Such a very special recording.

20-year-old Billie Holiday sings in a first session with the Teddy Wilson Orchestra on July 2 1935 in New York. Next to Teddy on piano, the All Star Band consists of Benny Goodman on clarinet, Roy Eldridge on trumpet, Ben Webster on tenor sax, John Truehart on guitar, John Kirby on bass and Cozy Cole on drums. Jazz promoter John Hammond heard Billie for the first time in New York’s Monette club in 1933 and wrote in Melody Maker: “Billie, although only 18, she weighs over 200 lbs*, is incredibly beautiful, and sings as well as anybody I ever heard”. Hammond told Benny Goodman, and the two went to this Monette club. Both were impressed, and it was the start of Billie’s career.

*sexist bullshit much?