HOLIDAY, BILLIE - Lady Sings The Blues (Sealed) (LP)

Though her late career was marred by addiction and personal issues, and her chipper voice had grown raspy and hardened by the years and the pain, Lady Sings The Blues has come to be regarded as one of the finest albums of her career, despite a lack of critical enthusiasm at the time. Originally released in 1956, concurrently with her autobiography, Holiday was joined for these sessions by tenor saxophonist Paul Quinichette, trumpeters Charlie Shavers and Harry Edison, pianist Wynton Kelly, and guitarists Kenny Burrell and Barney Kessel. A beautiful, smoky, and slow-burning piece of jazz vocal history. Essential.