Got the Billie Holiday complete Verve recordings box set a little bit ago after acquiring her complete Decca recordings, Columbia recordings, and the Commodore recordings disc this past year. I’d put off getting the Verve set being afraid it encompassed the tail end of her career where her voice began deteriorating.
No worries so far on the first three discs in the set recorded on Verve’s subsidiary Clef label. She is in great voice on the all three, which date from 1945-55. I listened to the third CD this afternoon. He voice had only a hint of raspiness to it by then, not so you’d notice. To my mind she is the greatest jazz singer to ever live, bar none. He later 50’s material might be disturbing to listen to though, as drugs had exacted their toll by then. Until then she was a wonder and it’s a privilege to be able to own her recordings
Michael
No worries so far on the first three discs in the set recorded on Verve’s subsidiary Clef label. She is in great voice on the all three, which date from 1945-55. I listened to the third CD this afternoon. He voice had only a hint of raspiness to it by then, not so you’d notice. To my mind she is the greatest jazz singer to ever live, bar none. He later 50’s material might be disturbing to listen to though, as drugs had exacted their toll by then. Until then she was a wonder and it’s a privilege to be able to own her recordings
Michael