Billie's Blues

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
This recording from 1942 documents the beginnings of her solo career, showcasing her talents on no less than 18 classic standards. Billy Holiday had already achieved fame from her performances and recordings with Count Basie, Teddy Wilson, and Artie Shaw. This album affirms that, as a solo artist, she was a force to be reckoned with! --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Billie's Blues, Music, Billie Holiday, Jazz, Jazz Music, Jazz Vocals, Pop
Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Absolutely the best of Billie Holiday
  • Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday
  • The tragedy of a lonely woman!
  • Billie's Best - Accept No Substitutes
  • A serious and great artist's best work, you need these sides
 Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005Q45Y
Release Date: 2001-10-02

Tracks:

  1. What A Little Moonlight Can Do - Billie Holiday
  2. These Foolish Things - Billie Holiday
  3. I Cried For You - Billie Holiday
  4. Summertime - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  5. Billie's Blues - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  6. If You Were Mine - Billie Holiday
  7. A Fine Romance - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  8. Easy To Love - Billie Holiday
  9. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  10. I Must Have That Man - Billie Holiday
  11. Me, Myself And I - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  12. They Can't Take Away From Me - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  13. Easy Living - Billie Holiday
  14. A Sailboat In The Moonlight - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  15. Travelin' All Alone - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  16. When A Woman Loves A Man - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  17. You Go To My Head - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  18. My Man - Billie Holiday

Tracks:

  1. I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me - Billie Holiday
  2. The Very Thought Of You - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  3. I Can't Get Started - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  4. Long Gone Blues - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  5. Sugar - Billie Holiday
  6. Some Other Spring - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  7. Them There Eyes - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  8. The Man I Love - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  9. Body And Soul - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  10. Swing, Brothers, Swing - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  11. Night And Day - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  12. Let's Do It - Billie Holiday
  13. God Bless The Child - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  14. Solitude - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  15. I Cover The Waterfront - Billie Holiday
  16. Gloomy Sunday - Billie Holiday
  17. Until The Real Thing Comes Along - Billie Holiday
  18. All Of Me - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra

Album Description

Lady Day: The Best Of Billie Holiday is an ideal introduction to the Voice of Jazz in all its enduring glory. This incomparable collection draws on the 10-CD boxed set Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia (1933-1944) (CXK 85470), representing not only her finest work, but American jazz and pop singing at its zenith. Accompanied sublimely by a Who's Who of the Swing Era (including her soulmate Lester Young, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Buck Clayton, Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Jo Jones, and pianist-arranger Teddy Wilson, who was often at the helm when Holiday entered the studio), Billie Holiday masterfully renders a host of mostly-classic pop tunes. Fans are drawn to her musical triumphs and personal tragedies. She is a mysterious icon in the same vein as Miles Davis. Columbia possesses the first and finest recordings of her entire career! This material has never sounded clearer and more intimate!

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Absolutely the best of Billie Holiday.......2007-02-24

Anybody who likes Billie Holiday even part time needs this CD. Even great for those people who only know a few songs just by chance. Love the CD. Even got another as a gift for a friend.

5 out of 5 stars Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday.......2007-01-10

Bought this for my granddaughter. She's a Billie Holiday fan. She loved the CD.

5 out of 5 stars The tragedy of a lonely woman!.......2006-11-21

The stature of this emblematic singer of the jazz is absolutely undeniable. Her powerful, sensitive and expressive voice made of her, one of the most tragic icons in the jazz. She sung as she lived. In this sense she reminds too much to the legendary Edith Piaff in the other side of the Atlantic.

What else might I add for cataloguing this cult artist that it has not been said just before? She is part of the history jazz and her memory will transcend and surmount the next years to come.

5 out of 5 stars Billie's Best - Accept No Substitutes.......2006-06-12

Billie Holiday is the quintessential jazz singer; despite a limited vocal range she set the standard by which all others are measured. It's all about the quality of her voice, the lush tone, and her marvelously idiosyncratic phrasing. Though her career was short and troubled, she recorded a lot, which means novice collectors must avoid innumerable bear traps. In general, her later work should be ignored, by then she was wearing her emotional problems like an ugly hat, despair manifested itself in performances so lackluster they're depressing at best, frequently downright tragic.

For the best of Billie you need to go back to the glory days, 1933-1944, precisely the time period covered by this reasonably priced and beautifully produced 2-CD set. (If you're a player with money to burn go for the 10-CD comprehensive retrospective, The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia, 1933-1944.) All the songs providing the foundation of her reputation are here, as well as many pleasant surprises. The booklet, though not lavish, provides photos, background, and a complete list of personnel for each track. This detail is significant because the players on these selections, in addition to being the finest who ever backed Ms. Holiday, were also the absolute elite of their generation, each worthy of individual exploration. (Names like Lester Young, Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, and Teddy Wilson enjoy legendary status.)

Perhaps most amazing is the sound quality, considering the recordings are WWII vintage they're clear and smooth. About Ms. Holiday's personal life, the less said the better. What is remarkable is that, despite her personal troubles, she managed to create a canon of work that is truly timeless, just as sweet and powerful today as it was then. Not only is this the best Billie Holiday anthology available, it makes a formidable addition any jazz collection. (Dig that cover photo, wow!)

5 out of 5 stars A serious and great artist's best work, you need these sides.......2005-03-11

If there were some way to award music 200 stars, I am sure all of us would have done so for this set!

Like others here, I have it all, but I think her work from the 30s and early 1940s from Columbia and its ancestors is not just her greatest works, but among the great works of world musical culture. Everyone with a set of ears should be more or less required to have this music and enjoy it.

Strange Fruit was not recorded for Columbia but for the Indy label Commodore. Thus, you will not find it on this or any of the Columbia collections like this that capture her work in the period BEFORE Strange Fruit. It was recorded in the 1940s, whereas this collection contains work from Billie in the 1930s and perhaps 1940 and 1941. No doubt Sony wishes it had the rights to that side and everything else Commodore recorded, but they don't.

The truth is, Strange Fruit is not one of Billie's Greatest works. There are about 15 tunes on this CD that have better singing, better musicians backing her, and were more important pieces of Billie's work. Strange Fruit is well known to the people who know about Billie as a person, but don't know much about Billie as a Jazz musician. Her recording, while powerful, was not very nuanced, not very jazzy, and not as good as much of the work here. Indeed, the weakness of her mid-1940s Commodore work as opposed to these recordings is that Billie was persuaded to move away from Jazz and swing to attempt to become a cabarat chanteuse of "serious" songs, a move that some also relate to the inception of heroin and the decline of her voice, a move that brought about a decline in her art.

If you want to hear a better version of "Strange Fruit," listen to Josh White's recording which is so much more powerful, if not as well known. I am not downing the song or its politics, far from it, but Billie's Strange Fruit is more important as a political statement than as a work of Jazz art.

One of the greatest things about these records are the many master musicians of swing and jazz that join her on these recordings. Very shortly after she started recording, the greatest names in Jazz would flock to her sessions and play on her recordings for litte because of the innovation and creativity Billie showed as a jazz creator in her own right. These recordings were a chance for them to jam together in loose arrangements and be more innovative and creative than they were with the orchestras they played with.


These masters of Jazz viewed Billie as a serious artist of Jazz. They delighted in her knowledge of the musical aspects of swing jazz which was unique for such a young singer (she was in her twenties when these records were made) and delighted in her ability to sense what they were doing in their accompaniments and solos and to respond to them in her vocals.

Despite the exaggerated picture of her life as a prostitute that was part of the marketing of the 1950's work of ghost-written fiction called "Lady Sings the Blues," that a drug addled Billie claimed was her autobiography, Billie Holiday grew up around Jazz with her father being a big band guitar player who complained Billie hired every NY guitarist but him for these sessions. Billie's mother specialized in boarding Jazz musicians and catering parties for musicians and singers, parties where the young Billie would often help serve the food. So when she met Lester young in 1937 for these sessions, she had already known the man she named 'Prez in 1934 when he boarded with her mother while he was in the Fletcher Henderson band.

These sides contain most of the great collaboration between Lester Young and Billie. They were great musical friends and personal friends until Billie became a heroin addict, at which point Lester didn't much want to be around her.

However, as much as I am a Lester Young man to the death (his framed picture hangs in my home), too little is said of the other musicians who grace these recordings. Billie's collaboration with pianist Teddy Wilson who plays on and directed most of these recordings (many were recorded as Teddy Wilson Orchestra sides)needs to be explored. Likewise, her work with the great bassists and rhythm players on these records needs to be appreciated. My favorite sides are the ones in which she has the benefit of Basieites like her dear friend Freddy Green on guitar and the great Walter Page on bass. Likewise, Billie's musical closeness with the great Buck Clayton and his role on these sides is also underestimated.

