Greatest Hits [Columbia/Legacy]

by Billie Holiday

Overview

There's something scandalous about the fact that this 13-song CD is, as of spring 2000, the only upgrade to date of Columbia Records' holdings on Billie Holiday. It's good as far as it goes, as part of Sony Music's 20-bit remastering of the highlights of its jazz catalog, but it makes one wonder how long listeners have to wait for the nine volumes of The Quintessential Billie Holiday to be upgraded for sound. These tracks were all recorded between July 2, 1935, and August 7, 1941; originally cut for Brunswick, Vocalion, and OKeh and now owned by Columbia, they represent highlights from her association with producer John Hammond. They feature Holiday working with Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, Johnny Hodges, Roy Eldridge, and Ben Webster on the earliest tracks; an early hook-up with Artie Shaw; samples of her collaborations with Lester Young and Buck Clayton; the rest of the core of the Count Basie Orchestra working as Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra; and her renditions of "God Bless the Child," "Solitude," "Gloomy Sunday," and "Body and Soul" from the early '40s. It's fascinating to hear the sampling of material featured here and the gradual darkening of Holiday's voice over the six years covered by this collection. There are gaps, of course, and it's interesting that the notes, apart from saying precious little of substance about the music or the recordings, never explain what is not here or why ("Strange Fruit," for example). This 13-song sampler is a decent overview of some highlights of her early work, with ample room for the soloists in her band, and a fine body of blues-influenced swing. Now if Sony would only go back and redo the rest of her catalogs. ~ Bruce Eder

Product Details

Release Date:	11/17/1998
Label:	Bmg / Sony Music / Sony Music Entertainment
UPC:	0886977006821
Rank:	77374

Tracks

1. Miss Brown to You
2. What a Little Moonlight Can Do
3. I Cried for You
4. Billie's Blues (I Love My Man)
5. A Sailboat in the Moonlight
6. I Can't Get Started [Live]
7. When a Woman Loves a Man
8. Some Other Spring
9. Solitude [Version]
10. God Bless the Child
11. Gloomy Sunday
12. The Very Thought of You
13. Body and Soul

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Billie Holiday   Primary Artist,Vocals
Count Basie Orchestra   Primary Artist
Teddy Wilson   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Piano
Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra   Primary Artist
Bunny Berigan   Guest Artist,Trumpet
Buck Clayton   Guest Artist,Trumpet
Roy Eldridge   Guest Artist,Trumpet
Lester Young   Guest Artist,Clarinet,Sax (Tenor)
Artie Shaw   Guest Artist,Clarinet
Benny Goodman   Guest Artist,Clarinet
Count Basie   Guest Artist,Piano
Hymie Schertzer   Sax (Alto)
John Trueheart   Guitar
John Kirby   Bass
Al Casey   Guitar
Dick McDonough   Guitar
Jonah Jones   Trumpet
Jimmy Hamilton   Clarinet
Johnny Hodges   Sax (Alto)
Sonny White   Piano
Benny Morton   Trombone
J.C. Heard   Drums
Jack Washington   Sax (Alto),Sax (Baritone)
Joe Bushkin   Piano
Ed Lewis   Trumpet
Ben Webster   Sax (Tenor)
Eddie Heywood   Piano
Ernie Powell   Sax (Tenor),Sax (Alto)
Bobby Hicks   Trumpet
Kenneth Hollon   Sax (Tenor)
Herbert Cowans   Drums
Hal West   Drums
Stanley Payne   Sax (Tenor)
Margaret Johnson   Piano
Jimmy Powell   Sax (Tenor),Sax (Alto)
Dan Minor   Trombone
Jimmy Sherman   Piano
Cozy Cole   Drums
Jo Jones   Drums
Eddie Durham   Trombone,Guitar (Electric)
Freddie Green   Guitar
Edmond Hall   Clarinet
Earle Warren   Sax (Tenor)
Emmett Berry   Trumpet
Hot Lips Page   Trumpet
Pete Petersen   Bass
Harry Carney   Clarinet,Sax (Baritone)
Herschel Evans   Sax (Tenor)
Lester Boone   Sax (Alto),Sax (Tenor)
Kermit Scott   Sax (Tenor)
Grachan Moncur II   Bass
John Williams   Bass
Paul Chapman   Guitar
Carl Frye   Sax (Alto)
Lawrence Lucie   Guitar
Tab Smith   Sax (Alto),Sax (Soprano)
Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra   Orchestra
Bernard Addison   Guitar
Babe Russin   Sax (Tenor)
Eddie Dougherty   Drums
Walter Page   Bass

Technical Credits

Ira Gershwin   Composer
Sam M. Lewis   Composer
Johnny Mercer   Composer
Nedra Olds-Neal   Compilation Producer
Richard A. Whiting   Composer
Ralph Rainger   Composer
Rezsoe Seress   Composer
Abe Lyman   Composer
Arthur Freed   Composer
Harry Woods   Composer
Edward Heyman   Composer
Carmen Lombardo   Composer
Howard Fritzson   Art Direction
Herman Leonard   Photography
Timme Rosenkrantz   Liner Notes
Inez Cavanaugh   Liner Notes
Count Basie Orchestra   Performer
Randall Martin   Design
Don Hunstein   Photography
Irene Kitchings   Composer
Chris Athens   Engineer
Vernon Duke   Composer
Arthur Herzog, Jr.   Composer
Duke Ellington   Composer
Count Basie   Leader
Laszlo Javor   Composer
Frank Eyton   Composer
Vic Anesini   Engineer
Johnny Green   Composer
Leo Robin   Composer
Robert Sour   Composer
Gus Arnheim   Composer
Gordon Jenkins   Composer
Ray Noble   Composer
Bernie Hanighen   Composer
Billie Holiday   Composer
Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra   Performer
Eddie DeLange   Composer
John Hammond, Sr.   Producer
Irving Mills   Composer
John Jacob Loeb   Composer