“Billie Holiday” (1947) – Billie Holiday

Album: Billie Holiday

Artist: Billie Holiday

Year: 1947

Genre: Swing, Jazz

Grade: A

This 1947 compilation of Billie Holiday tunes, featuring some of her relatively lesser-known renditions, is an essential recording, capturing the jazz singer at her absolute best. And no one could sing quite like her: her emotive, mourning voice is always heartfelt and profound, with lilting vocal melodies that mimic her brass accompaniment. Billie Holiday is a brilliant compendium of Lady Day’s many moods, with eight timeless songs that get better and better the more you play them.

NOTES & CHORDS

• Originally released as a collection of four 78rpm records by the Commodore label, Billie Holiday has also been reissued many times throughout the years. In its most accessible form on Apple Music, the collection also includes the iconic “Strange Fruit,” which despite being the 14^th best song of the 1930s, doesn’t really fit with the rest of the tunes (it also predates the other songs by several years).

• The arrangements by Eddie Heywood have an old-school appeal to them, with restrained orchestrations that swing without taking the spotlight away from Holiday. Likewise, Holiday’s vocals always have an old-school, classic jazz sound: this collection features some of her best singing performances on record. Her tone is pure and blends perfectly with the music — she’s the only jazz vocalist who can make every song seem like an instrumental.

• All the songs on this album are great, but I tend to prefer the slow, woozy, sad ones: “I’ll Be Seeing You” and “How Am I To Know?” are both all-time classics. Specifically, there’s something so perfect about the way Holiday sings the line “The children’s carousel/the chestnut trees/the wishing well.”

---