Yet, it doesn't matter if Billie had recorded these sides with some high school band members from Winslow, Arizona. This is good music to listen to, good music to smile to, music to fall in love to, and music to dance too. Contrary to the tendency to get maudlin and milk her image as a tragedy that Holiday developed in the 1950s as her life and her musical skill declined , even the songs on these recordings with the sadest lyrics possess a great joy, swing, and spirit of the wonders of Jazz.
Love Songs
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Morning Light.
  • Classic!
  • WOW!!
  • Great Collection of Billie Holiday Songs
  • Oh, Billie! HOW DIVINE !!!
 Love Songs
Billie Holiday
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000002ACT
Release Date: 1996-03-12

Tracks:

  1. All Of Me
  2. You Go To My Head
  3. Until The Real Thing Comes Along
  4. My Man
  5. The Very Thought Of You
  6. Easy Living
  7. They Can't Take That Away From Me
  8. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
  9. Them There Eyes
  10. Night And Day
  11. The Man I Love
  12. Me, Myself And I
  13. The Way You Look Together
  14. If You Were Mine
  15. I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me
  16. Let's Do It

Amazon.com essential recording

Culled from the Columbia Records reissue packages, variously released under the multivolume Quintessential Billie Holiday umbrella, this package goes straight for the love songs, the heart of Holiday. Ranging from such playful lyrics as "Let's Do It" and "Them There Eyes" to such essential Holiday as "You Go to My Head," "The Very Thought of You," and "Easy Living," this set is guaranteed to keep the home fires burning brightly. Lay this one on your lover next Valentine's Day. As was so frequently the case with Holiday, the ensemble support is impeccable, including many of the swingers from Columbia's Greatest Hits package. The bonus here is Count Basie on piano, leading his swinging big band on "They Can't Take That Away from Me." --Willard Jenkins

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Morning Light........2007-06-29

I live in this loft type space, I put this CD on first thing in the morning while I make some espresso and the music quietly fills the room and makes it all seem just right. Billie, thank you.

5 out of 5 stars Classic!.......2007-01-11

Anybody who loves jazz and the blues cannot be without this Billie Holiday CD. I love it. I can listen to it all day. It's a pleasure to hear great jazz and such an incredible voice.

5 out of 5 stars WOW!!.......2006-11-09

This cd was the first Billie Holiday I ever purchased. WOW! She is the greatest, bar none! EVERY serious lover of music needs this work to add to their collection. I had no idea how special she was and how timeless her work. I am a fan for life.

5 out of 5 stars Great Collection of Billie Holiday Songs.......2006-10-06

There are so many fabulous reviews for this CD and I have to agree with them. I've been a Billie Holiday fan for years and own many discs of her music, but I find myself reaching for this one a lot. It's a great collection of songs and her voice is so sweet and true here. She's in top form and the arrangements on the songs are all excellent. Whoever put this CD together knew what they were doing. This is definitely Billie during the earlier part of her career and there's a real lightness to this music. (Her later music is great too, but very different.) Most of the songs on this CD are classics and even if you're unfamiliar with her, you'll probably still recognize many of them. There is some crackling background noise on some of the songs, since they were recorded back in the late thirties/early forties, though it's not that bad and most of the time you barely notice it. Some of the stand outs are "You Go To My Head", "The Very Thought of You", "Let's Do It", "The Way You Look Tonight", just to name a few. I think this would be a great introductory CD for someone who is curious about her and would like to hear some of her music.

5 out of 5 stars Oh, Billie! HOW DIVINE !!!.......2006-08-25

This CD is an excellent collection of great songs performed by the incomparable and legendary Billie Holiday. Billie could conquer any song--from the most vulgar to the most sublime with an electric performance that rivals the best singers of the 20th century.

The CD begins so beautifully with Billie singing "All Of Me" and continues on into "You Go To My Head" by Gillespie and Coots. As with the rest of the songs on this CD, there is some background surface noise as these recordings by Billie were made in the 1930s and the very early 1940s. Nevertheless, there is a certain romantic style to each recording that leaves the listener wanting more after every track.

There songs on this CD are truly timeless; Billie sings such standards as "You Go To My Head," "The Man I Love," "Let's Do It," "The Way You Look Tonight" and "The Very Thought Of You." Don't play this CD for the first time without having time to relax and enjoy it with a glass of your favorite wine--you'll want to listen to it again after you've played it through because it's that beautiful and special.

The liner notes include an essay by Delfeayo Marsalis, the song credits and the dates Billie recorded them, a beautiful black and white photograph of Billie singing at the microphone on stage and the lyrics to "You Go To My Head" and "Easy Living."

I highly recommend this CD for fans of Billie Holiday, classic vocals and the standards of the entire 20th century. Although it is only one CD, it still is a very good representation of Billie's talent. It makes a great starter CD for people who want to find out more about Billie before they purchase box sets, too. A terrific experience to be enjoyed! SMILE
Billie Holiday - Greatest Hits (Sony)
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Biilie's phrasing was a heart-to-heart with the whole world--and no one ever wanted to go home
  • Beautiful
  • Fave Jazz Album!
  • Early greats from Lady Day
  • A great place to start, an album with a special treat!
 Billie Holiday - Greatest Hits (Sony)
Billie Holiday
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000FC7M
Release Date: 1998-11-17

Tracks:

  1. Miss Brown To You - Billie Holiday
  2. What A Little Moonlight Can Do - Billie Holiday
  3. I Cried For You - Billie Holiday
  4. Billie's Blues (I Love My Man) - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  5. A Sailboat In The Moonlight - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  6. I Can't Get Started - Billie Holiday
  7. When A Woman Loves A Man - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  8. Some Other Spring - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  9. Solitude - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  10. God Bless The Child - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  11. Gloomy Sunday - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  12. The Very Thought Of You - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  13. Body And Soul - Billie Holiday

Amazon.com essential recording

Curiously, yet not surprisingly given the enormity of his sway, Billie Holiday's greatest vocal influence was "Pops"--Louis Armstrong, whose trumpet was his first signature (though he's often credited with being the first great jazz singer as well). One hears Armstrong in Holiday's sense of phrasing, timing, and the warmth she invests in a lyric. This package, containing such touchstone Holiday renderings as "I Cried for You," "Body and Soul," and "When a Woman Loves a Man" (poetic, given the fact that Billie was notoriously unlucky at love), also boasts her signature song, "God Bless the Child." Her accompanists are a hall-of-fame lot, including trumpeters Roy Eldridge and Buck Clayton; saxmen Lester Young (with whom she had a close relationship), Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, and Harry Carney; drummers Cozy Cole and Jo Jones; bassists John Kirby and Walter Page; and her frequent pianist, Teddy Wilson. --Willard Jenkins

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Biilie's phrasing was a heart-to-heart with the whole world--and no one ever wanted to go home.......2007-07-08

Billie Holiday could sing jazz and the blues unlike any other singer. Ever. Her voice was the ultimate instrument which could convey all the sorrows of her personal life as she sang about life, love and the pain of being discriminated against because she was African-American. We will never see another quite like Billie; this CD of thirteen of Billie's greatest hits from Sony doesn't even begin to scrape the surface of what this remarkably talented lady could do.

The CD track set begins with a number that's actually sassy as well as jazzy; Billie sings of how Emily Brown's "comin' to town;" but it's "Miss Brown to you." Listen for Benny Goodman on clarinet and Roy Eldridge on trumpet. Teddy Wilson does a great job on piano, too. Even though Billie was only 20 when this was recorded, she was already working with the best!

"What A Little Moonlight Can Do" gets a breakneck pace and a jazzy interpretation that would make any jazz artist green with envy. Billie's voice is light and clear as a bell; yet she imparts all the right emotions to her audience. Once again, Billie recorded this with The Teddy Wilson Orchestra. Teddy plays piano; Benny Goodman plays clarinet and Roy Eldridge plays trumpet. And ooh, how they jam!

"I Cried For You" gives Billie the chance to sing of how she cried for a man who left her--but she no longer cares for him and she won't waste one minute more worrying about that loser. The musicians work wonders before Billie even comes in; but when Billie comes in the number soars and Billie takes flight! Billie imparts the sense of all the pain in her past and how she's happy to have found a new man who loves her more. Teddy Wilson again plays piano; and listen for Harry Carney on both the clarinet and the baritone saxophone. Excellent!

"Billie's Blues" stuns you with its sublime treatment of the blues; Billie wrote this number and Artie Shaw himself plays clarinet! Billie sings about how her man treats her so poorly; and you believe every word she sings--she's THAT good at sharing her feelings from the depths of her soul.

"I Can't Get Started" is a number recorded live when Billie performed at The Meadowbrook Ballroom in Cedar Grove, New Jersey with Count Basie & His Orchestra. Despite the passage of time and the surface noise on this track, I distinctly feel everything Billie put into this song. Billie was unlucky in love and the pain of this problem helps her to deliver "I Can't Get Started" as if the lyrics were a intimate, personal and very private confession to you from the bottom of her heart. Wow.

