way that it cannot fail to move even the hardest critic.

Diana didn't try to imitate Ms Holiday - no one could have, really. Instead, she created new interpretations of Holiday's classics.

There's a rich feel to the soundtrack, and this is reinforced by dialogue from the film. Many of the musicians who played with Billie were drafted in to perform for the film and this is explains why the calibre of the music was so high. The orchestra was conducted by the legendary Gil Askey, who has worked with Diana since her time with the Supremes.

There are several outstanding tracks here, namely:

"Don't Explain" - a touch of melancholy

"Fine and Mellow"

"Lover Man"

"You've Changed" - captures Billie's heartache - very moving

"Good Morning Heartache" - stunning vocal performance

"My Man (Mon Homme)" - incredible torch song!

"Love Theme" - a beautiful instrumental written by French composer Michael Le Grand

"God Bless the Child" - a commanding performance

"Strange Fruit" is a haunting song that reveals the horror of lynching in the Deep South. Diana's crystal clear diction and intonation are incredible - to the point of being eerie.

The soundtrack raced to the #1 spot on the Billboard album charts, and became the fastest selling Motown album at the time. Quite why Diana, Gil Askey and Michel Le Grand weren't awarded Grammies for their sterling efforts is one of life's minor mysteries.

As for Diana missing out on the Oscar, I have my own theory about why: Hollywood just weren't quite ready to give up its most glittered prize - in the leading Best Actress category - to a woman of colour. Interestingly, Cicely Tyson (another fine actress) was also nominated for a Best Actress Oscar at the same time as Diana. We'd have to wait some 30 years (how crazy was that?) for Halle Berry to scoop the award and make history. I reckon that denying Diana the Oscar was a way of keeping her and Motown firmly in their place.

Nevertheless, the film and the soundtrack have stood the test of time, and represent some of best of Diana's work. It's a beautiful, moving performance that showcased Diana's gift for jazz interpretation. This soundtrack comes highly recommended.

"

THE DYNAMIC DIANA ROSS

ianphillips@uk.dreamcast.com | BOLTON, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND | 04/14/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As soon as it was announced that Diana Ross was to portray the late 1940's/50's jazz and blues singer, Billie Holiday, sneering critics doubted almost immediatley that she could really carry this challenging task off. It is true to say that there certainly were many differences between Billie Holiday and Diana Ross vocally. Firstly Billie Holiday had a deep, husky, hoarse sounding voice which suited the material she worked with perfectly whilst Diana Ross had a smooth but soulful voice that could at times sound very sugary sweet on the slower material she worked with whilst high pitched on an up tempo number. This defintley was Dianas most challenging tak to carry off to this point in her career. It was only a few years into her solo career by then but this film helped propell her into the world class mega stardom that she now enjoys to this day. She was most certainly an accomplished soul/r&b/pop vocalist but had never really ventured into the field of jazz and blues before.However by the end of her work on Lady Sings The Blues, critics really began to sit up and recognise her as the renowned vocalist she still is today. the soundtrack was recorded under the strict supervision of Gil Askey. She totally avoided doing any Supreme type numbers and sang these songs in a refreshingly unique style that manages to capture the mood and spirit of the origanal recordings perfectly. The real beauty and soul comes out on these numbers as she sings them with such passion and feeling. She does an absolutley fantastic job on Strange Fruit - a very deep, meaningful song which is all about the horrors of racial abuse that occured back then and how Billie first saw a black man being hung which explains the descriptive notion of "strange fruit". Equally just as magnificent is her incredibly touching and heart felt performance on My Man which is perharps (certainly in my own personal opinion that is) the very best recording out of the entire soundtrack. Her gorgeous reneditions of classics such as Lover Man (oh where can you be), Good Morning Heartache, All Of Me, Love Is Here To Say, What A Little Moonlight Can Do, Fine And Mellow, Gimme A Pigfoot And A Bottle Of Beer and T'ain't Nobodys Buisness If I Do are pure magic to listen. Many of the films dialogue appears throughout the soundtrack to capture the mood of the movie effectivley. Lady Sings The Blues remains one of Diana Ross' most accomplished pieces of work and was a major triumph in her career showcasing her unlimited talents. Highly Recommended - both soundtrack and the movie itself!"

Ms. Ross's Is So So Fine -- Her Best Recording !

Peter | East of Los Angeles | 10/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I just heard this CD again this week after a long time. I must say this CD still stands the test of time, even after 30 years. Diana Ross is to be commended for her superb interpretations of these Billie Holiday standards -- all classics. It must have seem daunting for Diana Ross to tackle the role of Billie Holiday in "Lady Sings the Blues". True, the movie took many knocks for sensationalizing the seedier aspects of Billie's drug use and promiscuity, but no one can knock Diana's performance in that movie. I still don't understand how Diana Ross lost the Best Actress Oscar to Liza Minnelli for "Cabaret" that year. Perhaps Hollywood was not yet ready to bestow an Oscar for Leading Actress to a black woman. That's the only reason. It took Halle Berry to finally win one almost 30 years later for "Monster's Ball", which paled in comparison to Ms. Ross's performance in "Lady Sings the Blues", but that's another story.

