Browse by Artist: HOLIDAY, BILLIE

Artist:	HOLIDAY, BILLIE
Title:	Lady Day
Label:	DOXY (ITALY)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$32.00
Catalog #:	DOX 829LP

"Signed to Decca in 1944 to record one of her biggest hits, 'Lover Man', a song written especially for her, she continued recording for Decca throughout the forties, finally gaining the musical respect she so deserved. During this time she recorded some of her best material, including ''Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do,' 'Good Mornig Heartache,' 'Them There Eyes,' and 'Crazy He Calls Me.' The forties marked the height of her stardom, but also the beginning of her untimely demise; she notoriously got heavy into drugs, and in 1947 she was sentenced to prison for heroin possession. Despite this, these recordings represent some of her best work, and therefore some of the best music ever recorded in the genre. Holiday had finally climbed the ladder to success, and she got there not because she played by the rules, but precisely because she always refused to." Deluxe gatefold sleeve.

Artist:	HOLIDAY, BILLIE
Title:	The 'Commodore' Days
Label:	DOXY (ITALY)
Format:	LP
Price:	$23.00
Catalog #:	DOX 846LP

"In 1939 when Billie Holiday's label refused to record the highly controversial 'Strange Fruit', she did not give up, but searched desperately for a label that was not afraid to take a risk. Thankfully Milt Gabler at Commodore Records, a fledgling independent jazz label, understood the importance of this song being recorded and released to the public and soon arranged for Holiday to record a session with him. The 'Strange Fruit session' for Commodore, was one of those historic moments and part of Billie Holiday's legend hinges on the tremendous courage it took for her go ahead and record this song, knowing that it might well mean the end of her career. Three other songs, found here, were also recorded at that session: 'Yesterdays', 'Fine And Mellow' and 'I Gotta Right To Sing the Blues', while due to contractual issues, the remaining Commodore sides were not recorded until five years later in 1944." 180 gram vinyl.

Artist:	HOLIDAY, BILLIE
Title:	Rare Live Recordings 1934-1959
Label:	ESP-DISK
Format:	5CD
Price:	$85.00
Catalog #:	ESPDISK 4039CD

"In 1972, thirteen years after her death, Congress extended copyright protections to include recorded musical performances. 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 and radio and in clubs and concert halls, many of which were recorded both officially and unofficially by sound engineers, fellow musicians, and fans. Today ESP-Disk Records, 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 Holiday recordings, laid out in chronological order, 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 City two years later in which Holiday fronts the Count Basie Orchestra, with which she toured during the late 1930s. By the time of these live recordings, Holiday had already been singing professionally for several years in Harlem clubs and working with the best musicians on the vanguard of the nascent jazz scene -- specifically horn players like Lester Young and Benny Goodman. Holiday had learned her craft from listening to Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith records in her hometown of Baltimore, but no one taught her how to pace her phrases, to alter the melody in such a simple yet unerring way, to charge each word with emotional urgency -- these musical gifts were hers. The next four discs cover Holiday's career from 1949 to her death in 1959. During those ten years, by which time jazz had taken firm hold in the public consciousness as the language of modernity, advances in 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 and blues inflections and uncensored delivery. Included is a portfolio of photographs and performance data detailing a historical timeline of rare radio and television broadcasts, and concert performances, and the events and situations that lead to these powerful performances; along with explanations some of her most popular material, such as 'Strange Fruit'. The set also includes a rare and private recording of Billie and friends in an impromptu setting with Billie singing 'My Yiddisha Mamma.'"

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