"God Bless The Child" was one of Billie's most famous signature songs; and she delivers this with all her might. Billie sings so well because she truly means every word of the lyrics. This is not just another chanteuse singing a ballad; this is Billie Holiday once again sharing her most intimate feelings with her audience. Roy Eldridge plays trumpet and I predict you will enjoy this number very, very much.

"Gloomy Sunday" became associated with many a suicide; anyone deep in despair and hopelessness can identify with "Gloomy Sunday." Billie sings this so well because of the countless times she experienced these very emotions in her private life. "The Very Thought Of You" swings ever so slightly to infuse this ballad with just the right amount of energy and romantic effect. Billie's excellent diction, coupled with her light and clear voice, lets her perform "The Very Thought Of You" with twice the panache that any other singer could ever have infused into it.

The CD track set ends with the classic "Body And Soul." Billie sings of how she wants a man who doesn't love her in return. Billie sings from the bottom of her heart as she draws upon her personal pain from unrequited love. As always, Billie's delivery is flawless.

The liner notes include an informative essay by Timme Rosenkrantz; and the black and white pictures of Holiday are very tastefully arranged. The song credits and recording dates are there for you, too.

We will never again see another Billie Holiday. During her all too brief life she gave us more than most entertainers and "celebrities" do in a full lifetime. We are so much richer for Billie sharing her endless talents with us; and fortunately we can continue to experience her talents on CD for ages to come.

5 out of 5 stars Beautiful.......2007-01-22

Billie Holiday is an amazing artist and I am proud to have her CD.

5 out of 5 stars Fave Jazz Album!.......2005-05-27

Every tune is fab! Thankfully, the remastering has not diminished the old scratchy sound typically found in recordings from this era.

This is why I hate most modern jazz. This has genuine feeling, a raw sound, natural flow, and catchy licks--things lacking these days, IMO.

Pick this up if you are not a huge jazz collector, but just wish to add something worthwile to your otherwise ecclectic collection of music.

4 out of 5 stars Early greats from Lady Day.......2005-04-30

I heard this CD while I was walking around Borders and just had to have it. These are early recordings - the music is fresh and joyous - the vocals are superb. I especially love the recordings of "Miss Brown To You," "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" (a treat), "Some Other Spring" and my very favorite, "I Can't Get Started." I have other Holiday recordings. However, this is the one I play again and again. I only wish that it had "Good Morning Heartache" on it. Oh, well.

5 out of 5 stars A great place to start, an album with a special treat!.......2005-03-11

Almost everything Billie Holiday recorded, and maybe everything Billie recorded before 1941, like these sides, was great. Certainly, this collection doesn't have any of the very important work Billie Did during WWII for Commodore, nor does it have some of th exciting Jazzy recordings Billie did for Verve in the late 1940s and 1950s. Nor are any of the outstanding live performances by Billie for Jazz at the Philharmonic or in her Carneige Hall concerts on this CD.

With Billie who recorded for about 30 years on a lot of labels, the tendency was, particularly back in the days of LPs, for every owner of some Billie material to put out whatever they could crip together as Billie's greatest hits.

I have to say that I was introduced to Billie's greatest work, that in the 1930s, by owning this collection on Vinyl. This is nice fun and engaging music. On some of the great standards, she really makes it. Like all of her recordings for Columba and its ancestors back then, John Hammond Sr, gathers together some of the masters of Black and white swing Jazz to join her. Very shortly after she started recording, the greatest names in Jazz would flock to her sessions and play on her recordings for litte because of the innovation and creativity Billie showed as a jazz creator in her own right.
One special treat here is "I can't get started" with the Count Basie Orchestra. Billie was the first female singer with Count Basie's band, but because she was booked to Columbia and the Count had been shanghied by Decca, there were no studio recordings of Billie singing with the Basie Orchestra. This is an enormous loss to human culture. "I can't get started" is one of the two air checks (recordings made off of radio broadcasts) we have of Billie with the Baseities. The other "Swing it Brother Swing" is available on an album with air checks from a Basie broadcast from the Savoy Ballroom.

I really love the way her singing interplays with the backing particularly from the reed section, and love the sinuous solo Lester takes which is more mellow and romantic than the one he takes in the small group Billie Holiday recording of "I can't get started."

All of this is nice music. If you are not ready to take the plunge and get everything from the 1930s and early 1940s (to be followed by everything from the 1940s and then most of the stuff from the 1950s) this is as good as any place else to start. Nice fun, wonderful music, great jazz in both her voice and in the way that the sidemen swing in her honor.
The Ultimate Collection
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • A few good songs
  • A Collector's Must Have
  • You want Billie and you get Billie
  • excellent box
  • Great Overview of Her Recording Career
 The Ultimate Collection
Billie Holiday
Manufacturer: Hip-O Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Classic Female Vocal BluesClassic Female Vocal Blues | Blues | Styles | Music
Traditional BluesTraditional Blues | Blues | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Jazz | Styles | Music
Swing GeneralSwing General | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
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CabaretCabaret | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
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  5. Love Songs

ASIN: B0007X9U2Y
Release Date: 2005-04-05

Tracks:

  1. Miss Brown to You - Billie Holiday, , Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra
  2. What a Little Moonlight Can Do
  3. I Cried for You
  4. Mean to Me
  5. Strange Fruit
  6. Fine and Mellow
  7. God Bless the Child
  8. Trav'lin' Light - Billie Holiday, , Paul Whiteman Orchestra
  9. My Old Flame
  10. I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You)
  11. Billie's Blues
  12. He's Funny That Way
  13. Lover Man
  14. Don't Explain
  15. Good Morning Heartache
  16. No Good Man
  17. Blues Are Brewin'
  18. Solitude
  19. Easy Living
  20. I Loves You Porgy
  21. My Man (Mon Homme)
  22. 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness if I Do

Tracks:

  1. Them There Eyes
  2. You Can't Lose a Broken Heart - Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday
  3. You're My Thrill
  4. Crazy He Calls Me
  5. Detour Ahead
  6. These Foolish Things
  7. You Go to My Head
  8. Love Me or Leave Me
  9. Willow Weep for Me
  10. I Thought About You
  11. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
  12. Come Rain or Come Shine
  13. It Had to Be You
  14. What's New?
  15. Lady Sings the Blues
  16. I Cover the Waterfront [Live]
  17. Body and Soul
  18. But Not for Me
  19. One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)
  20. I'm a Fool to Want You

Tracks:

  1. Saddest Tale [DVD]
  2. Blues Are Brewin' [DVD] - Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra, Billie Holiday
  3. Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans [DVD] - Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra, Billie Holiday
  4. My Man (Mon Homme) [DVD]
  5. Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone [DVD]
  6. Billie's Blues [DVD]
  7. Fine and Mellow [DVD]
  8. What a Little Moonlight Can Do [DVD]
  9. St. Louis Blues [DVD] - Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith
  10. I Cover the Waterfront [DVD]
  11. Swing! Brother, Swing! [DVD Audio]
  12. They Can't Take That Away from Me [DVD Audio]
  13. Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me [DVD Audio] - All Star Jam Band, Billie Holiday
  14. I'll Get By [DVD Audio] - All Star Jam Band, Billie Holiday
  15. I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone [DVD Audio] - Billie Holiday, Red Norvo & His Orchestra
  16. Jeepers Creepers [DVD Audio] - Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rowles
  17. Bonus Materials [DVD][*]

Amazon.com

Billie Holiday (1917-59) wore gardenias, was a teenaged prostitute, did drugs, and died with a cop posted outside her hospital bed. But with her gravel-like vocals, and behind-the-beat phrasing, she was one of the greatest singers of the twentieth century. This multimedia collection commemorates her ninetieth birthday. Two CDs contain forty two of her greatest hits, from her 1935 stint with Benny Goodman, to her chilling 1958 strings album, Lady in Satin. It features her signature songs like "Good Morning Heartache," "God Bless the Child," and her unforgettable anti-lynching number "Strange Fruit." The DVD includes film cameos with Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, photographs, posters, rehearsals and interviews with friends and musicians, including a rediscovered 1956 radio broadcast with a young Mike Wallace. Her achy artistry is timeless, and as Ashley Kahn wrote in his superb liner notes, "Billie will be there tonight, tomorrow night and a long time to come." --Eugene Holley, Jr.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars A few good songs.......2007-03-27

There are some good songs on this collection. Overall a good Billie Holiday presentation. Also descent quality.

5 out of 5 stars A Collector's Must Have.......2007-02-20

If you are addicted to the music and sound of Lady Day, then you must include this collection in your music porfolio. One can never get too much of Holiday.

5 out of 5 stars You want Billie and you get Billie.......2006-03-03

Loved the compilation. Nice mix of tunes and certainly hits som eof her more contreversial works. Nice packaging too, lots of music in a small and neat package.

