Velvet Mood

Velvet Mood: Songs by Billie Holiday is an album by jazz singer Billie Holiday, released in 1956 on Clef Records.[1] The music was recorded over the course of two sessions in Los Angeles, two days apart, which had also resulted in all the material for her previous album Music for Torching (MG C-669).[2]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[4]

Velvet Mood
Studio album by Billie Holiday
Released	1956
Recorded	August 23 & 25, 1955
Studio	Los Angeles, CA
Genre	Jazz, swing
Length	37:41
Label	Clef MG C-713 (Verve MG V-8096)
Producer	Norman Granz
Billie Holiday chronology
Music for Torching (1955) Velvet Mood (1956) The Lady Sings (1956)

Track listing

Side one

1. "Prelude to a Kiss" (Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, Irving Gordon) - 5:37
2. "When Your Lover Has Gone" (Einar Aaron Swan) - 4:58
3. "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" (Sam H. Stept, Sidney Clare, Bee Palmer) - 4:23
4. "Nice Work If You Can Get It" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) - 3:48

Side two

1. "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues" (Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler) - 5:55
2. "What's New?" (Bob Haggart, Johnny Burke) – 4:20
3. "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" (Ray Noble) – 4:05
4. "Everything I Have Is Yours" (Burton Lane, Harold Adamson) – 4:33

Personnel

Billie Holiday - Vocals
Benny Carter - Alto saxophone
Harry "Sweets" Edison - Trumpet
Jimmy Rowles - Piano, celesta on "I Hadn't Anyone Till You", "Everything I Have Is Yours", and "What's New?"
Barney Kessel - Guitar
John Simmons - Bass
Larry Bunker - Drums

Alex de Paula - artwork

References

1. Velvet Mood at the Jazz Discography Project, accessed Mar 24, 2020
2. Sessions of August 1955 in session index for Billie Holiday at the Jazz Discography Project, accessed Mar 24, 2020
3. Velvet Mood at Allmusic
4. Larkin, Colin (May 27, 2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958 – via Google Books.