Billie Holiday: A Sailboat in the Moonlight

The electricity evident in Me, Myself and I is hot-wired into Sailboat -- both recorded at the same session -- as the give-and-take of a Holiday and Young duet again takes center stage, reflecting creative music making at its highest as they play off one another. Listen to how Young anticipates Holidays phrasing before she sings what a perfect setting, or the way she responds to Youngs high F-sharp (a yelp of joy?) in the final middle eight with a treatise of perfect swing, sitting on top of the beat and capturing the very essence of jazz. It is truly remarkable how such spontaneity and highly attenuated musical rapport still has the capacity to enthrall and speak to us down the years as fresh and vital as the day it was recorded.