Personnel includes: Billie Holiday (vocals); Tab Smith (soprano & alto saxophones); Benny Carter (alto & tenor saxophones); Johnny Hodges (alto saxophone); Lester Young (tenor saxophone, clarinet); Ben Webster, Chu Berry (tenor saxophone); Harry Carney (baritone saxophone, clarinet); Buck Clayton, Roy Eldridge, Charlie Shavers, Bunny Berigan, Hot Lips Page (trumpet); Benny Morton (trombone); Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Edmond Hall, Buster Bailey, Jimmy Hamilton (clarinet); Teddy Wilson, Claude Thornhill, Billy Kyle, Joe Sullivan, Joe Bushkin, Eddie Heywood (piano); Freddie Green, Lawrence Lucie, Carmen Mastren, Dave Barbour (guitar); Walter Page, Milt Hinton, John Kirby (bass); Jo Jones, Gene Krupa, Cozy Cole, Kenny Clarke. J.C. Heard (drums);
Producers include: John Hammond, Bernie Hanighen.
Compilation producers: Michael Brooks, Michael Cuscana.
Recorded between 1935 and 1942. Includes liner notes by Gary Giddins.
Digitally remastered by Mark Wilder & Seth Foster (Sony Music Studios, New York, New York).
One of the top three female jazz singers in history, Billie Holiday (along with Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan) changed not only the course of jazz but the very shape of pop culture. On this 2001 Columbia two-CD collection, we hear Holiday in her early years. These indelible recordings, backed by legends in their own right, Teddy Wilson (piano), Roy Eldridge (trumpet), Benny Goodman (clarinet) and others, highlight the passionate singing of the great Lady Day.
Holiday was known for her elegant phrasing, warm (often heart-rending) tone, and her coarse, witty parlance. This combination of musical and personal attributes was her charm and, indeed, few of her contemporaries could compete with such magnetism. In the entire history of jazz, arguably no one sang such standards as "You Go to My Head," "The Very Thought of You," and "God Bless the Child" with the same radiance as Holiday; these sessions are testament to this. Compiled from performances recorded between 1933 and 1944, this CD represents the golden years of Holiday's career.