5 out of 5 stars excellent box.......2006-02-04

buy this one at www.yourmusic.com for only 13 dollars, which looks exact the same product as you buy here, but so stupidly cheap!

5 out of 5 stars Great Overview of Her Recording Career.......2005-11-19

I agree with many of the others here that this is a great overview of Billie Holiday's recording career. There is not much to add to the comments about this marvelous collection, but I would like to add some observations and other information that Lady Day aficionados may find interesting.

Just to correct one of the other reviewers, the four Aladdin sides (Detour Ahead, Blue Turning Grey Over You, Be Fair With Me Baby and Rocky Mountain Blues) are all available on a Blue Note CD release titled Billie's Blues, which also includes the Paul Whiteman studio track Trav'lin' Light.

This collection does not include quite every label that Billie made studio recordings for: I wish they'd thought to include Billie's only recording with Artie Shaw, Any Old Time. It's much harder to track down than any of her other studio sides. Any Old Time is quite a jump for her stylistically, as it is done in a "big band" style that more evokes Glenn Miller, the Dorsey Brothers or, well Artie Shaw. It's available on more than one Artie Shaw CD release, but they are hard to find. I have it on a CD put out by the Jazz Heritage label under the album title "Frenesi".

One of the interesting inclusions on the Ultimate Collection DVD is a discography that lists virtually every Billie Holiday studio recording and all of her "authorized" live recordings. The only omissions I am aware of are some rare vinyl pressings (more about these later). Of course, there are many, many bootleg live recordings (most of these either very poorly recorded or they are examples of Lady Day at her worst, or both). I'd like to list a few interesting exceptions. In the 70's, TCB records put out a vinyl titled "The One and Only Billie Holiday - Lady Sings the Blues - Collectors Edition". It's mostly poor quality bootlegs, including the songs from the "soundtrack" for the film "New Orleans", but one track I've never found anywhere else is a radio transcript (?) of a live recording of Don't Explain that is absolutely breathtaking. Billie is in amazing voice, and her reading of the song was never more effective. She starts the track by exclaiming "I'd like to sing a song that I wrote; it's titled 'Don't Explain' ..." and then launches right into it, with a full orchestra. The audio quality is exceptional, but the track is marred by a slight "skip" on the first line that seems to have originated with the source material. Vocally, Billie never sounded better; I'd guess it was recorded around 1942. I've been hoping for years that this would pop up on a CD somewhere, but it seems to be the most elusive and rare track I own of her.

Other rare performances never released on CD include the infamous live set at the Storyville club in Boston, issued on the RIC label and later by Monmouth-Evergreen. This album is not very interesting, as it presents Billie in a poorly recorded setting and, vocally, she was having an off night, but it is of interest to aficionados and those who want to have a complete set of Lady's recordings. I am not aware that it's ever been released on CD.

Then there are the three albums of "radio and TV broadcasts" issued by ESP Disc on vinyl in the 70's. These were available briefly on CD in a three disc set, but I didn't bother acquiring it; the performances are not very worthwhile, except for a few that are available elsewhere.

In 1986, Blackhawk Records released a vinyl album of a "recently discovered" complete recital recorded October 5, 1958 at the Monterey Jazz festival. Guest musicians supporting Billie include Gerry Mulligan and Benny Carter (you know they're really there because they are introduced when they join the band halfway through the set). Billie's performance is not half bad, especially considering how late in her life it was recorded. Unfortunately, the best track on the album vocally, Good Morning Heartache, is ruined by the sudden appearance of a prop plane (it was an outdoor festival) coming in for a landing at Monterey airport. The engines drone on for several moments, at one point completely drowning out Billie and the band. Nevertheless, I have tried to find it on CD, and I am hoping that it will be eventually released, as it's especially interesting for it's superb audio quality. Also several of Billie's standards are refreshed by new arrangments, which seem to buoy her performance and make the 11 tracks all the more interesting.

Finally, in 1958 Columbia records gave a "party" for some of their recording artists at the Edwardian Room at the Plaza Hotel, NYC. Although not intended to be released commercially (the recording quality is marginal), in 1973 Columbia released two vinyl LP's called "Jazz at the Plaza" Volumes I and II. Volume I was the second part of the program, headed by Miles Davis, and Columbia recently released it on CD. Volume II, which has not yet appeared on CD (but I'm hopeful) presented the Duke Ellington Orchestra with special guests. The guest vocalists were Jimmy Rushing and Billie Holiday. Billie does two songs, When Your Lover Has Gone and Don't Explain, accompanied only by Duke Ellington on piano and Buck Clayton on trumpet. What's wonderful about it, aside from the fact that it's the only performance Billie recorded with Duke Ellington since she sang "Saddest Tale" in the 1935 short film Symphony in Black, is that Duke Ellington wrote a "new" piano arrangement for Don't Explain that is absolutely thrilling in it's simplicity and beauty. It's so good, that Billie used it for the rest of her life (there is a TV performance clip of her singing Don't Explain in 1958 with Mal Waldron that essentially uses the same arrangement - see the DVD release The Genius of Lady Day). Although only two tracks, it remains one of my favorite live late recordings of Billie Holiday.

Until the wonderful day when every single recording and video performance of the great Lady Day is available, the Billie Holiday Ultimate Collection is certainly a good start, and well worth the investment.
Lady in Satin
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Best Jazz Album Of All Time
  • Billie may be crying her heart out--but she could still blow 'em all away--and that's no small feat !!!
  • Aged Like a Fine Wine
  • Lady Day without the extras
  • Lady's Swan Song
 Lady in Satin
Billie Holiday
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Accessories:
  1. GPX C3948BI Ultra-Slim CD Player with 40-Second Anti-Shock Protection and Car Kit

ASIN: B000002AH9
Release Date: 1997-09-23

Tracks:

  1. I'm A Fool To Want You
  2. For Heaven's Sake
  3. You Don't Know What Love Is
  4. I Get Along Without You Very Well
  5. For All We Know
  6. Violets For Your Furs
  7. You've Changed
  8. It's Easy To Remember
  9. But Beautiful
  10. Glad To Be Unhappy
  11. I'll Be Around
  12. The End Of A Love Affair
  13. I'm A Fool To Want You (Take 3)
  14. I'm A Fool to Want You (Take 2 - Alternate Take)
  15. The End Of A Love Affair: The Audio Story
  16. The End Of A Love Affair (Stereo)
  17. Pause Track

Amazon.com essential recording

A harrowing classic, Billie Holiday's personal favorite among her '50s albums captures the singer 17 months before her death, her once honeyed voice, scarred and weakened from punishing life, its ravages highlighted by the 1958 session's crisp sonics and the contrasting "satin" of Ray Ellis' sleek string arrangements. Yet it is that very contrast that explains the power of these performances: In revisiting its torchy standards, Holiday reduces them to their core of pain and longing, transforming "I'm a Fool to Want You," "You Don't Know What Love Is," and "You've Changed" into naked declarations as mesmerizing and unsettling as a horrific accident. Any postrocker that presumes pop standards and string sections automatically translate to "easy listening" hasn't listened to this. This 1997 version adds unreleased takes and a beautiful 20-bit digital transfer to extract every shivering pang of Holiday's music. --Sam Sutherland

Album Description

Limited 'Millennium Edition' reissue of classic 1958 album in a deluxe heavyweight miniaturized LP sleeve complete with inner sleeve and a Japanese-style obi strip on the spine. 12 tracks. Individually numbered. 1999 release.

Album Details

Limited Millennium Edition. Packed in a Heavy Weight Card Wallet that Faithfully Recreates the Original Vinyl Sleeve, Right Down to the Inner Bag. The Wallet Will Come in a Plastic Cover.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Best Jazz Album Of All Time.......2007-07-12

I can only quote the eloquent review from Amazon:
A harrowing classic, Billie Holiday's personal favorite among her '50s albums captures the singer 17 months before her death, her once honeyed voice, scarred and weakened from punishing life, its ravages highlighted by the 1958 session's crisp sonics and the contrasting "satin" of Ray Ellis' sleek string arrangements. Yet it is that very contrast that explains the power of these performances: In revisiting its torchy standards, Holiday reduces them to their core of pain and longing, transforming "I'm a Fool to Want You," "You Don't Know What Love Is," and "You've Changed" into naked declarations as mesmerizing and unsettling as a horrific accident. Any postrocker that presumes pop standards and string sections automatically translate to "easy listening" hasn't listened to this. This 1997 version adds unreleased takes and a beautiful 20-bit digital transfer to extract every shivering pang of Holiday's music. --Sam Sutherland

Nothing to add more. Only that I own all her albums, as well as around 25000 mp3s of all kinds of artists like Sinatra, Hendrix, all that one could call good music. This album was her favorite, and it is possibly the most beautiful album I have come across in music.
As they say, only a sad life makes it possible to sing from the heart, as one can find out listening to Piaf and Callas among others. This beautifully melancholical album is a treasure of Billie Holiday's voice and embodies her work, which is, unfortunately, receded to recorded history.'
When NASA decides to shoot a CD into space again as they did in 1977, this should be the one!

