Billie Holiday Ultimate Collection CD

This 2-CD/DVD set includes a most comprehensive overview of the great Billie Holiday, both musically and visually. The DVD includes performances, her fim debut and fourother rare TV and film performances, plus full videos of Billie's biggest influences Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong. The DVD also includes firve rare audio tracks, a complete 1955 rehearsal session and a rarely heard 1956 radio interview with Mike Wallace.

DVD includes rare film and television appearances as well as an audio rehearsal plus audio interviews with Billie Holiday, Billy Eckstine, Jimmy Rowles, Sylvia Syms, Roy Eldridge, Jo Jones, John Hammond and others.
Personnel: Billie Holiday (vocals); Louis Armstrong (vocals); Kenny Burrell, Barney Kessel, Mundell Lowe (guitar); Tony Scott , Benny Goodman, Buster Bailey (clarinet); Johnny Hodges, Willie Smith, Benny Carter (alto saxophone); Al Cohn, Lester Young, Paul Quinichette, Ben Webster (tenor saxophone); Frankie Newton, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Roy Eldridge, Billy Butterfield, Bobby Hackett, Buck Clayton, Charlie Shavers (trumpet); Jimmy Rowles (piano, celesta); Eddie Heywood, Oscar Peterson, Teddy Wilson, Wynton Kelly, Bobby Tucker (piano); John Kirby, Ray Brown (double bass); Chico Hamilton, Cozy Cole, Alvin Stoller, Big Sid Catlett (drums); Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra.
Liner Note Author: Ashley Kahn.
Arrangers: Ray Ellis; Gordon Jenkins; Jimmy Mundy; Sy Oliver.
With such a lengthy and deep repertoire, it's difficult to compile a great representative selection of tracks for someone like Billie Holiday, but this particular album does a pretty decent job. Famous songs like "Strange Fruit," "Billie's Blues," and "Night and Day" aren't included here, but "God Bless the Child," "I Cover the Waterfront," and "My Man" are. The sound quality is good too, something that's not always a given with compilations, and there are some other great examples of Lady Day and her voice here, like "Love Me or Leave Me" and "One for My Baby." All in all, this is a pretty decent introductory compilation. ~ Marisa Brown
Hip-O's 2004 two-CD and one-DVD compilation The Ultimate Collection set a new standard for Billie Holiday retrospectives. It boasted not only a strong selection of songs, but also material from all of her scattered labels (Brunswick, Decca, Commodore, Verve) and it stood, in effect, as the first best-of compilation capable of living up to its rubric. Gold is a very similar collection. In fact, the audio program is identical to the first two discs of The Ultimate Collection. The only difference lies in the subtraction of the DVD, included with the previous set but missing here, that presented ten of Holiday's filmed performances. (Also subtracted was 20 dollars from the list price.) Musically, it's just as powerful as The Ultimate Collection. ~ John Bush
Meticulously selected, lovingly assembled, and beautifully packaged, this two-CD/one-DVD collection is a true retrospective, featuring representative cuts from the length of Billie Holiday's career across a range of labels. While most compilations focus on one period of the legendary singer's career, THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION includes recordings Holiday cut for Decca, Verve, Columbia, Commodore, and others. The backing bands range from small combos to large ensembles, and include such luminaries as Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster, Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Johnny Hodges, Louis Armstrong, and Lester Young.
The set begins with Holiday's 1935 Brunswick dates. The chronological arrangement allows the listener to observe the transformation of Holiday's vocal style, from the light, buoyant early work through her definitive '40s middle period and on to her final sessions from the late '50s, when her voice was broken and life-torn. No matter the phase, Holiday's performances are masterful, gripping, and immediately seductive (not to mention--in cases like the 1939 recording of "Strange Fruit"--historically important). The DVD, which features 10 tele