Customer Reviews

The Complete Billie Holiday On Verve 1945 - 1959

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

My Five Star rating is for the music.

I am a long time Billie Holiday fan and love all of her music; it's taken many years, but I am confident that I have acquired virtually everything she ever recorded. Although I enjoy every period of her musical development, I am particularly fond of the tracks she recorded for Norman Granz on the Verve label in the 1950's. Naturally, I was thrilled when this box set was announced.

While I am grateful to have so complete a box set as Verve has issued here, I have severe problems with the way the material is presented. It's nice that they have released virtually everything in the Verve vaults, but in so doing they have included live performances, alternate takes, false starts, and even some rehearsals. That would have been fine with me, if they hadn't decided to place everything in strictly chronological order. We therefore get Lady Day's great studio sessions interspaced with live concert performances, chatter, rehearsals and incomplete takes, and the total effect makes for very poor continuity. It also makes the boxed set, on the whole, very difficult to enjoy.

A few of the live concert performances have never been released before, and I was thrilled to hear some "new" Billie Holiday. But the audio quality and Billie's performance varies greatly on the live material, and the result is very uneven. And the inclusion of the rehearsal material is questionable, even if you're a die-hard fan like me.

The 1955 rehearsal with Jimmie Rowles is particularly problematic. This session was released on an LP called Songs and Conversations shortly after Billie's death, and I was frankly surprised to find it included here. It consists of mostly drunken rambling conversation while Billie rehearses with her favorite and most sympathetic pianist. Some of the language is quite raunchy, although most of the discussion is hard to follow anyway, as the audio quality is particularly poor. The alternate studio takes are frequently annoying, especially when they include two or three false starts in a row, and the spoken intros by Norman Granz often included in the master takes are completely unnecessary. It would have worked so much better if they had simply separated the live concert material from the studio sessions and then saved the alternate takes, false starts and rehearsal material for the last couple of discs. It's a pity - I would love to be able to listen to all of Billie's wonderful 1950's studio sessions all the way through, without the distractions of the extra material. Happily, I see that Verve will release a new boxed set of just the studio masters in December 2005. Hopefully they will skip all the chatter (I don't need to hear Mr. Granz announce "All Or Nothing At All, take 5"). A great deal of expense and angst could have been avoided if the track layout for this set had simply been better thought out.

As for Billie's performances, there is not a bad moment in any of the studio recordings presented here, including the notorious three April 54 tracks that she later dismissed, complaining that the band was drunk. The musicians are all first rate throughout these sessions, and present her with the sympathetic backing she deserved and worked best with.

...Holiday's brilliance, in spite of and in synch with the circumstance of her life does something religious, transcends, translates and transforms everyday existence.

This box set is a great gift to those of us wishing to understand better our love for Lady. The insight into her musical journeys in the final years of her life is fascinating. Although many critics have contended that Holiday's genius lay, for the most part, in her earlier Columbia recordings I feel this box set nullifies that argument. Not because Holiday's Columbia recordings weren't brilliant, but because the Lady we here in her Verve Days is almost a different artist.

Here we have a Billie of resillience as we witness in the recordings of her 1954 Jazz Club USA performance on Dics 2 & 3. We have an artist choosing new (for her) material and revitalized while nearing the end of her life in the 1957 Norman Granz run sessions. We are given a look into the recording world of Holiday will rehearsal tapes from Artie Shapiro's home in 1955. These are particularly interesting as we are given a chance to hear her in both the process of crafting each song. A step from this to the 1955 August 25th recording session tapes allows into the reminiscient dialogue of Billie and her band while reshaping Holiday classics like "Strange Fruit".

My personal highlights hit in the Jazz Club USA jam session of "Billie's Blues", discussion in the '55 studio session over "Nice Work If You Can Get" where Holiday explains why she feels she can never sing a song the same twice. (This is erroneous in actuality - in some ways this being because of the limitations of her substance abuse, but we'll let her have it because we love her.) And finally the final Verve Recordings of Holiday for MGM in 1959 in the "Lady In Satin" tradition with Ellis. Although not as tightly emotionally moving as "Lady In Satin", a beautiful extension of the sentiment nonetheless.

The liner notes are extensive, informative and fascinating - could be a book themself, but by length so could this review. Special graces to Phil Schaap for his precise discography and session notes.

