In conjunction with the release of Ken Burns’ ten-part, 19-hour epic PBS documentary Jazz, Columbia issued 22 single-disc compilations devoted to jazz’s most significant artists, as well as a five-disc historical summary. Since the individual compilations attempt to present balanced overviews of each artist’s career, tracks from multiple labels have thankfully been licensed where appropriate. That’s especially nice in the …

Although many of Billie Holiday’s recordings for Commodore and Decca are often overlooked — at least in comparison to the songs that bookend her career (for Columbia and Verve) — they include some of her best work, beginning at the end of the ’30s with “Strange Fruit” and stretching to the end of the ’40s with “God Bless the Child.” …

This is a rather incredible collection: ten CDs enclosed in a tight black box that includes every one of the recordings Verve owns of Billie Holiday, not only the many studio recordings of 1952-57 (which feature Lady Day joined by such jazz all-stars as trumpeters Charlie Shavers and Harry “Sweets” Edison, altoist Benny Carter, and the tenors of Flip Phillips, …

This thorough ten-CD package contains a book of notes, track annotations, and rare photographs, and a deck of wondrously remastered CDs that are sequenced in such a way that the entire Columbia story is told in a way that not only makes sense, but is compelling in its revelations of Holiday’s development as a vocalist and an interpreter of songs …

The fourth of nine CDs in this essential series of Billie Holiday’s studio recordings of 1933-1942 features the great tenor Lester Young on eight of the 16 performances. Prez and Lady Day make a perfect match on “I’ll Get By” (although altoist Johnny Hodges steals the honors on that song), “Mean to Me,” “Easy Living,” “Me, Myself and I,” and …

Like a modern day rock star, Holiday’s troubles with drugs, the law, and abusive men were almost considered part of what made her art work so well. It’s an insulting idea, of course–and one that puts the audience in the position of voyeurs, or worse. The inclusion of Holiday’s own tunes like “Don’t Explain” and signature pieces like “Ain’t Nobody’s …

After the success of her album, Lady in Satin (1958), Billie Holiday wanted to record another album with arranger Ray Ellis. Ellis had switched from Columbia to MGM, so Billie switched labels also to avoid breaching her contract with Columbia. When she returned to the studio in March 1959, jazz critic and friend of Holiday’s Leonard Feather, said Holiday “walked …

The overall feeling on this 1955 recording, which was originally titled VELVET MOOD, is strictly after-hours: the party is long over but a few close friends remain for nightcaps and, is that the sun peeking through the windowà? With slow tempo songs outnumbering not-so-slow songs fourteen to four, producer Norman Granz may or may not have had concept album on …

A ’91 reissue from late in Billie Holiday’s career. She was fading, but hadn’t lost the dramatic quality in her delivery, nor her ability to project and tell a shattering story. She’s backed by trumpeter Charlie Shavers, pianist Oscar Peterson, guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Ed Shaughnessy. The CD reissue has three bonus cuts. –AllMusic

The second studio album by jazz singer Billie Holiday, released in 1953. –Wikipedia