My only quibble with this soundtrack is that Berry Gordy decided to instill snippets from the movie's dialogue into the soundtrack, which seems jarring when listening to the entire CD. But this is a soundtrack CD after all, so I guess Berry Gordy and Motown wanted it to be as authentic as it could.

All the songs are standouts, but Ms. Ross really shines in "Good Morning Heartache" (Motown released this as a single back in 1972) and probably her finest track "God Bless the Child". This is no mean feat since those songs are forever identified with Lady Day, but Diana manages to instill her own character into the song without robbing its essence. Certainly very, very praiseworthy.

Ms. Ross also was in great voice during this period as a recording artist. Having gone solo a few years earlier from the Supremes, her voice is warm and supple with just the right amount of lilt, which makes interpreting these Lady Day classics a bonus to hear. Again, much praise indeed to "Lady Diana" for a great singing and acting job.

Does anybody wanna know that Diana Ross has YET to win a Grammy? That's no joke! No Grammy and No Oscar. Is someone trying to send a message to Diana Ross ???"

DIANA ROSS EXPLORES THE WORLD OF BLUES & JAZZ...AND DID IT V

Mr. Nightshift | Los Angeles, CA | 09/06/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Of all of the Motown acts Diana Ross (With and without the Supremes) was always given the room to explore various settings including Pop, Standards, Disney Favorites, Show Tunes, and the list goes on and on. On this Soundtrack not only was she given the opportunity to record Billie Holiday blues & jazz favorites but she (Diana Ross) also got her first major starring role in movie "Lady Sings The Blues". Both Movie & Soundtrack were runaway smashes. As a result of the Top 20 hit single from the Soundtrack "Good Morning Heartaches", a new interest in Billie Holiday recordings took off. Be forwarned none of these recordings on this Soundtrack have the more familiar Motown Sound of the 70's, but well orchestrated blues, jazz & pop chestnuts arranged by the one and only Gil Askey.

These are the type of recordings where you'll want to get your favorite drink and enjoy such jewels as "Mean To Me", "Fine And Mellow", "You've Changed", "Don't Explain", "God Bless The Child" (And others)....Sit back and enjoy. The only down side is that it includes excerpts from the Movie spliced in throughout (Unless you've seen the movie, then it might make a slight difference). For the most part you'll get to explore one of Diana Ross' most successful attemps at blues & jazz. Since that time she revisted this Genre several times."

Ross, Askey and LeGrand in rare form

Eric D. Harris | Chicago, IL United States | 08/23/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've never been partial to the movie for many reasons despite Diana Ross' stunning motion picture debut and well-deserved Oscar nomination, my main reason is the highly fictionalised account of the "love story" between Billie and Louis McKay (and the character "Piano Man", played by Richard Pryor; who was he supposed to be anyway? How about including in the script the story of the friendship between Lady and Pres, the inimitable Lester Young? The recordings on which he played tenor sax for Lady are masterpieces). Anyone who knows anything about Lady Day's life and times knows that this was not the case. Suffice it to say that Louis McKay was not a very nice person, although he was the best (and that's REALLY stretching that word) out of the three of Lady's husbands, the first being Jimmie Monroe, who may or may not have introduced Lady to heroin, and Joe Guy, Lady's second husband, though it's been widely publicized that the pair were never legally married. The schmaltzy story that eventually did come out of Hollywood in 1972 made me cringe when I saw it because I read not only Lady's own account of her life ("Lady Sings The Blues", largely ghostwritten by William Dufty) but in later years several other excellent books about her as well, the best being "Wishing On The Moon" by Donald Clarke.The critical drubbing of the movie itself aside, I must admit that the music is simply stunning; this unto itself is my only recommendation with regard to the movie at all. Gil Askey's orchestration and Michel LeGrand's arrangements are absolutely top-notch, particularly LeGrand's own "Love Theme", played in various forms throughout the entire movie and on the soundtrack itself. The song is lush and gorgeous and never fails to take my breath away, and Diana Ross' singing is arguably the best of her career. Her phrasing and diction are eerily precise and razor-sharp; she totally distances herself from her Supremes work and even erects a wall seperating her solo efforts from this entirely new style of singing. Diana never lapses into caricature while interpreting the songs of Lady Day, which a lesser singer most likely would have done because Billie's style was (and still is) so instantly recognizable and uniquely her own. Instead Diana chose to interpret Lady's songs in her own style and by doing so earned considerable critcal respect and establishing her formidable Jazz chops. Diana's versions of "Good Morning Heartache", "Lover Man", "Them There Eyes" and "The Man I Love" rival Billie's in terms of arrangement and musicianship. Personally I'd love to hear Ross, Askey and LeGrand on another project, particularly in a Jazz setting.All in all, this is an excellent soundtrack, more than worthy of a deserving home in anyone's collection. In my opinion, by all means buy this soundtrack but avoid the movie; if you want the real scoop on Billie Holiday, read her own autobiography or "Wishing On The Moon", and of course there are Lady's own magnificent recordings as well. These items will provide a better insight to the real Billie Holiday than "Lady Sings The Blues" (the movie) ever could or will."

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