This is a whole lot of expensive, this box set. But it's worth it. It allows a brief insight into the studio of a genius, an extensive retrospective of one of the most important American artists EVER and a whole lot of joy, pain, beauty and magic all rolled into a tiny square box.

This is one of the worst box sets ever released.

There is talking between virtually every track (on 7 or 8 of the 10 cds)(scores and scores of title and take numbers spoken, and respoken. The producer introducing tracks by title and making endlessly pointless studio remarks. (Of course the same uninteresting remark
each and every time you play the cd..)
Sometimes songs even stop after a single line is sung (or before). Then reslate, retitle and restart for
another 20 seconds.

Of course the (properly recorded) music itself is wonderful but it's impossible to fall into any kind of musical reverie
with the incessant interruptions (absolutely none of it worth hearing).
So if you like Billie Holiday for her *music* this isn't for you

In fact the box set is so utterly unplayable I rebought the music on individual cds so that I can actually listen to it.
I'm a big Billie fan, I already had all the music on vinyl before I bought the box set.
(Yes, even the very poor bootleg stuff that Verve bought to pad out the box set.)

Finally it's wildly overpriced, around 5/6 of the cd's are only for listening to once (and you might not even manage
that. Billie Holiday as a slurring rambling drunk is a big downer and
the record company might have shown her a little respect and kept the tapes in the vault.
Haven't they made enough off her yet? In the first place they only paid her a fee of $30-$100 per track for a buyout with
with no royalties ever.

In reality at least half the box set is actually unreleasable outtakes/rehearsal tapes - boxed up as full price cds.
The whole thing smacks of record company greed.

So there are only around 4 cds of real, properly recorded releasable master take music.
And these can be bought on 2 double cd sets (unfortunately only from Verve) without the talking between tracks.
Do yourself a favor and get these instead.

Oh yeah, and as if all this isn't enough bad news, they've jammed different sessions on to the same cd - so you get a handful of
prime Billie tracks followed by 40 minutes of amateur home recorded rehearsal talking on the same cd.
So what emerges is that there is only (I think) one single cd which is prime quality all the way through.
(Except for the stopping, retakes and talking between the takes which it also has..)

So get any other Billie Holiday box set than this - but get one!

Verve should be ashamed of themselves for ruining an incredible archive like this.
And making me feel so ripped off that I had to go to the trouble of writing this.
Thanks Amazon for the cheap therapy.

There are many rehearsal cuts in this box set, which may not be of interest to all listeners. Plus, there are many live performances recorded with less than ideal equipment.
That said, this is THE collection for those of us who love Billie's 1950s work. It's all here, and it's all wonderful - those who agree with Miles Davis that Lady Day's chief attribute during this decade was her rhythmic flexibility will be more than satisfied, and those who love her expressiveness will be more than amply rewarded.
The accompaniments are exemplary, featuring many of the greatest players of that Golden Era.
Plus, of course, she's singing some of the greatest songs ever written, and her attention to lyrics is beyond comparison.

She never had Ella's vocal range and flexibility and virtuosity (or her sweetness of sound); she never came close to Sarah's level of musicianship (or her richness of sound). But this set will convince you that Billie was the greatest of the great: to borrow from Virginia Woolf, among major jazz singers, Billie is the hardest to catch at the act of being great.

This is an important release. Miss it at your soul's peril.

Enough already with all this debate whether her later years ('50s) or early years ('30s) were better. Why can't we all enjoy her music for what it is and represents, which is A LOT! True, Billie Holiday's voice became ravaged, worn and narrow in range as she entered her last decade on earth in the 1950s, but for all that she lost, she made up for in tons of wisdom, experience and feeling in her singing. She'll never scale vocal heights attained by Ella or Sassy, but she's a totally different singer too. Ella or Sass couldn't match Lady's depth of feeling and soulful phrasing, and they all knew it. This gem of a collection (10 CD's!) should provide plenty of feeling, soul, experience---whatever you want to call it---that became Billie Holiday's trademark for the singer that she is remembered for today. A great comprehensive look at the singer in studio album cuts and live concert tracks.

My only reservation was including the home tapings of Lady's rehearsals with her fellow accompanists, some of it as wasted chatter and joking. Though her devoted fans might want to hear Lady 'cuss using 4-letter words or her racy humor, I could do without it. Still it provides another surprising lighthearted look at the person behind Billie. Definitely a must for her fans!

