Fine and Mellow
| "Fine and Mellow" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "Strange Fruit" |
"Fine and Mellow" is a jazz standard written by Billie Holiday,[1] who first recorded it on April 20, 1939 on the Commodore label.[2] It is a blues lamenting the bad treatment of a woman at the hands of "my man".
Notable performances and recordings
The song was famously performed by Billie Holiday in 1957 in a television special, The Sound of Jazz.[3] The lineup 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
- Osie Johnson - drums
It has been covered several times, sometimes with a change in lyrics or emphasis. For example Lou Rawls switched the gender to a girlfriend[4] and Eva Cassidy sang it in a defiant tone. Notable cover versions were sung by Nina Simone (on the 1959 At Town Hall), Dee Bridgewater on her Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959) To Billie with love from Dee Dee Bridgewater 2010 album, and Ella Fitzgerald on her eponymous album.