Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Your Mother's Son-In-Law
2. Riffin' The Scotch
3. I Wished On The Moon
4. What A Little Moonlight Can Do
5. Miss Brown To You
6. A Sunbonnet Blue
7. What A Night, What A Moon, What A Girl
8. I'm Painting The Town Red
9. It's Too Hot For Words
10. Twenty-Four Hours A Day
11. Yankee Doodle Never Went To Town
12. Eeny Meeny Miney Mo
13. If You Were Mine
14. These 'N' That 'N' Those
15. You Let Me Down
16. Spreadin' Rhythm Around
17. Life Begins When You're In Love
18. It's Like Reaching For The Moon
19. These Foolish Things
20. I Cried For You
21. Guess Who
22. Did I Remember?
23. No Regrets
24. Summertime
25. Billie's Blues

Disc 2:

1. A Fine Romance
2. I Can't Pretend
3. One, Two, Button Your Shoe
4. Let's Call A Heart A Heart
5. Easy To Love
6. With Thee I Swing
7. The Way You Look Tonight
8. Who Loves You?
9. Pennies From Heaven
10. That's Life I Guess
11. I Can't Give You Anything But Love (Baby)
12. One Never Knows, Does One?
13. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
14. If My Heart Could Only Talk
15. Please Keep Me In Your Dreams
16. He Ain't Got Rhythm
17. This Year's Kisses
18. Why Was I Born
19. I Must Have That Man
20. The Mood That I'm In
21. You Showed Me The Way
22. Sentimental And Melancholy
23. My Last Affair

Disc 3:

1. Carelessly
2. How Could You?
3. Moanin' Low
4. Where Is The Sun?
5. Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
6. They Can't Take That Away From Me
7. I Don't Know If I'm Coming Or Going
8. Sun Showers
9. Yours And Mine
10. I'll Get By
11. Mean To Me
12. Foolin' Myself
13. Easy Living
14. I'll Never Be The Same
15. Me, Myself And I
16. A Sailboat In The Moonlight
17. Born To Love
18. Without Your Love
19. Getting Some Fun Out Of Life
20. Who Wants Love?
21. Trav'lin' All Alone
22. He's Funny That Way

Disc 4:

1. Nice Work If You Can Get It
2. Things Are Looking Up
3. My Man
4. Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
5. My First Impression Of You
6. When You're Smiling
7. I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me
8. If Dreams Come True
9. Now They Call It Swing
10. On The Sentimental Side
11. Back In Your Own Backyard
12. When A Woman Loves A Man
13. You Go To My Head
14. The Moon Looks Down And Laughs
15. If I Were You
16. Forget If You Can
17. Having Myself A Time
18. Says My Heart
19. I Wish I Had You
20. I'm Gonna Lock My Heart (And Throw Away The Key)
21. The Very Thought Of You
22. I Can't Get Started
23. I've Got A Date With A Dream
24. You Can't Be Mine (And Someone Else's Too)

Disc 5:

1. Everybody's Laughing
2. Here It Is Tomorrow Again
3. Say It With A Kiss
4. April In My Heart
5. I'll Never Fail You
6. They Say
7. You're So Desirable
8. You're Gonna See A Lot Of Me
9. Hello, My Darling
10. Let's Dream In The Moonlight
11. That's All I Ask Of You
12. Dream Of Life
13. What Shall I Say?
14. It's Easy To Blame The Weather
15. More Than You Know
16. Sugar (That Sugar Baby O'mine)
17. You're Too Lovely To Last
18. Under A Blue Jungle Moon
19. Everything Happens For The Best
20. Why Did I Always Depend On You
21. Long Gone Blues

Disc 6:

1. Some Other Spring
2. Our Love Is Different
3. Them There Eyes
4. Swing, Brother, Swing
5. Night And Day
6. The Man I Love
7. You're Just A No Account
8. You're A Lucky Guy
9. Ghost Of Yesterday
10. Body And Soul
11. What Is This Going To Get Us?
12. Falling In Love Again (Can't Help It)
13. I'm Pulling Through
14. Tell Me More And More, And Then Some
15. Laughing At Life
16. Time On My Hands
17. I'm All For You
18. I Hear Music
19. The Same Old Story
20. Practice Makes Perfect
21. St. Louis Blues
22. Loveless Love
23. Let's Do It
24. Georgia On My Mind

Disc 7:

1. Romance In The Dark
2. All Of Me
3. I'm In A Low-Down Groove
4. God Bless The Child
5. Am I Blue?
6. Solitude
7. Jim
8. I Cover The Waterfront
9. Love Me Or Leave Me
10. Gloomy Sunday
11. Wherever You Are
12. Mandy Is Two
13. It's A Sin To Tell A Lie
14. Until The Real Thing Comes Along
15. Saddest Tale
16. No Regrets
17. The Way You Look Tonight
18. Who Loves You?
19. Pennies From Heaven
20. That's Life I Guess
21. They Can't Take That Away From Me
22. I Don't Know If I'm Coming Or Going
23. I'll Get By
24. Mean To Me

Disc 8:

1. Me, Myself And I
2. Without Your Love
3. They Can't Take That Away From Me
4. Swing, Brother, Swing
5. I Can't Get Started
6. My First Impression Of You
7. When You're Smiling
8. I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me
9. If Dreams Come True
10. Now They Call It Swing
11. On The Sentimental Side
12. Back In Your Own Backyard
13. You Go To My Head
14. The Moon Looks Down And Laughs
15. If I Were You
16. Forget If You Can
17. Having Myself A Time
18. Says My Heart
19. I Wish I Had You
20. I'm Gonna Lock My Heart (And Throw Away The Key)
21. I Can't Get Started
22. I've Got A Date With A Dream

Disc 9:

1. April In My Heart
2. They Say
3. You're So Desirable
4. You're Gonna See A Lot Of Me
5. Hello, My Darling
6. Let's Dream In The Moonlight
7. I Cried For You
8. Jeepers Creepers
9. That's All I Ask Of You
10. More Than You Know
11. You're Too Lovely To Last
12. Under A Blue Jungle Moon
13. Night And Day
14. Falling In Love Again
15. Laughing At Life
16. I'm All For You
17. I Hear Music
18. The Same Old Story
19. The Same Old Story
20. Practice Makes Perfect
21. Practice Makes Perfect
22. Practice Makes Perfect

Disc 10:

1. St. Louis Blues
2. Loveless Love
3. Let's Do It
4. Georgia On My Mind
5. Georgia On My Mind
6. Romance In The Dark
7. Romance In The Dark
8. Romance In The Dark
9. All Of Me
10. All Of Me
11. God Bless The Child
12. God Bless The Child
13. Am I Blue?
14. Am I Blue?
15. Jim
16. Gloomy Sunday
17. Wherever You Are
18. Mandy Is Two
19. It's A Sin To Tell A Lie
20. It's A Sin To Tell A Lie
21. Until The Real Thing Comes Along
22. Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me/I'll Get By
23. I Love My Man

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81438 in Music
• Released on: 2001-10-02
• Number of discs: 10
• Formats: Box set, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: 3.24 pounds

Amazon.com
This box set earns the "deluxe" designation not only because of its handsome packaging, insightful essays by Holiday scholars, and testimonials from the likes of Tony Bennett, Sonny Rollins, and Etta James, but also because of the vastly improved remastered sound that makes Lady Day the definitive issue of Billie Holiday's pivotal 1930s and '40s Columbia/Vocalion/Brunswick/OKeh oeuvre. The sides here include epochal collaborations with Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Lester Young, Teddy Wilson, and others. Six-plus discs chronologically present 151 masters, with the rest of the 10 CDs' space given to alternate takes and radio air checks.