Most critics believe Billie's early years were her best years. They are wrong. Although I am a fan of her early work, it is the recordings she made later in life that grip me by the throat. In those years, her dreams were becoming nightmares, the grey clouds darker. Yet, a glimmer of hope managed to emerge from her voice, even as she sang the most heart-wrenching ballads. I've heard many say that she couldn't sing. They fail to realize that she does much more than sing. Sure, she stetches and folds notes, but in saying that, you loose the magic. Billie let her soul sing. The strength in her frail voice during those later years is enormous. Listen to Tenderly, You Go to My Head and I Cover the Waterfront. Whether you are still moarning the loss of an old love or celebrating a new one, her voice will say it all.

Billie Holiday ranks among the most greatest products of American culture. No cultivated person (as if there is such a thing anymore) should be without her major works. This collection is probably too big a slice for the occasional listener. For that person, some albums from which this box is drawn might be better, including Lady in Satin and Songs for Distingue Lovers. But for a devoted Holiday listener this is a treasure. In fact, one need not feel forced to choose between the early Columbia Billie and the later Verve Billie, or even to defend the Decca years. There is enjoyment to be had from all periods of her career. For maximum pleasure, set your CD changer to "random," with Billie and Louis Armstrong discs inside, and thank your lucky stars you live in a culture that produced such excellence. And wonder where we have since gone wrong . . .

so much has been said about the kind of vocalist she has turned into by the time she signed up with verve - a voice ravaged by ill fated romantic liaisons, drugs and alcohol...not to mention jail time.

what will ultimately make you favor this collection over her works with columbia, decca (her best - vocally) and commodore is one word - pathos. some of her previous material rerecorded for verve seem to have a more emotional pull - simply listen to "strangefruit" from her "the decca years" and the one found on this set. this collection covers her ENTIRE verve record stint - warts and all - some of them captured live (check out disc 10). never has the words "bonus tracks" been used more liberally, with one disc devoted entirely to her rehearsal sessions giving the listener a rare peek at a billie holiday at work. the book makes for a very interesting read. never has the color black been a more appropriate choice for packaging either. tip: if packaging means a lot to you, you're better off getting the american edition - the cd labels are more faithful copies of the various verve imprints than the ones on the european edition.

I was lucky enough to purchase this box when it was originally released back in 1993. The box and packaging itself are beautiful (not to mention the music). Unfortunately somewhere down the line the box was changed from a heavy and embossed container that would sit proudly next to the new Lady Day box (also excellent packaging) or the amazing Charley Patton box to a thin cardboard cover that you'd expect from the cheap European jazz collections. The CDs were housed together with the book in a hardback package. Now the CDs are separate in plastic jewel cases and the book is a cheaper softback version of the original. Why this beautiful release was changed is unknown to me; too expensive to make? a change in record label personal? I do know that if you are lucky enough to find the first pressing you're in for a treat. Five stars to the original package release. Two stars for this edition. And of course Amazon doesn't supply enough stars for the gorgeous music found here.

By the time she got to Verve, Billie was in her fourth incarnation as a recording artist. I can't think of another so prominent singer who went through so many changes. On Columbia she was young, ebullient, startingly original and enjoyed hit after hit after hit with often unremarkable material she made remarkable. By the time she moved to Commodore she had become a glamorous and sophisticated supper club star and she was a more polished and mature artist. Then came Decca and Milt Gabler told her he wanted to try her as a pop singer. Drenched in strings by the brilliant Gordon Jenkins, who adored her as an artist and a person, and given topnotch material, she proved a vivid, luxurious stylist worthy of her international fame. Then came Verve. The voice was deeper, rougher, harder, her style had turned into a bag of affectations, her stylings were totally predictable and by all rights her recordings should have been unimportant. Not so. She had become a world-weary, wise actress in song and virtually everything she recorded for Norman Granz was compelling. Listening to song after song after song in this collection I realized, having never heard the music in order in its entirety, I had missed a point. I think the woman was simply incapable of being uninteresting. There isn't a record here that isn't just fascinating. By the time we get to the final album, on M-G-M, when she was literally on her last legs, the wonder is the album is so hypnotic (and at the time of its release was a big deal). She died when I was a freshman in college and I wrote a column on her for the campus newspaper. Her life did not turn out the way it should have. She should have ended healthy and wealthy. At least she ended up celebrated and loved. The records can't show her beauty, elegance, terrific taste in fashion, beautiful grooming and hypnotic presence as a performer but this is music you can listen to over and over, year after year and still discover something new. Well worth every cent.