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“Fine and Mellow” is a jazz standard written by Billie Holiday, who first recorded it on April 20, 1939 on the Commodore label; the B-side of “Strange Fruit”. It is a blues lamenting the bad treatment of a woman at the hands of “my man”.
Eleanora Fagan (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959), professionally known as Billie Holiday, was an American jazz musician and singer-songwriter. Nicknamed “Lady Day” by her friend and music partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo.
The song was famously performed by Billie Holiday in 1957 in a television special, The Sound of Jazz. The line-up included several jazz legends (the first six are listed in the order of their solos):
Ben Webster (tenor saxophone);
Lester Young (tenor saxophone);
Vic Dickenson (trombone);
Gerry Mulligan (baritone saxophone);
Coleman Hawkins (tenor saxophone);
Roy Eldridge (trumpet);
Doc Cheatham (trumpet);
Danny Barker (guitar);
Milt Hinton (double bass);
Mal Waldron (piano); and
Osie Johnson (drums).
Recorded at CBS Studios, Los Angeles, CA in 1957.