5 out of 5 stars Billie may be crying her heart out--but she could still blow 'em all away--and that's no small feat !!!.......2007-06-15

Many reviewers lament time and again that Billie Holiday's last record album, entitled Lady In Satin, is a difficult listen because of Billie's voice had deteriorated. Yes, it is true; her voice had deteriorated quite a bit by 1958 when these ballads were recorded. However, if you listen with your heart and not with your mind, Billie turns in a rather solid performance using her voice as an instrument to inject these songs with her own personal angst and regrets. If the truth be told, Lady In Satin is perhaps one of Billie's very finest recording sets.

The CD track set deals often with the theme of unrequited love and love gone awry; and the opening track, "I'm A Fool To Want You," showcases Billie's sadness as she laments the fact that she can't help loving a man who could never love her in return. The arrangement by Ray Ellis is rich; and the strings enhance the beauty of this number. Billie sings "I'm A Fool To Want You" with all the grace of the champion chanteuse she truly was. "You Don't Know What Love Is" features Billie singing about the heartbreak of "the blues" associated with unrequited love. Billie's excellent diction strengthens her performance. Yes, she may be crying her heart out; but Billie's not fading away quietly.

Other gems on this CD include the classic "I Get Along Without You Very Well;" Billie sings this to perfection and Ray Ellis' arrangement never allows a single superfluous note. "You've Changed" allows Billie to lament that her lover just isn't the same man she once loved so much; he doesn't love her anymore. The melody strikes me with its beauty and Billie's vocals add great poignancy to "You've Changed."

"I'll Be Around" gives Billie another opportunity to explore the pain of how she must wait for a man who she hopes will come to love her someday. Billie's interpretation of "I'll Be Around" glistens like pure gold and the musical arrangement shines, too. "The End Of A Love Affair" lets Billie sing of how her apparent happiness is nothing but a mask to hide the deep emotional pain she feels because her man has left her. Billie sings this magnificently; you are bound to be touched by this very pensive and forlorn ballad.

The CD version of Lady In Satin allows us the luxury of four bonus tracks. These bonus tracks give us a rare insight into how the album was developed and tweaked to get everything just right before they released it for sale. We get two alternate takes of "I'm A Fool To Want You;" and there's a fascinating track entitled "The End Of A Love Affair: The Audio Story." "The End Of A Love Affair: The Audio Story" offers us a listen of rarely heard studio chatter and we hear Billie clearly saying to someone "I don't know the tune." The orchestra then plays their arrangement for Billie to hear it all the way through so that she can get a better feel for how to deliver "The End Of A Love Affair." When Billie does perform this number, she sings a cappella; and you get an excellent example of Billie Holiday's flawless diction. We also get a stereo version of "The End Of A Love Affair." Excellent! There is a pause track at the end of the CD, too.

The liner notes include rarely seen photos of Billie and Ray Ellis working together; and you get the original liner notes by Irving Townsend. Ray Ellis also contributes a great essay about the making of this album. Phil Schaap goes into detail about the differences between alternate takes of the same songs in his own essay.

Billie Holiday remains a legendary chanteuse; and I doubt we'll ever see another female singer quite like her. Billie Holiday sang with all her heart and soul; and her adoring audiences everywhere loved her for it. I recommend this CD for Billie Holiday fans; and people who enjoy classic pop vocals with a subtle jazzy twist will treasure this CD for many years to come.

Thank you for everything, Billie Holiday! Bravo!!!

5 out of 5 stars Aged Like a Fine Wine.......2006-11-12

LADY IN SATIN is indeed one of the most heartwrenching recordings one can listen to. Billie Holiday is at her finest moment, and unfortunately it was her last. As one reads the album's liner notes, Billie declaringly states, "I've got to sing with Ellis," Lady said, "I want this album more than anything else, and I want it to be good." This was Billie's favorite record, and undoubtedly so, she gave her heart and soul in producing a record that will leave a lasting impression on any listener. The initial 12 tracks on the album will will definitely hit the gut. The remaining four bonus tracks and alternate takes offer a little revealing glimpse of what Billie was like during the recording session.

Overall, Billie finely stands alone backed by Ray Ellis' lush orchestration. This is not muzak, but a great collection of tracks done by one of jazz music's quintessential female vocalists. One will hear the sound of Billie's singing with its strength and agility despite the somewhat somber lyrics in songs, such as "I'm A Fool To Want You," "You Don't Know What Love Is," and "I'll Be Around." Indeed, this record is a true depiction of the torchsong singer.

Every genre of music experiences a period of progression. LADY IN SATIN was recorded in 1958, and amidst the changing face of popular music, Rock and Roll took over the airwaves, popular jazz music moved into a different direction than when "Lady Day" originally burst onto the jazz music scene over 20 years earlier, the record has stood the test of time, but with an inkling of historical irony and atomsphere. Indeed, this recording is Billie's best effort, and many may criticize her vocals, but by listening to the songs, it has aged like a fine wine for someone who literally tasted the fringes of life.

5 out of 5 stars Lady Day without the extras.......2006-03-10

This classic album lives completely up to expectations to the extent that it contains all the original material. But, the only people I know that appreciate the tacked on alternative versions are the techno-fanatics.

5 out of 5 stars Lady's Swan Song.......2006-02-21

The first time I heard the distinctive timbre of Billie Holiday's immortal voice which somehow speaks to us from the deepest haunts of the soul, I believe I was somewhere in the vicinity of my mother's apron strings, and remember her remarking to the effect, "Now, that's a tragedy - she was so great . . . a mere shadow of what she was - terribly, terribly self-destructive", echoing the common sentiment. Lady Day was still alive at that time. And I remember the furl between the eyebrows of her original producer with Columbia, John Hammond Sr., when, some twenty years later, he recalled what is referred to on the copious liner notes of this awesome 1997 Sony reissue of the 1958 original as "the more lurid elements of the Billie Holiday saga". And since her death 17 months after this recording, the discussion has raged around that curious question: "Who was greater (or, in our abstracted experience of the media, unfortunately, "which"), the early Lady, or the later?" The early Billie - with her spectacular range, her unmatched phrasing, cadence, her youthful charm - adored by her sidemen and audiences alike - or the later - in her finest hour - on this recording - the heart-broken, broke, haggard, dispossessed junkie - in the words of her primary collaborator (by request) on this effort, Ray Ellis - " When we began recording and I heard the first playback, I was quite shook up. The quality of Billie's voice had really deteriorated. It was very noticeable to me after listening to all her early records".

"Lady in Satin", one of the towering masterpieces of the genre (maybe THE masterpiece), should put that dispute to rest forever, but, undoubtedly, it won't. Gone is the full body of Billie's voice, gone - any of the usual repertoire of her well-known classic titles which have since become cultural standards - too numerous to list ... well, you know them. What is conveyed is something else, which today is curtly and rather tritely as referred to as " the ineffable". The resiliency of the human spirit which will not be denied, even in the face of ultimate denial, perhaps . . . staring squarely into the crack of doom? A frank and strangely satisfying discussion of the downside of love and desire? Billie, who chose the repetoire, in the brief time which remained to her, once called this palpably torturous session her "favorite" recording. One wonders exactly what she meant. Ray Ellis, a musician of stoic discipline, who could only have existed before the advent of the Beatles and after the gentrification of Kansas City, a maestro of what we today call `1950's musak', said: "After we finished the album, I went into the control room and listened to all the takes. I must admit I was unhappy with her performance, but I was listening musically instead of emotionally. It wasn't until I heard the final mix a few weeks later that I realized how great her performance really was".

Of course, one cannot fail take note of the destiny of what is perhaps the supreme moment in this effort, "The End of a Love Affair", amazingly absent from the first stereo issues. On this set, we have along with a remastering of the original, a number of `rejected' studio outtakes. You will listen to them all. Also, mention must be made of the great performance of trombonist Urbie Green, a legendary ensemble player, who really does "swoop down like an angel" on "For Heaven's Sake" and throughout these tracks.

