Customer Reviews

This Is Jazz, Vol. 32: Billie Holiday Sings Standards

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This CD captures the essence of Billie Holiday's greatness--her timing, swing, improvisation, delivering the core truth of each song with a balanced care to both lyrics and emotional impact. Those are just SOME what made Billie an enduring beloved singer in the minds (and ears) of her legions of fans. Songs are well-chosen, not one clunker in the entire bunch. At first I was disappointed with the 2 selections from "Lady in Satin" when her voice technically had declined to a croak, to pardon the expression. Still the emotional interpretation leaves no heart unstirred as she commands the listener's attention to the love unrequited kind only Billie knew how to deliver in song. Overall, the songs are picked from Billie's golden age of late 1930s. Sound remastering is done to a very good standard, though some hisses are still evident but clarity is excellent considering when these songs were recorded. Each time brings new meaning and nuance listening to this CD, not to mention a smile on the swing songs and a tear on the torchy ones. A must have for all of Billie's fans!

This album is a must-have, even if it is a best-of collection. With such classics as "Them There Eyes", "Summertime", and "They Can't Take That Away From Me" this album should issued to everybody through the mail or given out in public schools. It is a good comprehensive view of Lady Day all the way to her last album "Lady In Satin" which two songs (I'm a Fool to Want You and You Don't Know What Love Is) come from. On more than one occasion I have used "Them There Eyes" and "The Very Thought of You" as selections that I have serenaded girls with. In every instance they evoke a look of admiration in the young females eyes. If these songs can evoke that type of response coming out of my mouth, they have to be spectacular coming out of one of the greatest female vocalists ever.

There are way too many Billie Holiday retrospectives out there of lesser quality. But this CD really is a "best of" collection. Most of the recordings are from the late 1930s, when Holiday was at the height of her powers, before depression and drug use began to destroy her. Don't let the old sound turn you off, however. Just listen to the way she plays with the "them... there... EY-es!" phrase on the first track. Her intelligence, humor, emotional honesty, and ability to flat-out swing on these tunes will make you a believer.

Indeed, there are dozens of Billie Holiday collections. This one is made mostly of popular songs of that epoch. With composers like George Gershwin, or Frank Sinatra, you can be sure that the songs are very good. What is not so good is the sound quality. Since most of the tracks were recorded in late 30s, many of them sound quite not so good, and it got me a few spins to overstep sound quality of several tracks and start appreciating music. And there's a lot to appreciate here. Billie was not known for her vocal range. Instead, she was uncomparable at playing with her voice and putting emotions in her singing.

This collection is made of songs of different emotional content, so it's a fairly good example of what Billie could do. The accompanying musicians are some of the best of that time. The names like Count Basie, Teddie Wilson, or Benny Goodman need no introduction. If you're not going to be annoyed by poor sound quality of several tracks here, then this collection is a fine introduction to Billie Holiday's musical legacy, and considering its near bargain price, it would be hard to find anything better.

This is one of those "Desert Island" CDs you'll want to own if you're stranded somewhere. Sound quality could be better, but it's quite listenable. Sony did a better job remastering Billie's "Lady in Satin" and "Love Songs" CDs, but the song selection is hard to quibble with, taking many of her definitive recordings from the '30s---this is "cream of the crop" stuff. Good balance between the fast tempo stuff (I'll Get By, Them There Eyes, Summertime) and her more well-known slow burners. It's amazing in her early 20s Billie already developed a unique vocal style, her voice captured with good fullness and warmth on these recordings. I would have left out the two tracks from her "Lady in Satin" LP and replaced them with two from her 30s catalogue, God knows there should have been plenty, but that's a minor quibble. It shows Billie still came up with the goods even in her "decline" in the late 1950s.