Rare Live Recordings, 1934-1959

Billie Holiday | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 4, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 5
• Label: Esp Disk Ltd.
• ASIN: B000WCN8VY
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,142 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

"The first popular jazz singer to move audiences with the intense, personal feeling of classic blues, Billie Holiday changed the art of American pop vocals forever." -- All Music Guide

"Considered by many to be the greatest jazz vocalist of all time, Billie Holiday lived a tempestuous and difficult life. Her singing expressed an incredible depth of emotion that spoke of hard times and injustice as well as triumph. Though her career was relatively short and often erratic, she left behind a body of work as great as any vocalist before or since." -- PBS.org, "American Masters"

A five-CD compilation of extremely rare live performance recordings from 1935-1959, plus a detailed liner timeline of performance information.

In 1972, thirteen years after her death, Congress extended copyright protections to include recorded musical performances. Billie Holiday would have benefited greatly from such protection: during the more than twenty-five years of her career, Holiday gave an unknown number of live performances on TV & radio and in clubs & concert halls, many of which were recorded both officially and unofficially by sound engineers, fellow musicians, and fans. Today ESP-Disk', which for many years has been assembling unofficial recordings of several artists from before 1972, has released one of the most comprehensive collections of live Billie Holiday recordings to date, some previously available but most not. These recordings, laid out in chronologicalorder, not only demonstrate the arc of Holiday's development as a vocalist but give a rare behind-the-scenes look into how the singer approached her musicians and her audience.

The first disc of this compilation opens with a twenty-year-old Billie Holiday performing with Duke Ellington in 1935, followed by a radio broadcast from the Savoy Hotel in New York two years later in which Holiday fronts the Count Basie Orchestra. The next four discs cover Holiday's career from 1949 to her death in 1959. During those ten years, advancesin radio and TV technology changed the way Americans consumed entertainment, and the mass proliferation of recorded media from that time leaves us with dozens of examples of Holiday's live performances. Set in the context of other early recorded media presentations, it is easy to imagine how revolutionary Holiday's singing sounded to mainstream American audiences, with her plaintive voice, blues inflections, and uncensored delivery.

This magnificent set includes a portfolio of photographs and performance data detailing a historical timeline of rare radio/television broadcasts and concert performances--and the events and situations that lead to these powerful performances--along with explanations of some of her most popular material. The set also includes a rare and private recordingof she and some friends in an impromptu setting, with Holiday singing "My Yiddisha Mamma."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Poor production values for a CD set of this price, May 17, 2008

By 

Michael Beane (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rare Live Recordings, 1934-1959 (Audio CD)

This comment is about the packaging, not the music. (Some of the music is pretty scratchy but it's always great to hear Billie). I was expecting more given the price. The 5 CDs come in a standard double sized CD case. The booklet is divided in two at the midpoint so each half fits in one side of the case. The liner notes are a jumble of short session notes and asides such as "Billie's Husband Is Arrested 1942", with little organization or perspective. There are a total of six pictures. Overall the liner notes look like a homework assignment typed on the last surviving typewriter. The price led me to expect a meticulous effort. This is more like something advertised on TV at 2 a.m.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great for collectors and completists despite poor packaging, September 22, 2010

By 

korova (Varosha) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Rare Live Recordings, 1934-1959 (Audio CD)

This multiple-disc collection (I deliberately did not say box set, more about that below) is a true treasure trove for committed Billie Holiday fans. You get five discs' worth of live performances, recorded both onsite and from radio broadcasts. The sound quality varies greatly from track to track, but there isn't anything that falls below reasonable bootleg levels. Plus, not many live recordings from the era covered by this set, especially pre-1950, sound that great to begin with. An especially cool feature for collectors is the inclusion of introductions and banter with Billie from live radio.

Unfortunately, the extremely poor packaging forces me to deduct two stars from what would otherwise be a five-star album. The discs come in the sort of jewel case that is usually used for double-disc albums. The booklet is laid out and written in a very amateurish way. In short, the packaging is unacceptable for a premium priced product targeted to collectors. If this set was value priced, the packaging would be a minor annoyance...but there's a good chance you'll feel foolish if you splash out full retail for it.

Newcomers to Billie Holiday should concentrate on building up their core Billie collections before picking up this compilation. There is a fair amount of repetition of songs here; the real appeal is for listeners who enjoy comparing studio to live recordings and various performances to each other. Two good choices for beginning a Billie collection are Lady in Autumn: The Best of the Verve Years and The Complete Decca Recordings.

Bottom line: outstanding music, insulting packaging. Think carefully about ponying up if it isn't discounted. 3 stars for what easily could have been a 5-star set.

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars billy holiday rare recordings, March 18, 2008

By 

lola riviera (california) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rare Live Recordings, 1934-1959 (Audio CD)

Some recordings were excellent, others were of very poor quality and should have been re-done before selling to the public or not be included if this was not possible. In retrospect it was worth the "price of admission" to again listen to her and to some numbers we hadn't heard her sing before.