Sam Cooke Song Book
Volume 1
Tribute To Billie Holiday
Label: Soufflé SO-2006
year: unknown (yet) but it was still during his lifetime, maybe even before 1960
Executive Coordinater: Magnificient Montague
Art & Design: MRM & Dan Quest Studios, Nashville, Tennessee
Special Acknowledgment: Rex Productions & Keen Record Company, J.W. Alexander, Personal Manager Personified; Dino Lappas, Engineer.
Songs:
Liner Notes
Contrary
to popular opinion, not everyone who walks into a recording studio is an
accomplished singer with the ability to chracterize his or her vocal stylings to
fit the mood, song, or situation. A few of today’s vocalists are deft in the
art of expression. . . or enunciation . . . or the feeling of a
mood. But, few can combine the many talents and characteristics so necessary to
becoming one of the top vocalists of the day . . . and even fewer can combine
them well enough to “stay on the top” of the hit lists and in the minds of
the record-buying public. Such, however, is not the case with SAM COOKE . . for
he is here to stay!
Most avid fans know of SAM COOKE’s meteoric rise to fame with his first
KEEN recording of “YOU SEND ME” . . . a record that sold the world over into
the millions. Few of Sam’s newer fans, however, know of his early training and
experience with groups of gospel and spiritual singers, among them the Soul
Stirrers and the Pilgrim Travelers . . . an experience that, to a great extent,
prepared Sam for the long, hard road to stardom and fame.
It was not until Sam divorced himself from the Soul Stirrers that he
began to sing in the popular vein. But in leaving – for the most part – the
spiritual field of music, Sam kept one of the most important elements in
spiritual singing and transferred it into his popular vocalizing . . . sincerity.
It is this natural quality of expression that has helped to mold Sam Cooke’s
future in the field of popular music.
In this album, we find Sam combining the best of his talents on twelve
selections that run the gamut of musical forms and styles . . . from the popular
ballad and uptempo “top 40” type of song to the heartfelt spiritual and
blues. Needless to say, the SAM COOKE SONG BOOK would not be complete without
the inclusion of the BILLIE HOLIDAY REPERTOIRE. Such songs as “GOD BLESS THE
CHILD”, “SHE’S FUNNY THAT WAY”, I’VE GOT A RIGHT TO SING THE BLUES”,
“GOOD MORNING HEARTACHES”, “T’AIN’T NOBODY’S BUSINESS (WHAT I
DO)”, “LOVER GIRL”, “LET’S CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF”, “LOVER COME
BACK TO ME”, “SOLITUDE”, “THEY CAN’T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME”, AND
“CRAZY IN LOVE WITH YOU”, will bring back long remembered memories of that
great star.
MAGNIFICIENT
MONTAGUE
Disc Jockey
Personality
It is an honor for me to join in this Tribute to the Lady, with my friend Sam Cooke. The Lady namely being one of my all-time favorite entertainers, the great Billie Holiday. All the tunes are songs the incomparable Lady Day made famous, and as Sam Cooke presents this humble musical salute to Billie, it brings back many nostalgic memories of days with her; arranging and playing on many of her sessions as far back as 1938. this is a sincere tribute by young Cooke, who has the skill and vocal finesse to inject many of the same heart warming qualities and feelings into a song that the great Lady Day has. BENNY CARTER