Alright, listen to "I'm a Fool to Want You", her version of "You Don't Know What Love Is", the final four cuts on the album, including the aforementioned masterpiece, "The End of a Love Affair", and tell me if your Billie Holiday collection is complete without this one. And the refrain which seems to especially come to mind: "Time and time again . . ."
Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Wonderful, Simply Wonderful
  • The only woman to do Lady Day some justice...
  • A jazz legend paying tribute to another jazz legend..
  • You'll enjoy this
  • My Favorite CD
 Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday
Etta James
Manufacturer: RCA Victor
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000000LG
Release Date: 1994-03-15

Tracks:

  1. Don't Explain
  2. You've Changed
  3. The Man I Love
  4. I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance (With You)
  5. Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be)
  6. Embraceable You
  7. How Deep Is The Ocean
  8. (I'm Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over
  9. Body And Soul
  10. The Very Thought Of You
  11. I'll Be Seeing You

Amazon.com essential recording

The real mystery is why it took so long for Etta James to win a Grammy. But this great American vocalist claimed her first statue by paying tribute to another grand singer. James's versions of Billie Holiday-identified tunes like "Don't Explain," "You've Changed," "Lover Man," and "The Man I Love" are the best readings of Lady Day's signatures in a generation. Pianist Cedar Walton leads the seven-piece band in spare and graceful arrangements faithful to the mainstream jazz sound of the '40s and '50s, which gives James ample room to exercise her soaring range and deliver a dazzling, seductive, and warm tour de force. --Ted Drozdowski

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Wonderful, Simply Wonderful.......2003-12-24

I was surprised that I would love this CD so much because I had heard of Etta James but I didn't know to much about her or her music (she was a little before my time). I have to say this CD is timeless. I love the words of the songs and the richness of her voice. Etta truly makes me wish I could have been around to hear Billie do the honors herself.

4 out of 5 stars The only woman to do Lady Day some justice..........2003-06-02

'Ya heard? I'm'a make this as short as possible. Etta James has one'a the mos' passionate an' wrenching voices in all blues n' soul music an' when she takes on THESE numbers, you hear that an' them some. As a big fan'a Billie Holiday not many singer could give much credibility to performin' the songs that she made famous. But this jus' works. Ms. James, rather than adopting the ballads with her own style, jus' adopted a DIFFERENT style than she normally does so that she can sing 'The Man I Love', 'Embraceable You', an' 'The Very Thought of You' with all the relaxed subtlety that Lady Day did. With a nice jazz backing section, she lays the loveliness on thick. Strictly fans'a her work only may not be as enthralled by this set, but if your musical tastes cover the whole spectrum from blues to soul to this ol' traditional-style jazz, then definitely check this out. This is one'a the most earnest, sincere, an' well-done tribute albums of all time. Ms. Billie would be proud.

5 out of 5 stars A jazz legend paying tribute to another jazz legend.........2003-05-08

Etta james finally wona Grammy for this album which is shocking cause hello she's etta james what in the world took the grammy's so long...
this is a great cd ..that has a living legend pay tribute to another departed legend of jazz Billy holiday..
her range is incredible...considering she is a true barritone...amazing...one of her best albums..

5 out of 5 stars You'll enjoy this.......2002-12-12

If you adore Billie and love Etta then you should be in heaven! I bought this on impulse and consider this one of my most treasured CDs. All the wonderful "old school" lyrics - the way they don't write them anymore - but with the full, rich sound of modern technology. Great tribute to Lady Day by a legend who can blow away a room full of Britneys!

5 out of 5 stars My Favorite CD.......2001-04-21

I was always liked Etta's, A Sunday Kind of Love, so I was checking Amazon for CD's by her. I sure picked a great one. Mystery Lady is my favorite CD. I play it almost everyday. Her voice is so clear and strong. I recommend it to everyone.
Billie, Ella, Lena, Sarah
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • the earlier years....
  • Only for oldies, and old noises
  • FOUR QUEENS SING TIMELESS FIVE STAR CLASSICS !!
  • Creme De La Creme
  • Billie, Ella, Lena, Sarah - their best was yet to come.
 Billie, Ella, Lena, Sarah
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:
  1. Best Of Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
  2. Great Ladies of Jazz
  3. Sirens of Song: Classic Torch Singers
  4. The Essential Sarah Vaughan: The Great Songs
  5. 16 Most Requested Songs

ASIN: B0000029FJ
Release Date: 1994-06-07

Tracks:

  1. The Man I Love - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  2. My Melancholy Baby - Ella Fitzgerald
  3. Prisoner Of Love - Lena Horne
  4. Nice Work If You Can Get It - Sarah Vaughan
  5. I'll Never Be The Same - Billie Holiday
  6. East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon) - Sarah Vaughan
  7. What A Little Moonlight Can Do - Billie Holiday
  8. Ain't Misbehavin' - Sarah Vaughan
  9. Out Of Nowhere - Lena Horne
  10. All My Life - Ella Fitzgerald
  11. I'm Gonna Lock My Heart (And Throw Away The Key) - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
  12. Goodnight My Love - Sarah Vaughan

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars the earlier years...........2006-08-01

This cd is a nice introduction to the earlier years of these Great Ladies of Song! Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan.

2 out of 5 stars Only for oldies, and old noises.......2006-03-04

This CD is a good mix of the great ladies of jazz; however the master is the original, without any ounce of technology. I have heard new compilations, and they modify the sound, for hearing as new record, not as a phone call.
However, in matters of pleassure there are no limits, and there would be some one who loves it.

5 out of 5 stars FOUR QUEENS SING TIMELESS FIVE STAR CLASSICS !!.......2006-02-01

Five Tremendous Stars!! Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, and Sarah Vaughan!! Four of the best singers "there ever was" sing truly classic songs from early in their careers. This sampler 'freeze-frames' the careers of these tremendous singers at a crucial time when they were the rage of the jazz world, in a jazz constellation that included many other fabulous singers like Anita O'Day and Carmen McRae.

From the Ella Fitzgerald sessions with Teddy Wilson's orchestra in 1936 to Sarah Vaughan fronting George Treadwell's All Stars with Miles Davis, Benny Green, Tony Scott, and guitarist Mundell Lowe on piano of all things in 1950, these classic pieces are dated in sound and arrangement, BUT not in performance. These are truly timeless classics that can be enjoyed over and over by the 21st Century music fan. Indeed, any jazz singer of today would give anything to be able to duplicate these stellar performances.

In between the Fitzgerald and Vaughan "bookend" sessions, we find the inimitable Billie Holiday with her very own orchestra in the late 1930's, including Lester Young, Buck Clayton, Sweets Edison, and Jo Jones, and Lena Horne with another version of the Teddy Wilson Orchestra from 1936 featuring Emmet Berry and Jimmy Hamilton. Ms Horne only gets two tracks ("Prisoner of Love" and "Out of Nowhere"), but she uses them to telling effect as a jazz vocalist who would later become best known as a pop singer who never forgot her jazz roots. Ms Fitzgerald likewise gets two tracks within which to weave her vocal magic and she does just that with sizzling, memorable renditions of "My Melancholy Baby" and "All of My Life".

I usually pick out "Pieces De Resistance", the best of the best, from each CD, but this is an impossible task with this compendium. Indeed each singer could have performed each other's songs with equal aplomb. Each performance is a diamond of music, in and of itself, by each of these legendary vocalists who were honing their craft 'on the fly', as it were, in their early years. From Billie Holiday's "The Man I Love" to Sarah Vaughan's "East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)", this is an essential CD for the serious jazz collector who wants a "quick, but deep" sample of the magnificence of these "Queens" in their youth. Highly Recommended! Five HUGE Stars!!

5 out of 5 stars Creme De La Creme.......2000-05-12

There are not enough adjectives for the tremendous impact of this recording - all it takes is one play - one memory - cascades! These ladies are to "Die For".

5 out of 5 stars Billie, Ella, Lena, Sarah - their best was yet to come........1999-07-31

This collection was first issued in the mid '50s as "Ella, Lena and Billie" - Sarah was added later - and if you don't know these great vocalists by their first names, you must be from the Moon. The sessions by Billie and Ella are from the '30s, and Lena's sessions are from 1941. Most of these numbers were recorded with a Teddy Wilson-led band which included several of Basie's sidemen. The Sarah Vaughn numbers were recorded in 1950 with a lineup that included Miles Davis on trumpet. It's wonderful to hear these singers in the early stages of their careers. The sound quality is better than one might expect.
Billie Holiday's Greatest Hits (Decca)
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Not even close to her Greatest
  • Great sound quality
  • An album for those who've never listened to Billie Holiday..
  • Should be called, "Some of her greatest hits"
  • Lady Day at her heart-breaking, slow-burning best.
 Billie Holiday's Greatest Hits (Decca)
Billie Holiday
Manufacturer: Verve
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:
  1. Billie's Best
  2. Pure Ella: The Very Best of Ella Fitzgerald
  3. Billie Holiday - Greatest Hits (Sony)
  4. Love Songs
  5. Lady in Satin

ASIN: B000003N4D
Release Date: 1995-06-06

Tracks:

  1. Easy Living
  2. What Is This Thing Called Love?
  3. Solitude
  4. You're My Thrill
  5. Them There Eyes
  6. No More
  7. God Bless The Child
  8. My Man
  9. Don't Explain
  10. There Is No Greater Love
  11. T'ain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do
  12. You Better Go Now
  13. Big Stuff
  14. Good Morning, Heartache
  15. I Loves You Porgy (From Porgy & Bess)
  16. Guilty
  17. Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)
  18. Crazy He Calls Me
  19. That Ole Devil Called Love

Amazon.com

There's no such thing as a genuine Billie Holiday greatest-hits collection--her career was split among too many labels for that--but this single-disc distillation of the Complete Decca Recordings 2 CD set (recorded between 1944 and 1950) is pretty solid. Holiday's in fine vocal form (though her accompaniment is undistinguished easy-listening stuff; the choir on "God Bless the Child" is a bit frustrating), and the songs are arranged to work as an album rather than chronologically. She transcends the ideas of torch songs, of blues, of ballad singing--her version of "Lover Man" exemplifies erotic despair, tormented and aroused at once--and even the lesser-known tracks here are pleasant surprises, like a Leonard Bernstein song. --Douglas Wolk

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars Not even close to her Greatest.......2002-02-22

Although there are a few good cuts on this collection, despite the generally terrible arrangements, almost any other collection of Billie's is better. If you want a single disc Greatest Hits album, try an obscure Brit import called "Fine and Mellow." The only thing the DECCA CD has going for it is better sound quality, because it was recorded much later than most of her good recordings.

