After a  brief  introduction that Billie Holiday speaks before her performance of "Fine and Mellow"; " I don't think I ever sang it the same way twice. I don't think I ever sang the the same tempo.. .The blues is sort of a mixed up thing, you just have to feel it. Anything I do sing, it's part of my life...

Witness the blues at its best. . .It doesn't get much better than Billie, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster,      

also. . .Gerry Mulligan (low,,,,saxophone),Vic Dickenson(trombone) & Roy Eldridge!  

regards,

Tim.

Wow.  Never saw this clip before .. it is GREAT.  I always loved Ben Websters playing .. and seeing all the different views and approaches each of the Artist took was really cool.

"Fine and Mellow", a 1939 release from Commodore Records with "Strange Fruit" on the flipside. . .

This footage of Billie is the absolute essence of the blues and jazz. It's always been one of my favorite clips in jazz along with "Jammin' the Blues." This is the most real blues playing you'll ever hear in the jazz idiom. Soul just pours out of every musician in there and these guys can play over any changes you could throw at them, yet they are all listening and responding to each other like they were one person, digging deep into the blues. This is the s*%t!!!

this was Pres's last performance.....I have learned a ton of licks from trombone players like Vic and Fred Welsey. Those lines like harp lines are reasonably easy to translate to guitar. Papa Jo Jones playing hroughout this Tv special is sublime...as usual. I come from a jazz family...Grandpa led jazz bands in chicago fromt eh 20s into the 70s and the whole family plays.