It was during the early years of this period, of course, that Holiday quickly developed into one of the 20th century's vocal monuments. Her incisive way with lyric and melody, often deploying playfulness, wit, and pain in a single song, became a model for both many a female singer, as well as Frank Sinatra and Marvin Gaye. These are records to be endlessly replayed for many kinds of appreciation. Played end to end, they introduce ideals of groove and emotional expression that remain fresh and even startling many years on. Lady Day is not only a perfect example of how to reissue key material, but is an album that will stand as a beacon for veteran Holiday fans and for the new ones it will no doubt attract. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

Great music, but...
These John Hammond-organized sessions are, together with the Louis Armstrong Hot Five And Seven recordings, my very favorite, and I very much wanted to love this set. The sound quality of the previous Columbia releases (Quintessential Billie Holiday, vols. 1-9) was dismal (all the hiss and crackle hamfistedly removed so that it sounded like the stereo had been stuffed under a pillow) and I was looking forward to a breakthaking upgrade. Well, the sound is a lot better, and they have not been afraid of leaving in some of the hiss, but the fact is, there are better sounding transfers out there, and at this price, there shouldn't be. I compared one track, "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," with a transfer made by John R.T. Davies, who is the master of this kind of work. On all counts -- warmth of tone, clarity, full bodied bass, realistic ambiance, and even lack of hiss -- the John R.T. transfer was better. (His transfers of the Armstrong Hot 5s and 7s for JSP was much better than Columbia's, too.) The packaging looks great, the music is great, and it costs a great deal of money. SOund quality is just good though, and that's a great shame.

The Lady sings...
One of the most lavish(and exhaustive, in good way)box sets to be released is "Lady Day-The Complete Billie Holiday On Columbia (1933-1944)". Consisting of 230 tracks spread over 10 CD's, this set contains Lady Day's collaborations with Teddy Wilson, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman's Orchestras. Though some of the material is lackluster(which is to be expected on a compilation of this size)all of the standards that she cut for Columbia, Brunswick, Okeh, and Vocalion are included("All Of Me", "God Bless The Child", "Them There Eyes", "The Man I Love, "I Cried For You", etc...). The packaging is beautiful, with the box resembling a 78 record storage booklet. Housed inside the cover is a 120 page booklet with rare photos, reproductions of original 78 RPM labels, and essays from Gary Giddins, Farah Jasmine Griffin, and Michael Brooks. Though the essays don't really shed any new light on Billie Holiday, they're well written and are an enjoyable read. The CD's themselves are packaged in heavy paper slip cases similar to what 78 records came packaged in. In theory it was a creative design idea but not a real practical one. You have to be very careful removing and putting the CD's back to avoid scratching them(like the Armstrong Hot Fives & Sevens box), which for me is my only beef with this box set. Lining the pockets with felt or some other soft material could have avoided this and it's a move I hope Legacy considers in the future. Sonically this is by far the best I've ever heard this material sound. The Quintessential Billie Holiday CD's suffered from heavy handed use of noise reduction, sounding muffled and dull. The songs on the box have much more presence and dynamic range. Like the Louis Armstrong box issued last year, this release has Grammy winner written all over it. For those who want, need, and must have every note Lady Day recorded during this eleven year period this box is a must have and comes highly recommended. The 2 CD set culled from this box is fine for more casual fans.

In a word...WOW
I have never been able to appreciate Lady Day's Columbia years because of the bad quality and age of the existing sources...UNTIL NOW. Recordings that used to be a challenge to this listener are now remastered to a quality that surpasses what would be typically expected from recordings of this vintage. You can now fully appreciate Holiday's delicacy in her phrasing, the arrangements, all brought back to life. This may be considered a pricey set for some, and one may decide on the highlight disc instead. But to have this whole set and have the songs all in their recorded order is Holiday heaven. You really won't know what you're been missing, some real gems, until you own this set. One track flows so nicely into the next. Repeated takes are all saved for the last discs so there is no disruption in the flow. And the packaging and book are lush and handsomely packaged, most aesthetically pleasing. A most prized and eagerly awaited complete addition to the Holiday catalogue. A treasure.