5 out of 5 stars Great sound quality.......2002-01-14

I've heard many Billie Holiday CDs and this is one of the better ones. The sound quality is fantastic. 19 of her very best hits. I recommend this to both new and old Holiday fans.

5 out of 5 stars An album for those who've never listened to Billie Holiday.........2001-03-25

...Like me! True, these songs don't represent the real Billie because they are so short (about 3 minutes each). And there are a lot of added strings in the background in order to fit into what was commercially typical of the day. BUT trust me, after you listen to "Good Morning Heartache" it will sound like REAL music, compared to so much (noise/garbage) that passes for music in the present.

I love this record!

4 out of 5 stars Should be called, "Some of her greatest hits".......2000-12-28

While it is true, no one album could contain all of Billie Holiday's greatest hits, it's not a bad start. I you have just discovered Billie Holiday and you want to listen to some of her best renditions then this album isn't a bad place to start. Billie Holiday is so rare a talent that we may never see another like her again. So much of who she was is heard in her voice that it is often feels like an intrusion into the mind of another individual. At the same time, that is what makes Billie Holiday the greatest. So much of what music is today is vapid beyond belief. What with singers that convey no emotion because they have none to offer, lyrics that are as sharp as a butter knife and listeners who get excited over any tripe handed to them in their lethargic ears. In short, Billie Holiday is for everyone, everyone who has a discerning taste for quality. Buying this album is like taking the first bite of a meal that is going to satisfy both your taste buds and your soul.

5 out of 5 stars Lady Day at her heart-breaking, slow-burning best........1999-09-13

This album was my introduction to Lady Day, and what an intro. From the first slowly slinky phrases of 'Easy Living' there's hardly a duff moment. IMHO, the one misguided moment is the inclusion of a version of 'God Bless The Child' with a schmaltzy choir intro. If you can forgive that, there's plenty here to delight and seduce the vocal jazz newbie. 'Solitude' and 'Good Morning, Heartache' are *beyond* torch songs: Holiday's small, wounded-bird cry works its way under your skin and settles into your soul. The leisurely, easy 'You're My Thrill' is seduction by sound, evoking small, smoky, dimly lit nightclubs, a half-empty whisky glass, the scent of Gitanes on someone's hair...pure magic. Holiday's knack of hitting those notes like a human trumpet (a trick which might not sound appealing, but has to be heard to be believed) is showcased brilliantly on 'Them There Eyes'. 'Don't Explain' is an entirely adult love song, love with none of the jagged edges smoothed off, and no shadows to hide the truth in.

All in all, this is an album made for listening to late at night, in semi-darkness, with a summer breeze bearing the sounds of the city drifting through the window. If you can't get that, then try putting it on, shutting your eyes and letting Lady Day take you away. You won't regret it.
Lady in Autumn: The Best of the Verve Years
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Very Good, Very Jazz, Very Ballady, among her best
  • We need a remastered version Verve
  • GOD BLESS HER SOUL !!!
  • And Still Her Heart Has Wings
  • A Revelation
 Lady in Autumn: The Best of the Verve Years
Billie Holiday
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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  1. Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday
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ASIN: B0000047CO
Release Date: 1991-10-22

Tracks:

  1. Body & Soul
  2. Strange Fruit
  3. Trav'lin Light
  4. All Of Me
  5. (There Is) No Greater Love
  6. I Cover The Waterfront
  7. These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)
  8. Tenderly
  9. Autumn In New York
  10. My Man
  11. Stormy Weather
  12. Yesterdays
  13. (I Got A Man, Crazy For Me) He's Funny That Way
  14. What A Little Moonlight Can Do
  15. I Cried For You (Now It's Your Turn To Cry Over Me)
  16. Too Marvelous For Words
  17. I Wished On The Moon
  18. I Don't Want To Cry Anymore
  19. Prelude To A Kiss

Tracks:

  1. Nice Work If You Can Get It
  2. Come Rain Or Come Shine
  3. What's New?
  4. Bod Bless The Child
  5. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
  6. April In Paris
  7. Lady Sings The Blues
  8. Don't Explain
  9. Fine & Mellow
  10. I Didn't Know What Time It Was
  11. Stars Fell On Alabama
  12. One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)
  13. Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You
  14. Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)
  15. All The Way
  16. Don't Worry 'Bout Me

Amazon.com

The received wisdom on the tragic torch singer's later work--of these 35 tracks, six were recorded in 1946 and '47, and the rest in the '50s--is that her interpretive skill made up for the collapse of her voice. In fact, the serious cracks in her pitch don't appear until the second disc of this set, and it doesn't approach the febrile croak of Lady in Satin until the END. But she relies on a handful of vocal tricks, and some numbers that had been in her repertoire for ages, to approximate the glory that her voice once was. At times, though, the results are lovely and heartbroken rather than saddening, especially with the simpatico musical backing she got in these sessions. --Douglas Wolk

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Very Good, Very Jazz, Very Ballady, among her best .......2005-03-10

This selection of her post war work for Verve is among Billie Holiday's Best work. Instead of looking at Holiday as a personal crsisi in process, or as unblemished idol who was always good, it is interesting to look at this selection in regard to where she was as a developing artist.

My opinion is that along with some of the live shots from concerts at the time, this is her last good work because Verve really packaged her as a JAZZ SINGER PLAYING IN A TOTAL jazz package. Unlike some of the Verve recordings of some of the old stars of Swing in the 1940s and the early 1950s, these Holiday recording surrounded Billie with great Jazz musicians like Ben Webster, and eschews either Billie's unfortunate attempts in the early 40s to become a cabaret chanteuse, or later attempt to put over Billie as a pop or R & B singer.

It's the Jazziness, the swing, and the manipulation of the diction that bop and swing and entrance you here. She no longer has the great voice and the raucous swing she possessed as a woman in her twenties in the 1930s. Heroin and hard living had clearly had their effect on her voice and outlook. However, she conquers these sides with a superior sense of swing and attitude. She does that in distinction to her other work because Verve provided a great group of jazz musicians, real jazz arrangements and trusted in Billie.

At the same time, there is a more developed harmonic and rhythmic take here and a great ability to put depth into ballads here.
This is altogether different than the prewar stuff. The prewar stuff bounces and raves and dances, whereas this is jivy, thoughtful, and gracefully swinging, more what you would listen to with a good Scotch than a good beer.

3 out of 5 stars We need a remastered version Verve.......2004-07-14

This is more than a decade old, and I dont like the sound very much. Verve should really release these tracks in a new compilation with better sound. I prefer the early Billie Holiday, and to me she reached her peak at her last sessions for Columbia. I'd strongly recommend to anyone just getting into Bilie to check the Columbia/Legacy stuff first. This is more difficult to appreciate, but stil is great music. Billie is the best jazz singer that ever lived, period.

5 out of 5 stars GOD BLESS HER SOUL !!!.......2002-06-19

For many years now, there's been going on a "strange" comparison between Billie's two periods : before and after her time in prison.... The explanation is very simple. You don't buy Billie's records in order to HEAR them, but to FEEL them !!!! It wasn't her technical capabilities in singing that made the Lady famous. It was her emotions, her strength at heart, her willingness to overcome all the problems she had with her private life. That's what you get if you purchase the "Lady in Autumn" CD. You get a Great Lady that stands up with pride, and still manages to keep a high level of quality at her work. It's harder to remain at the top, than getting there at the first place. And Billie stood at the top for a very long time !!!!!

5 out of 5 stars And Still Her Heart Has Wings.......2002-03-01

This is the best ballad collection of Billie Holiday to date. You hear someone who has experienced life, in every nuance of her voice. 'These Foolish Things Remind Me Of You' is the most heartbreakingly perfect ballad ever recorded, with a subtly touching piano accompaniment by Oscar Peterson. This track is for those who have loved and lost. 'Don't Worry 'Bout Me' has an ironic sadness when viewed from here and it is appropriately placed as the last song in the set. It will make you cry.

