The Commodore Master Takes (CD)

The quintessential jazz singer, Billie Holiday seemed to stamp her heart onto everything she sang. With a thin, reedy voice and almost laconic style, she could give even a throwaway pop song a gut-wrenching twist. Her most memorable music is loaded with an intensity of emotion--both playfulness and despair--that few can match. From the mid-1930s to the mid-1940s, Lady Day was at her peak, recording numerous sessions with other jazz heavyweights such as Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Lester Young, and many more. In the late '40s, however, Holiday's romantic and substance-related problems led to trouble with the law and declining health, both of which would continue until her death in 1959. Her personal misfortunes ensured she would make headlines in her day; her one-of-a-kind talent made her a legend for the ages.

• Category:  Music  »  Jazz  »  Classic Jazz Vocals
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: February 8, 2000
• Label: Verve (USA)
• UPC: 731454327220
• WAPI (Tower ID): 105803616
• Average Customer Review: There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!
• Tower.com Sales Rank: #68480 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #5958 in Jazz (See Top 100 Jazz Bestsellers)
• #155 in Classic Jazz Vocals (See Top 100 Classic Jazz Vocals Bestsellers)

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Personnel: Billie Holiday (vocals); Tab Smith, Lem Davis (alto saxophone); Kenneth Hollon, Stan Payne (tenor saxophone); Frankie Newton, Doc Cheatham (trumpet); Vic Dickenson (trombone); Sonny White, Eddie Haywood (piano); Jimmy McLin, Teddy Walters (guitar); John Williams, John Simmons (bass); Eddie Dougherty, Sid Catlett (drums).

Producer: Milt Gabler.

Compilation producer: Orrin Keepnews.

Recorded at Brunswick World Broadcasting Studio, New York, New York on April 20, 1939; WOR Recording Studios, New York, New York on March 25 and April 1 & 8, 1944. Includes liner notes by Orrin Keepnews.

Digitally remastered by Erick Labson (1999, MCA Music Media Studios) and Jeff Willens (Universal Music Studios-East).

After a half-decade's apprenticeship at Columbia Records, Holiday did her first Commodore sessions in 1939, producing the chilling segregation saga "Strange Fruit." The singer was now a fully mature artist--some would say "artiste"--about to embark on her progressive "downtown" Cafe Society period.

While the early Columbia sides featured Billie as one swinging jazz musician among many, these small group arrangements lovingly showcase her interpretive skills, all in slow to medium tempo. Producer Milt Gabler would soon sign Holiday to Decca, where she would receive the full pop singer treatment, complete with upscale string orchestra, the next installment in the Billie Holiday story.

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