Customer Reviews

Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia (1933-1944)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

These John Hammond-organized sessions are, together with the Louis Armstrong Hot Five And Seven recordings, my very favorite, and I very much wanted to love this set. The sound quality of the previous Columbia releases (Quintessential Billie Holiday, vols. 1-9) was dismal (all the hiss and crackle hamfistedly removed so that it sounded like the stereo had been stuffed under a pillow) and I was looking forward to a breakthaking upgrade. Well, the sound is a lot better, and they have not been afraid of leaving in some of the hiss, but the fact is, there are better sounding transfers out there, and at this price, there shouldn't be. I compared one track, "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," with a transfer made by John R.T. Davies, who is the master of this kind of work. On all counts -- warmth of tone, clarity, full bodied bass, realistic ambiance, and even lack of hiss -- the John R.T. transfer was better. (His transfers of the Armstrong Hot 5s and 7s for JSP was much better than Columbia's, too.) The packaging looks great, the music is great, and it costs a great deal of money. SOund quality is just good though, and that's a great shame.

One of the most lavish(and exhaustive, in good way)box sets to be released is "Lady Day-The Complete Billie Holiday On Columbia (1933-1944)". Consisting of 230 tracks spread over 10 CD's, this set contains Lady Day's collaborations with Teddy Wilson, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman's Orchestras. Though some of the material is lackluster(which is to be expected on a compilation of this size)all of the standards that she cut for Columbia, Brunswick, Okeh, and Vocalion are included("All Of Me", "God Bless The Child", "Them There Eyes", "The Man I Love, "I Cried For You", etc...). The packaging is beautiful, with the box resembling a 78 record storage booklet. Housed inside the cover is a 120 page booklet with rare photos, reproductions of original 78 RPM labels, and essays from Gary Giddins, Farah Jasmine Griffin, and Michael Brooks. Though the essays don't really shed any new light on Billie Holiday, they're well written and are an enjoyable read. The CD's themselves are packaged in heavy paper slip cases similar to what 78 records came packaged in. In theory it was a creative design idea but not a real practical one. You have to be very careful removing and putting the CD's back to avoid scratching them(like the Armstrong Hot Fives & Sevens box), which for me is my only beef with this box set. Lining the pockets with felt or some other soft material could have avoided this and it's a move I hope Legacy considers in the future. Sonically this is by far the best I've ever heard this material sound. The Quintessential Billie Holiday CD's suffered from heavy handed use of noise reduction, sounding muffled and dull. The songs on the box have much more presence and dynamic range. Like the Louis Armstrong box issued last year, this release has Grammy winner written all over it. For those who want, need, and must have every note Lady Day recorded during this eleven year period this box is a must have and comes highly recommended. The 2 CD set culled from this box is fine for more casual fans.

I have never been able to appreciate Lady Day's Columbia years because of the bad quality and age of the existing sources...UNTIL NOW. Recordings that used to be a challenge to this listener are now remastered to a quality that surpasses what would be typically expected from recordings of this vintage. You can now fully appreciate Holiday's delicacy in her phrasing, the arrangements, all brought back to life. This may be considered a pricey set for some, and one may decide on the highlight disc instead. But to have this whole set and have the songs all in their recorded order is Holiday heaven. You really won't know what you're been missing, some real gems, until you own this set. One track flows so nicely into the next. Repeated takes are all saved for the last discs so there is no disruption in the flow. And the packaging and book are lush and handsomely packaged, most aesthetically pleasing. A most prized and eagerly awaited complete addition to the Holiday catalogue. A treasure.

