Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday is one of the most legendary of all jazz singers and still a household name 44 years after her death. She had a small voice and never scatted yet her phrasing, behind-the-beat delivery and her combination of subtlety and deep emotions have been very influential for 65 years. Her life was often tragic and she died much too young, but her music is immortal.

Holiday, who was always known as Lady Day, first emerged in the early 1930s when she was discovered by the young producer John Hammond. Her recording career can easily be divided into three periods. After a false start in 1933, she cut a series of jazz-oriented titles during 1935-42 with all-star swing combos drawn from the top big bands. Pianist Teddy Wilson was at the head of many of her early dates although by 1938 Holiday was a big enough name to become the leader. All of these priceless recordings have been reissued in very complete form on a 10-CD box set. Lady Day, which is subtitled The Best Of Billie Holiday, is a two-CD reissue that has 36 of the best performances from this era.

With sympathetic and inspiring playing from the likes of Teddy Wilson, tenor-saxophonist Lester Young, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Roy Eldridge, clarinetists Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, altoists Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter and many others, Holiday is heard in consistently wonderful form. Among the many highlights are What A Little Moonlight Can Do, I Cried For You, Billie's Blues, I Must Have That Man, A Sailboat In the Moonlight, My Man, Sugar, Them There Eyes, God Bless The Child and All Of Me.

-Scott Yanow

Forget for a moment that The Best of Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday was tied into the release of the superb box set, Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia, thereby offering a bit of advertisement to the full-fledged set. That doesn't matter -- even if there was never a box set, this would have been a welcome addition to Billie Holiday's catalog, since it's the first concise, yet comprehensive, introduction to her groundbreaking, perhaps greatest, recordings. Over the course of two discs, nearly all of her finest moments for Columbia are chronicled (along with a handful of rarities to entice the curious to the big box), providing a welcome summary for serious listeners on a budget. Prior to this release, the Columbia recordings were available either individually, as part of the Quintessential series, or on haphazard single-disc collections. This provides a logical, thorough overview of her acknowledged peak at Columbia (meaning that there's nothing from Lady in Satin) and that may be enough for serious listeners who don't have the money or inclination to delve into the full box. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide