Billie Holiday - Lady Day: The Master Takes & Singles

The best of Billie’s first decade

In 2001, Columbia/Legacy released the 10-CD set Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday On Columbia. If that proved too cost-prohibitive for you, they’ve now scaled it back to a more manageable four CDs.

The 80 tracks span 1935-42 and, as Gary Giddins’ sleevenotes suggest, capture Holiday in an array of moods. This set includes God Bless The Child, which Holiday co-wrote, but what’s most striking about her vocal gifts is how she can make even lesser songs sound remarkable. You’d expect Holiday to turn in good performances of Summertime or Georgia On My Mind. But consider What A Little Moonlight Can Do, which even the sleevenotes describe as “dog meat”. Though its breezy quality isn’t something you’d associate with Holiday’s usual melancholy blues, there’s a lightness to her delivery that’s charming, with a kind of appeal you’ll find on other light-hearted tracks such as I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm, Night & Day and Me, Myself & I. Just as surprising and enjoyable are her takes on songs more associated with other singers, such as Falling In Love Again. Overall, a fine representation of Holiday’s first decade as a recording artist.

Columbia/Legacy | 88697 10955 2 (4-CD)

Reviewed by Gillian G Gaar
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