I would need much much more than a thousand words to tell you about my feelings related to this sublime music.How many times I cried listening to some tunes,or was feeling incredibly high and happy listening to other ones.
If you want me to play to the "desert island" game,I would only take this set with me;you don't know how I treasure Monk,Duke,Armstrong,Trane,Bud,Bird,Bill Evans,Bechet,Fats Waller,Hines or Tatum,but I''d surely forget them all to keep these Columbia years of Lady Day with me.Here is the most fantastic music I've ever heard,here are the highest moments of the history of jazz.NOBODY never recorded such a bunch of masterpieces in some eleven years;nobody,even Duke.Here is a colossal set of the most amazing music you'll ever hear.
This is the third time I purchase these sessions:first,I bought them on 33rpm,some 25 years ago;then on separate CDs;then,a friend of mine let me listen to this set,and what a shock!!! The sound is so great that I thought I was discovering tunes I knew for years and years.It seems that Billie and the guys are playing in your room,just in front of you!!!
Now,for those who have no idea of what's in this very beautiful set,let's have a glance at the musicians you'll listen to:the ghotta of jazz is here!!! LESTER YOUNG,Teddy Wilson,Johnny Hodges,Duke Ellington,Count Basie,Benny Goodman,Chu Berry,Jo Jones,Buck Clayton,Roy Eldridge,Ben Webster,Benny Carter,Charlie Shavers,Red Allen,Cootie Williams,Hot Lips Page,Bunny Berigan,Jack Teagarden,Walter Page,Milt Hinton,John Kirby,Cozy Cole,Sid Catlett,Kenny Clarke,Freddie Greene,Dickie Wells,Hary Carney,Harry James,and many more.
About the tunes: masterpieces,masterpieces and masterpieces!!!
It would take some ten pages to describe it.Of course,the most magnificent ones are those in which Lester Young plays.Lester and Billie,Pres and Lady Day;they had the most magical musical complicity of the history of jazz,they really LOVED each other,even if their lives had separate ways;Lester,the Greatest of all jazz saxophone players,was born 1909;Billie,the Baltimore child,was born in 1915;they both died 1959,Lester in March,and Billie in July.The tunes they recorded during these years,the tunes you'll listen to in this set are very simple to describe: it's LOVE.and maybe the most beautiful that ever was.Maybe,these are the most sublime masterpieces in the history of Music."when you're smiling","he's funny that way","travelin' all alone","mean to me","foolin' myself","me,myself and I","born to love","gettin' some fun out of life","I'll never be the same"....I could listen to these tunes a hundred times everyday.This music is magic;it'll make you feel great.And you'll cry sometimes too,because of too much beauty.Here is the very best of Jazz,a music that gave us tons and tons of beauty;Billie's voice is at her most expressive,so young,so fresh,so joyful,and so sexy (and even sometimes,so sexual);Lester 's playing ,even if he only blows short choruses,is the most beautiful one that ever was ("all of me","foolin' myself","born to love","mean to me",...).
Here is sublime music;the most magnificent you'll listen to.I couldn't live without these records.They are my copanions since I was 15 years old;I spent hours and hours listening to them,wether I felt high or bad;and even after 23 years of frequent listening,they seem to me as fresh and new as when I discovered them.
Thanks a million,Lady Day (a nickname Lester gave to Billie),thanks a million for so much beauty.It never happened in the history of Art.

A great part of my childhood was spent listening to Billie Holiday, as my father was an avid fan. Needless to say, what didn't interest me in childhood, soon enchanted me when I reached adulthood. These recordings are full of pure beauty and swing, and I never tire of listening to them. The reproduction in this 10-cd set is wonderful, with a warmth and clarity that belie the seventy-odd years since the earliest of these recordings were cut. There is a certain amount of hiss left just below the music itself, and this not only takes nothing away from the music, but is actually quite comforting in it's own way, placing the music in it's own era, without making it sound dated. Far from it, the music here sounds fresh, soulful, innovative, and (though this might sound strange) innately musical. Modern recording methods are put utterly to shame by the warmth and atmosphere on display in every note that is played and sung here, from the early (and perhaps less accomplished, but no less affecting) sides with Benny Goodman, through to the wonderful sides with Teddy Wilson, Lester Young et al.
The packaging is wonderfully classy, with perhaps a slightly less-than-practical storage system for the discs themselves. The essays are interesting, although not that informative for real fans, and the track-by-track guides are intelligently written, but seem unerringly miserable and unenthusiastic about a lot of the wonderful music on offer here.
Despite these small quibbles, this a magical set of wonderful music, that makes you wonder where the musicians of this calibre are in popular music today. Worth every penny.

Sony's finally done complete justice to some of Billie Holiday's most important work.
I used to own the nine Quintessential Billie Holiday CDs, but I just sold them all and bought this box. The remastering here completely eclipses them. If you know Sony's recent Louis Armstrong Hot fives and Sevens set, you know what I'm talking about. The surface noise is never overly obtrusive, nor do you feel like Lady Day's singing in the next room. For people who don't know these seminal early performances, just buy the set. You have an incredible musical experience awaiting you. (I've only heard the first two discs, and I had to tell someone!)

Just a few words. This is one of the most essential collections in jazz. So much has been said about the wonderful music here that there is really nothing else I can add. The packaging, however....

Great book! The CDs, though, are tightly packed in cheap cardboard slipcases in the cover. The CDs are guaranteed to get scratched as you sweat and struggle to remove them. You can do one of three things: Place the CDs in standard jewel cases, make backup copies, or both (like I did). This is too great an investment to needless damage the CDs just by taking them out of the package.

I have listened to this music my whole life long, from the early 10"LPs on, and I already had 4 different reissues on CD of Lady Day OK & Columbia recordings, but - friends - what these guys have done is an incredible sound improvement, quite different from previous CDs & LPs. And the package is almost perfect, just like an old 78s album. Do not worry too much about what other friends have written, the sleeves beeing too tight and so on: you just have to be a little careful. Had I to stay on the famous lonely island, this is the jazz album I would need to have with me!

Giving this release less than 5 stars is just irresponsible. These sides are beyond critiscm, they are part of the legacy of the human spirit. Yes, there are cheaper imports, but those are rip offs. This time Columbia did a great job and they deserve your hard earned money. Of course, it would be nice that 10 copies of this were sent to every library in the country, I cant think of a better way to improve jazz apreciation in this country.

This album is a must for all Billie Holiday-collectors it contains all the classic recordings plus extra takes.Some of the takes in this album are unissued if you look in the discographies and some new takes are not even known to exist.e.g. second takes of No regrets,Who loves you,You go to my head,If I were you,Forget if you can,Mandy is two,etc.