5 out of 5 stars A Revelation.......2001-12-14

There is an on-going dispute between Holiday fans: is Billie Holiday more interesting at the beginning of her career, when her voice was at its best, or at the end of her career, when her interpretive skills were at their finest? My preference is for the latter, and LADY IN AUTUMN offers a truly fine sampling of later Billie Holiday recordings.

Even at its youthful best, Billie Holiday's distinctive, very quirky voice was never noted for any of the qualities we usually applaud in great singers: Holiday's range, power, and breath support were always more than a little ify. But Holiday showed a remarkable facility for shaping her voice much as sculptor might, and she transformed her vocal defects into an astonishing personal idiom that has never failed to mix musical delight with raw emotional power. And this ability was at its height toward the end of her career.

It is true, however, that Holiday's later recordings are an acquired taste, and listeners who are new to her unique stylings may be put off by the vocal roughness of her later work. But for those who have already listened to an enjoyed her earlier work, Billie Holiday's LADY IN AUTUMN will be a revelation.
Billie's Best
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Not her Best
  • What a Beautiful Voice!
  • This is really her best! or maybe her second best
  • One Last Grasp at Greatness
  • One Last Grasp at Greatness
 Billie's Best
Billie Holiday
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Classic Female Vocal BluesClassic Female Vocal Blues | Blues | Styles | Music
Traditional BluesTraditional Blues | Blues | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Jazz | Styles | Music
Swing GeneralSwing General | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
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Classic VocalistsClassic Vocalists | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
Traditional Vocal PopTraditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
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Traditional PopTraditional Pop | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music
Similar Items:
  1. Billie Holiday's Greatest Hits (Decca)
  2. Lady in Satin
  3. Billie Holiday - Greatest Hits (Sony)
  4. Lady in Autumn: The Best of the Verve Years
  5. Billie's Blues

ASIN: B0000046M1
Release Date: 1992-09-22

Tracks:

  1. What A Little Moonlight Can Do
  2. A Foggy Day
  3. Come Rain Or Come Shine
  4. Comes Love
  5. He's Funny That Way
  6. Stars Fell On Alabama
  7. Gone With The Wind
  8. They Can't Take That Away From Me
  9. East Of The Sun
  10. Everything I Have Is Yours
  11. Stormy Blues
  12. Speak Low
  13. April In Paris
  14. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
  15. Some Other Spring
  16. All The Way

Amazon.com

This selection is drawn from Billie Holiday's Verve recordings of the mid-1950s. It was a time when her voice was already showing some wear and tear, but the same experiences that tattered the voice brought it an unmatched expressiveness. Her voice possessed a unique presence, a sound that seems lit up by a resilient vitality. Producer Norman Granz set Holiday among the small jazz combos that suited her talents best, groups that included some of the finest soloists of her generation, such as trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison and saxophonists Benny Carter and Ben Webster. Granz also supplied ideal rhythm sections, with pianist Jimmy Rowles and guitarists Kenny Burrell and Barney Kessel making appearances here. There's more room to stretch out than was available on the early Columbia and Commodore recordings, and the results are relaxed and profound treatments of some great songs. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars Not her Best.......2004-07-28

This is a compilation of Billie's last years, and it only includes tracks recorded from Verve. Unfortunately, these are not even her best tracks from that period! Absolute classics, like 'Autumm in New York' and 'Baby Ant I good to you' are missing. Get Billie's work from Columbia, Decca and Commodore before getting into Verve.

5 out of 5 stars What a Beautiful Voice!.......2004-02-15

This lady could sing the blues like no one else. What a beautiful voice! And I love her jazz style and the bands on this compilation of great hits of the 50's. The sound quality is excellent on this single remastered CD which "contains selections from the complete Billie Holiday on Verve 1945-1959," a box set of 10 CDs. This one is definitely a good buy. Some of my favorite songs on the album are "Comes Love", "Stars Fell On Alabama", "East Of The Sun", and "Speak Low". But this is only a small sample of some of Billie's Best, a box of gems from a treasure trove of talent.

5 out of 5 stars This is really her best! or maybe her second best.......2004-02-09

This is really the best of the great Verve recordings of the 1950s. I will jump out on a limb and say those Verve recordings were surpassed only by the 1930s Columbia/Brunswick sides produced by John Hammond. They work best because like the Hammond sides, Billie here is produced solely as a JAZZ SINGER TOGETHER WITH JAZZ ARTISTS OF HER CALIBER AND OF HER GENERATION, not as a chanteuse, not as a pop singer, and not as an R & B singer, all detours that people who recorded her before and after these sides put her on.

The problem is that a lot of people tend to see Billie Holiday's artistry as a tragedy in progress rather than the work of a great singer and musician who did have a few off microphone problems. Billie Holiday died six or 7 years after the last one of these sides. The magic of these recordings has to do with good production, and good art coming out of that and not the question of the decomposition of her personal life.

Grantz's predecessors and successor were to attempt to take Billie in a more pop direction which just didn't work. That may have had to do with her "health" problems, but it also probably had to do with the crisis of swing-Jazz at the time. I mean in the mid 1950s you had Duke Ellington playing in third-rate amusement parks until Paul Gonzalves turned everything around at Newport. The Grantz verve sides were Billie's music, all the other stuff, the attempts at being like Dinah Washington, the anticommunist songs, the attempts to take her into jumb blues (Billie always detested being called a blues singer because she was not) and so forth were terrible.

In fact, her last efforts like Lady in Satin, remind one of some of the Louis Armstrong band recordings of the 1930s and early 1940s where the magic is the contrast between the swinging soloist and the utterly stiff band and stiffer arrangements.

Curiously, before and after her Verve years, the live recordings we have from her Carnegie Concert and Jazz at the Philharmonic and her singing on the Sound of Jazz have the same glow of Jazz. They resemble these sides more than the recordings she was making.

Billie's real strength is as a Jazz musician, a contributor to the polyphony of Jazz. These are only part of a whole series of recordings that Verve did in these years. At one time they were all available on LP and Tape. I haven't looked around, but one hopes the whole thing is available.

All of these words about Billie needs to be supplemented by some great playing by Ben Webster, Sweets, and other musicians. Much is said about Billie and Prez's collaboration in the 1930s, but on these recordings Mr. Webster recorded as many sides with Billie and developed another darker synergy between the two of them that needs to be listened to. Don't get me wrong, I am a Lester Young fanatic: his framed picture is on my wall and he is the only musician I have ever bought a tee shirt of, LOL. But, the accompaniment and the solos the musicians take here are worth the price alone!

This is a forgotten gem that deserves to shine.

My rating for this is anyone with ears needs to own it!

5 out of 5 stars One Last Grasp at Greatness.......2000-12-07

It's hard to choose 16 songs and call it "Billie's Best", but this set gives an idea of Billie Holiday's great artistry during the last years of her life. Billie is heard throughout backed by a jazz combo or trio, with occasional (not often enough) saxophones by the likes of "Sweets" Edison and Benny Carter. Her sidemen are first rate and they provide maybe the last ounce of inspiration Billie needs during this difficult time in her life. Sadly, her voice is not what it once was, but some numbers come off better than others, and Verve chooses mostly those that she is comfortable with, some dating bak to her early days at Columbia in the 1930s that she remakes here. On a few numbers her voice is barely audible beyond a croak, but determination pulls her thru and she still manages to wring out many emotional performances here. Sound quality is very good.

5 out of 5 stars One Last Grasp at Greatness.......2000-12-07

It's hard to choose 16 songs and call it "Billie's Best", but this set gives an idea of Billie Holiday's great artistry during the last years of her life. Billie is heard throughout backed by a jazz combo or trio, with occasional (not often enough) saxophones by the likes of "Sweets" Edison and Benny Carter. Her sidemen are first rate and they provide maybe the last ounce of inspiration Billie needs during this difficult time in her life when she made these recordings. Sadly her voice is not what it once was, but some numbers come off better than others, and Verve chooses mostly those that she is comfortable with, some she made from her early days at Columbia in the 1930s that she remakes again here. On a few numbers here her voice is barely audible beyond a croak, but determination has always been her strength and she still manages to wring out one emotional performance after another. Sound quality is very good.

Music:

  1. Bonsoir Amis [Enhanced] [Import] [Live]
  2. Brockmumford: Love Story
  3. Brokenwingtrick
  4. Californian Jam Sessions [Import]
  5. Can't Stop Me from Dreaming
  6. Casino de Paris [Import]
  7. Chambre Avec Vue [Import]
  8. Christmas Song Book
  9. Cocktail Hour: Billie Holiday
  10. Cocktail Hour: Sarah Vaughan

Music

Music